Favourite Awkward Interview Moments

Applying to College
301

<p>most of my interviews went well, until my very last one, dartmouth.</p>

<p>we met at the woman's house. there was classical music playing in the background. we sat in these comfy armchairs. she asked me questions. i responded generically...</p>

<p>until... i heard john williams playing hedwig's theme (from harry potter) on the radio. i immediately blurted out "HEY, THAT'S HARRY POTTER MUSIC!</p>

<p>a short awkward silence ensued and then she asked if i liked harry potter. and even here, i could have fixed it... but instead, i go "i love harry potter - its my favorite book series!"
having realized what i've just admitted to, i tried to humorously add "i know i'm not supposed to admit that to my dartmouth interview but you've caught me. i've been hiding it from all my interviewers."</p>

<p>she laughed and then went, "yeah, my niece and nephew love those books"
i ask about them and discover they are 4 and 5 years old. great so now my interviewer thinks of my like her 4 year old niece.</p>

<p>she did not leave the subject and asked why i like harry potter. seeing this as a place to try to salvage the remaining bits of my normal student reputation, i said "well.... i've learned a lot from it" and went on to talk about how it inspired me to write and such. and then, i slipped again "...and it's because of harry potter that i taught myself to knit. i've knitted two harry potter scarves... one ravenclaw and one slytherin."</p>

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<p>basically, very bad.
and then i responded to her question about which character i most identified with in books we'd read in school with chris mccandless.
and she goes "so you agree with him just leaving society?"
all of a sudden i remember that most people think chris was insane. but i fixed it, mostly, by mentioning that mccandless realizes at the end that sharing happiness is the most important thing in life.</p>

<p>when i left i made another attempt to remedy the harry potter situation by joking that she'll never have another interviewee who will admit that as their favorite novel. but it was all just very bad. never do it.</p>

<p>...unless you are being interviewed by university of chicago, in which case you should go in costume, wizard hat and all.</p>

302

<p>i had an interview with columbia recently. i think it went well in the end, but - it definitely was somewhat awkward:</p>

<p>1) he asked me what i was planning on studying. i started talking about politics and foreign policy and was getting really into it. when i get into it, my voice starts getting really loud....hehehe. so, i was talking so loud that a guy at a table next to ours (we were in starbucks) thinks i'm talking to him and joins our coversation about America's foriegn policy. after he finally leaves (like, 15 min later) my interviewer is like "ummm, you should probably not talk so loud...."</p>

<p>2) first of all, the interview lasted two hours - pretty awkward, right? after the first half, the interview started telling me the dirty version of schools' fight songs. somehow, the interview had extracted the information that i like Yale too and so, was teaching me a verse of Yale's one (sadly, I don't remember it) however, it referred to the Meli and Eli. To make him think i am a clever, witty, and humorous person, i was laughing uproarously at the songs. at the end of it he's like "so, do you have any idea what that was referring to, because it's quite horrible" me: "<em>stops laughing abruptly</em> ummm, not really....." </p>

<p>3) totally had that awkard parting ways moment. at the end, we both got up and said bye. then, we still had to walk to the door of the Starbucks. We said our farewells again. Then, we found that our cars were in the same direction, so we continued to walk to the middle of the parking lot. We said bye yet again. I start heading to my car and he follows me, he's like "oh. i didn't know your car is this way...mine is too." I get to my car, we say bye again. I pull out my car key and jiggle it into the lock to try to get it to work (i have an old car). He had actually parked behind me - he comes over and is like "OMG. can you get home? is something wrong with your car?" me: "um, haha, no. it's ok. my car is just...stupid. hahaha. <em>door clicks open, i jump in really fast</em> see! it's ok. BYEEEEEEEEE!!!!!"</p>

303

<p>"well, a lot of high achieving boys at my school like to cheat a lot," and he completely thought I was saying that I had been cheated on, as in a relationship. So he was like, "YOU would never cheat on anyone, right?"</p>

