<p>BUMP
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<p>Okay, here's a good one. I'm Jewish, but not particularly observant. I scheduled my Macalester interview for Yom Kippur (the holiday during which Jews fast to atone for their sins). My mom and I felt pretty guilty for scheduling this on a holy holiday, so we decided to fast. My mom joked that the interviewer would think I'm an awful sinner if she knew I was Jewish and doing this interview on Yom Kippur . . . </p>
<p>It was with an admission officer -- my first interview ever, actually -- and it went fantastic. Really felt like a laid-back conversation, I legitimately enjoyed it, we talked about everything. As I'm waking out the door:</p>
<p>Her: "So, did you eat lunch here at Mac today?"
Me: [suddenly freezes up] "WHAT?"
Her: "I was just wondering if you tried the food. It's great here!"
Me: "Oh . . . Um . . . Actually, no! Um, I mean, I haven't eaten yet today. Well, I will! Yeah, I'll try it! Now!"
Her: "Oh. Okay. Well, it's been great talking to you."</p>
<p>Yesterday, I had an interview at the office at a Princeton alumni, and as I walked out of the elevator with her, I crashed into a decorative plant. Of course, it had bells on it, which jingled loudly. Then I giggled like a moron while she looked at me with total confusion.</p>
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It was Johns Hopkins and I think I asked the ultimate wrong question: is the rumor true? is it really cutthroat?
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<p>I made this mistake when interviewing with MIT. I asked "so, how is the stress level at MIT?" when the interviewer asked "so before we begin, do you have any questions?" Needless to say, my friends got in and I did not.</p>
<p>Heh. At my Harvard interview, I asked if Harvard's academics were really that much more difficult than everyone else's. My interviewer didn't even blink. She did stammer a little when I asked whether it was super competitive:</p>
<p>"Oh, no, not at all! Students love helping each other and collaborating!!! Er... unless you go into the sciences." Heh. </p>
<p>I'm sure I won't get in, anyway, and even if I do it's not my first choice. </p>
<p>(If I had been asked what three people I would love to have dinner with, I was going to answer Napoleon, Dumbledore, and this pair of conjoined twins I saw on the Discovery Health Channel... they have two heads, but just one body, and they share a bunch of organs, including three lungs, where each controls one, and they share control of the third... so, if they were snorkeling, they wouldn't need a snorkel at all... one could stay under water, and one could breathe. Or that's the idea... I'd love to ask if it would actually work!).</p>
<p>Oh god, I love this thread.</p>
<p>This isn't really an interview, but worse:</p>
<p>I was invited to the local Yale Alumni Gathering because I'd done a summer session and one of the head representatives from my area's alumni branch had heard about my school's theatre program and helped get me a spot. He wanted to know how it went, talk to me about my interest in Yale, and invited me over.</p>
<p>I'm hypoglycemic, so when I don't eat, I get nauseous and faint... you can see where this story's going ...</p>
<p>He was the sweetest guy, and there were like twenty alums present and I ended up talking to all of them, repeating the same things about what I loved about the school, asking questions... I was getting really hungry, and the crackers and cheese on the table looked appetizing, but among all the conversation I had no time to even stuff anything in my mouth.</p>
<p>I was talking to my the man, who was essentially my benefactor for the summer, and all of a sudden my knees buckled and I started to throw up - he ran out of the way, and I ran to the bathroom.</p>
<p>Needless to say it was the most awkward experience of my life. I explained to him, you know, that I made an error by not eating, tried to pull it off as classy.. when they were all seated around the table talking, after I'd recovered, he goes, "Well, [laughxindoors] isn't feeling too well, so I'll let her go soon, but hopefully she could tell us quickly about her experience over the summer?"</p>
<p>I <em>died</em>. I can't believe I'm even sharing this on the internet, but hopefully it makes someone laugh.</p>
<p>Didn't have any interviews myself, but here's a horror story my friend told me for her U Chicago interview. </p>
<p>Interviewer: So what did you think about the presidential candidates?