<p>So I said "No!!" and all the while still thought it was about academics."</p>

<p>Haha, my teacher (who is a rather prude middle-aged guy, one who takes offense easily, and one who treats doing homework as a kind of moral duty) just made this mistake. We were talking about moral dilemmas and our "duty" as human beings, and the teacher kept on bringing up the dilemma of driving/speeding (this is philosophy class). To change the topic, we then mentioned cheating in schools (as in the homework/test cheating) and how it is very prevalent among youth. Then suddenly the teacher started to awkwardly say, "oh, i'm not going to mention names, but I know there was a cheating scandal going on last year with some of the kids in this classroom, and a lot of feelings were hurt." It took a few more minutes of explaining until we all realized that he had completely misunderstood what we as a class said. SOooo funny reaction</p>

<p>oh, and sorry for going on a complete tangent. I just couldn't help but share</p>

304

<p>haha ohakkila, yours are so funny.</p>

305

<p>I've got another one! From a scholarship interview at an LAC. You wouldn't really get it if you don't watch The Office, though :( :</p>

<p>I: So your dad is an Agrarian Reform Officer. What exactly does he do?</p>

<p><em>Am thrown completely off-guard. I did not expect this question at all! And the worst part? I'm not actually sure what my dad does. LMAO! Proceeds to crap something out about ancestral land and the government and colonialization and stuff. OH! I remember something. He's the Executive Assistant to the Regional Director.</em></p>

<p>Me: I think he's something like an.. Assistant to the Regional.. ("Director! Director!") ..Manager?</p>

<p><em>Realizes what I've just said, starts cursing internally, and fervently hopes that none of my three interviewers have ever heard of The Office, nor Dwight Schrute</em></p>

<p>I know it's not as disastrous as I think it is, but still.. That whole interview was just.. meh. I'm probably not getting in.</p>

306

<p>BUMP
Do not let this thread die please... I know interviews are over, but if others can recall their interviews, please post :)</p>

307

<p>When interview season starts again, this thread will come back again. Hopefully.</p>

<p>I feel really guilty because it seems like everyone but me interviewed at the college I'm going to.</p>

308

<p>I’m going to bump one of my favorite threads. </p>

<p>I recently went on a college road trip; one was Wake Forest, and when I called to reserve the spot for the tour, the receptionist asked if I wanted to schedule an interview. Of course, I couldn’t say no, so I went ahead and told her to pencil me in. I live in FL, and all the colleges on this road trip were up the East coast, so we decided to stay at state campgrounds instead of hotels b/c they cost about $10/night and we already had the equipment. Basically, for a week I was living out of a car/tent, and I didn’t feel my best to interview (clothes were wrinkly, sleeping on the ground, etc).</p>

<p>This was my first interview.</p>

<p>Aside from being anxious about this fact, WF is known to be a prestigious, preppy school, so that just made me more nervous.</p>

<p>Interviewer: Where are you from?
Me: I drove from FL.
I: Oh? Well, that’s not so bad. We’ve had kids drive from (names further states) before.
Me: (thinks) I KNOW you just did not say that driving from FL and sleeping on the ground to get here was no big deal! (says) Oh, well, that just shows how much dedication prospective students have for Wake.
----------------This is where I start to embarrass myself------------------
I: What book would you be embarrassed to admit you haven’t read?
Me: The last few books of Harry Potter (WHY wasn’t I thinking about Water for Elephants or Memoirs of a Geisha???).
I: <em>with shocked look</em> Um, what?
Me: <em>flushes</em>Well, all my friends have read them, and they rib on me that I’ve not done. I joke that in 30 years when I’m at a comedy show and he starts on about pop culture of the 2000s and the Harry Potter craze, I’ll just have to pretend I know what he’s talking about. Hehe…..</p>