Friend: Umm, well personally I'm behind McCain. (explains reasons involving conservativism and how she couldn't see herself agreeing with how liberal Obama seemed to be)
Interviewer: ... Obama used to teach at U Chicago.</p>
<p>awkward silence.</p>
<p>Friend: Oh.</p>
<p>^ so she was supposed to change her beliefs? At least she had the guts to say her opinion!</p>
<p>That's what I said, but I think she may have bashed Obama a bit in the process to make her point. :/</p>
<p>That really shouldn't be so awkward...it's not like she should change her opinion just because Obama taught there!</p>
<p>I had a pretty weird one. It was supposed to be at our town hall/meeting place or w/e. All the town offices are there, and I work for the town so I know the place and some of the clerks etc. First interview, so I show up 25 mins early and everything fine. It hits 4 (time it's supposed to start), and I'm just panicking a bit. Then it's 4:30, at this point I'm running up and down hallways, stopping just before the door, then calmly walking through (in case she's on the other side). This is a 4 story building, and I look like a complete idiot. I'm positive that I somehow missed her, and just as I'm heading out home, somebody pulls into this little corner back lot where they dump the trash. As she walks up she knocks on the door and asks me where she can park, and of course I'm like "uhhhh, by the sign that says parking." Then she turns around and says "you wouldn't happen to be xxx?" </p>
<p>my face fell like instantly. "Well, I'll be your interviewer today"
ok......
"I'll be right back then, I'm going to go park"</p>
<p>Then we couldn't find anywhere to sit, so we go to this like community center thing and we're sitting between like 500 backpacks of the kids in the program</p>
<p>At this points it's starts to go ok I guess, asks me some general stuff about me then</p>
<p>her: So what are you truly passionate about, what's your main... effort?
Me: "Well I'd definately sa-"
her: Other than swimming, obviously
(there goes my rehearsed spectacular speech about swimming and how it carries over into my life).
So I decide to go on my pre-med area, which I have woefully little to go on besides school in general</p>
<p>me: "well, I tried to go through this program at the hospital that would let me shadow a doctor as well as volunteer, I got to talk to several people and see the hospital, but they told me I was too young after about a week"</p>
<p>Her: "Well, then you should definately look into this summer program at UConn! (live in CT) it's great........ Yah, too bad this isn't a UConn interview. I thought so too.
literally 30 mins later of her talking and me nodding. She also whispers when she talks, so I had my head bent over at an awkward angle with my ear to her the whole time
"yah, it's really great, look into it! Well, this has been fun. Any questions
Me: "ye-"
Her: "feel free to email me them sometime"</p>
<p>I stared blankly for like two minutes, and it never really hit home that she had cut me off and that it was over, so I asked some random question to show interest.</p>
<p>Her: "ummmm. Yes, we're diverse (or something)."</p>
<p>At this point, we say bye etc and I notice the time. I had to miss some of practice for this, but if I wasn't in the water for at least 20 mins I couldn't swim in the meet for the next day. So she started reaching into her bag or whatever and I basically run (I have 6 minutes to make it into the water before I'm screwed). She must have seen the shadow of the chair or something, because just as I make it around the corner of the bookshelf I hear her say (now she wants to talk at a reasonable level) "Oh you don't have to wait for me"</p>
<p>Wow. Really? I didn't know if I should go back and say something, or like, acknowledge her or just leave and save us both the embarrassment. I ended up just leaving. She seemed content the whole interview though, it seemed like the issues were only on my end haha. Whatever, better her than me.</p>
<p>It's not actually my interview experience, but my brother's. It's so funny, so I feel like I had to share. </p>
<p>So my brother came to the Harvard interviewer's house, and they started talking. It was all going smoothly. He was talking about how his daughter is going to Yale instead of Harvard, and how he wished it was Harvard instead, etc. And then a woman came wearing a Yale sweatshirt. He said she looked like she was in her mid 20s, so my brother was like, "Oh, you must be his daughter, Jackie, it's so nice to meet you."