<hr>

<p>I: What are some of your favorite books?
Me: (thinks) I’ve prepared for this question! (says) I love, love, love my favorite author, , he’s so magnificent, etc, etc, etc. Especially my favorite book he’s written…….uh……<em>forgets the most important title and my most favorite book EVER! (I fumbled with the words, said the title wrong about 3 times, then finally made one up and fervently thanked God that she’d previously said she did not know who the author was)</em></p>

<hr>

<p>I: What are some of your favorite classes?
Me: I love English. History is just great, isn’t it? In APUSH last year, etc……Wait, I started talking about English, didn’t I? and then I completely went off…..sorry. </p>

<hr>

<p>I: What other schools are you looking at?
Me: (thinks) That sentence should have been stated, “At which other schools are you looking?” I hate this question…what do I say???? I can’t say Wake is one of the middle schools on a road trip for 10+ schools?????? (says) Well, I’m also looking at UNC Chap, since I did drive from FL and all.
I: UNC is an okay school. North Carolina does have a couple of good schools other than Wake.<br>
Me: Yeah….</p>

<hr>

<p>I: What news story would you find most interesting and read?
Me: Dams.
I: Er, what? Damns?
Me: Yeah. (short version of what I said) Dams built earlier that were supposed to last 50 years are now failing. <em>compares it to current issues in which decisions made long ago are now having severe and life-threatening consequences</em>
I: <em>totally not comprehending my jibberish about dams and how they relate to her question</em>That’s……interesting, I guess.</p>

<hr>

<p>I: What do you like about your high school?
Me: Um, my classes?………………</p>

<p>Yeah. I'm glad I had already decided Wake wasn't the school for me during the tour (I kept the interview b/c I thought it would have been rude to cancel last-minute, and I wanted my first interview to be for a school I really didn't care about).</p>

<p>PLEASE--do NOT forget the name of your favorite book. It's humiliating.</p>

309

<p>i don't really have a story of an embarassing moment... but I did have a terrible interview at St. Olaf.</p>

<p>the guy that interviewed me started off okay, asking about my hobbies. I told him I was into photography, so he went on to tell me about a friend of his that does some really good photography, then goes on to tell me about amazing photographers on campus, then he goes on to tell me about some trips that many students go on (study abroad) and how there is a contest for whoever takes the best photo of where they stay.</p>

<p>after that, he talked about why St. Olaf was amazing... he didn't ask me any questions after that, except where else i was applying, and that was so he could tell me about how st. olaf was better (which he is completely wrong about).
yeah, i can't stand st. olaf anymore. i hadn't liked the tour i had right before the interview, so it's completely off my list.</p>

310

<p>This thread makes me feel a little better lol.</p>

<p>A Yale interviewer asked me how my friends would describe me. After I threw out a generic adjective or two, I tried to explain that I'm very enthusiastic. I ended up telling the anecdote about how I once got really excited about going to make copies of something. I said something like "Yay, field trip to the copy machine!" and my friend said "Don't EVER say that again."</p>

<p>I'm not usually that weird but that was obviously completely the wrong story anyway. To make it worse, the interviewer asked next, "So what is it about copy machines, anyway?"</p>

311

<p>I've read the entire thread over the last few days. You guys are TOO funny!! Definitely helped with how nervous I've been about having to start interviews soon :D So come on, lets have some more. I'm sure you people remember more horrible experiences :P and interview season should be starting soon, so lets keep this alive til then. I promise when I have mortifying experiences (and I'm sure too lol) I'll post 'em for y'all :D</p>

312

<p>lol these are nice...</p>

<p>last year when i was being interviewed for a trip to washington, the lady asked "if i handed you $10,000,000 right now, what would you buy with it", so i panicked in my brain and said "umm... well, i'd probably give some to my family... and then, um... put it in the bank because i am cheap."</p>

<p>so if i would happen to have an awkward moment in my college admission interview, would it make it even more awkward to acknowledge the awkwardness of the situation?</p>

313

<p>I was being interviewed for a an internship at the national air and space museum in DC and i was mortified. I started having a panic attack on the car ride over. I got there and the interviews were running late which just prolonged the agony, i wanted to get it over with. So when im nervous it comes of as enthuiasm. I sat down and i was jittering and shaking and bouncing my legs up and down. It was going pretty well until we started to talk about what I enjoy doing. I wasent going to be a nerd and say i read for hours on end locked in my room so I said that i enjoy snowboarding (which i do) and continued to say that its the most painful thing i will ever experience in my life. Well the interviewer was a man, and he had an intern (also a guy) with him to interview me and when i mentioned the painful part he proceeded to ask me if childbirth is more pianful...O.O how am i supposed to know! i just stared ar him, I mean what did he want me to say about that?! he proceede to go into deatil about labor and at the end of his long speech all i could think of to say was "yeah I'll remmeber to thank my mother next time i see her"</p>

314

<p>so, I was interviewing last year for a governor's school in the arts. We had to go through two interviews at the time and write a short story while we were there. (I applied for creative writing - fiction)
The first interview was horrible. The desks were awkwardly set up so I was facing a wall and the interviewer was facing me. I kept trying to scooch my desk to face her better but it made this horrible screeching noise so I would just stop and pretend it never happened. She just read off questions for me and copied down my responses. It was so uncomfortable. </p>

<p>My second interview was with a prof. at Penn who used to direct the writing program. She was really nice, but when I mentioned my english class junior year focused on American Literature. So, she asked me what style of Am. Lit influenced my writing. I then launch into this diatribe about Neoclassism and Benjamin Franklin. I have no idea why. I think I ended it by saying "those founding fathers were kickass, umm, they were amazing."
I also told a story about how my laptop was stolen and I freaked out because it had two of my novels on it. I was like, "not that the thief would read my novels... I mean, rationally, I know they just sell those things for parts. But, I had so much editing to do!" </p>

<p>I made it into the program though! had an amazing time. The first interviewer turned out to be my resident life director.</p>

315

<p>Bump. Bump. Bump.</p>

316

<p>So far I've only interviewed at Bates and I can't really remember any truly awkward moments. It was more like a conversation than anything and we talked a lot about politics... which I hope he didn't find inappropriate, but he kept the conversation going so I guess not. I talked a lot about the election and starting a Young Dems. Club at my schools. I made him laugh a lot, but the one thing I did mention was some of the negative things about my school. I hope he didn't think I hated my school or anything like that, but I was honest. </p>

<p>The only thing I worry about now is how much we talked about political issues, but it seemed to go over well and we had a pretty spirited conversation. </p>

<p>I'm praying I can avoid awkward moments in my interviews to come.</p>

317

<p>last year I was interviewed for Northwestern. We went into this small closet like space and were only like a foot apart and the awk hawk was flying about. She was really nice though and I was comfortable enough, until things got interesting. I was telling her how I write raps in my spare time (I do), and how I once wrote one and did a music video for my schools morning announcements. And she asked me to rap it for her. That alone is extremely awk, but the subject of my rap was about not drinking during homecoming (it was called We Stayin' Sober, rapped to the beat of We Taking Over, I'm hilarious I know :p). So I rapped it for her and I'll never forget her face when I spit the line "You can be christian, Hindu, even wicken/listen real close to the lyrics i'm spittin'/get a date with a body that's kicken". </p>

<p>It was a roff. I got in though.</p>

318

<p>yeah, when you are asked “What kind of vegetable would you like to be—and why?” you'll feel pretty awkward to answer.</p>

<p>(I would go with lettuce :D)</p>

319

<p>Bumping this thread...these stories have been hilarious and made me a lot less anxious about my upcoming interviews.</p>

<p>I'll post my stories when they happen (which I'm sure they will).</p>

320

<p>Wait mfd3q I love you.</p>

<p>Also this thread is AMAZING. I have my first interview tomorrow (was supposed to be two weekends ago but I was throwing up so I called and postponed :/); hopefully I won't have anything to share in this thread! >__></p>

<p>Also LMFAO @

All of yours are sooo amazing.</p>