And the interviewer was like, "No, she's actually my wife." From then on, I could only imagine how awkward the rest of the interview was.</p>
<p>^ Thank goodness it wasn't the reverse (if your bro had said "Oh, you must be his wife, it's so nice to meet you.") LOL</p>
<p>For my Georgetown interview, I was asked why I did the activities I did and why I kept up with them for so long. I ended up saying I didn't like a lot of my activities. Then I tried to save myself by saying, but in life there are things that you have to do that you won't like. -____-" And she ended up saying: "Oh that's a great way of thinking. I'm going to make sure to write that down." Gtown's one of my top schools....just shoot me. I hope I don't get rejected because of the interviewer's report. :(</p>
<p>Skidmore interview, after mentioning that i was robbed at gunpoint when living in Colombia, I just got a wide eyed stare and no response for about ten seconds and then she said "that must have been.......bad....really bad. " to which I responded "it was not the best of times...but he only took my cash so I still have the wallet" More staring followed.</p>
<p>"So are you in National Honor Society?"
"Umm...no..."
"Why is that?"
"...I was...rejected..."
--Possibly the reason Penn deferred me???</p>
<p>During my Haverford interview, my interviewer was asking me about my personal life and what my friends are like and so on. And for some reason I decided, I think just to make things simple, to say I had one best friend who I'm closest with. Which isn't true. So I said something like, "Yeah, we're very close, we've been together for about 10 years". And then I realized that made it sound like I was dating this imaginary friend, who I had said was also a girl. I awkwardly tried to correct this, halfway through realizing I also had to avoid sounding homophobic. So I backtracked and was like "Oh, you know...not together like that...we're just friends...but it would be ok if we dated, of course." While I was rambling she just kind of nodded and looked at me with pity. And then I died.</p>
<p>From my Midd Interview:</p>
<p>Interviewer: "So tell me about things you do in your spare time."
Me: Uhm...do you mean extracurrics or...?"
Interviewer: "Anything."
Me: Oh, well I enjoy taking pictures. Its one of the very few artistic things I feel I am strong in. I like to go to the movies and hang out with friends.
Interviewer: Oh, so just normal kid stuff...
(Awkward silence)</p>
<p>And my Bowdoin interview:
Me: So, how did Bowdoin prepare you after college?
Interviewer: Well, I sort of drifted around and became a ski bum in Colorado for a couple of months..
Me: Oh.
(Awkward silence)</p>
<p>@moon_star - I would actually think your brother would get some points. The interviewer's wife would be flattered that someone would think she is younger.</p>
<p>I didn't really have any awkward moments, but my interviewer did. I had my Duke interview 3 weeks ago at a Jamba Juice. Everything was going really well. I then ask "How is the dating scene at Duke, and how are the girls?
My interview kind of loudly said "Well, as you know the more prestigious a school, the worse the girls. There are a few good looking girls, but in general your standards would have to be dropped a few points". Then he looks around and a women with a Harvard sweater is glowering at him. I almost cracked up. Awww, it was a good interview.</p>
<p>I had my Columbia interview yesterday. I live in South Africa and the only interviewer was in a completely different city. So I make a deal with my parents that I'd pay half the airfare to fly there etc and basically made a huge effort. Its my first/only interview and I'm super nervous..So awkward!</p>
<p>First of all, I was sitting at the coffee shop waiting for him, and I kind of tripped over my handbag getting up to shake his hand. Then, I offered him my LEFT hand by mistake (I'm left handed) and when he looked confused, I did this little awkward wave/head bob thing like I was Heidi or something.</p>
<p>My interviewer was not very engaged or forthcoming. He asked, 'why Columbia?' at the beginning of the interview and that was pretty much the only question. I just had to ramble on for 20 min! Every now and then, I would stop, expecting the next question but he'd just nod and say, 'go on.' </p>
<p>He had a book and I asked what he was reading, trying to make conversation. Upon hearing it was the Wheel of Time series, I said, "Oh, good choice, I'm really into fantasy and science fiction. In fact, if I were accepted, I'd join Columbia's Science fiction Society!" He looked at me and goes, "A friend is forcing me to read it. I find it quite boring, and badly written."</p>
<p>AWKWARD! Trying to quickly change the subject, I start talking about my Model United Nations involvement etc. </p>
<p>His response: Yes, well, I mean, I've heard good things about it and whatever but I HATE the way those kids talk in debate."
Me: "Um..you mean, parliamentary language?"
Him: "Yes! Jeez, I can't even bear to hear those kids talk!"</p>
<p>Basically, the whole thing was one giant fail. :(</p>