Favourite Awkward Interview Moments

Applying to College
561

<p>Hmm, don't remember if I posted this before, but my Harvard interview was particularly brutal.</p>

<p>So the guy is an alum of my high school.
int: why do you want to go to Harvard?
me: well, for many reasons. <em>tells a true story about grandparents and whatever</em> also, I found that their site had the most comprehensive and most interesting information about their computer science department, like what careers you can go into, and which famous people have been in comp sci at Harvard.</p>

<p>int: so you fell for their marketing scheme?
me: well, it was one of many factors. I also like the fact that their computer science department is small and tight-knit etc.</p>

<p>int: you haven't convinced me that you want to go to Harvard. what I wanted to hear was, oh, they're getting a new sports facility, I'm really into that, or wow, this professor seems really interesting. </p>

<p>and he goes on and on about that. and of course, I was planning on talking about specific professors and such, but after he runs me over with that, I would sound stupid if I said it. so yeah, fun.</p>

562

<p>bump???</p>

563

<p>I wish we could go back through these and note which ones didn’t matter that much in the long run (because we got in!) and which ones were really that bad…haha</p>

564

<p>Lol I never actually posted on this thread… but my most awkward moment was when I locked my keys in my truck at my Yale interview… this took place at the interviewers house in a city about 2 hours away from my hometown… I had to call AAA and wait another 20 mins at his house before they came to free me… then notified me my membership card was expired and I would have to pay up front… Which I actually had to dig through my truck and find change to make up the amount to do… I was waitlisted at Yale. Haha so I guess it wasn’t completely detrimental… but not good either :P</p>

565

<p>Vanderbilt Interview by far.</p>

<p>My interviewer was a young lady, graduated like 2 years ago, and we were talking about other schools I was applying to. I mentioned Boston University and said that I thought it was interesting how it didn’t have much of a campus. She was like “Oh yes it does!!! BU has a really tight knit campus!!” I was like “Umm, I think you’re thinking of Boston College” (yes, I actually said that) and she said “No, I visited both schools when I was looking at them when I was in high school and I remember Boston University being on the outskirts of town and having a beautiful campus”</p>

<p>I was like seriously… I went a couple of months ago, and you’re doubting me? i didn’t say that, but I was thinking it… haha.</p>

566

<p>Harvard undergrad: after interview, asks me “what are you doing this weekend?”[slightly creepy] umm-going to watch benjamin button with some friends “yeah that movie looks pretty good” yeah its great how it has an original story/plot unlike so many of the movies out now “isnt it based on f scott fitzgeralds book?” Yes, [oooh crap he must think im stupid] its interesting to see that kind of literature be be brought to the screen…and then he awkwardly walks me out, i ask if he has anymore interviews, “nope youre the last one” oh well have a nice weekend!</p>

<p>Princeton interview: get email the day before, email confirmation, ditch second half of school, get on trolley for 30 minutes, check email saying she wants to move up interview time to half an hour earlier, rush to next stop and find out her office is 16 blocks uphill from trolley station and there are no buses. i got there on time and eventually told her the tale-she offered me a ride to the station, i thought it went well but she gave me a speech about how few people get in, then gave me her email and said that she was so excited to write my letter to princeton, sadly i got rejected by both schools.</p>

567

<p>this was an interview for a museum internship, but this thread needs a bump</p>

<p>int: so what are your favorite subjects in school?
me: history and science probably
int: well that’s convinient (since it was for science and natural history museum) What kind of science do you love most
me: (panicking cuz i detect skeptism in her voice, but i was being honest) well you know, with animals and stuff (i make an odd flipper movement with my hands, trying to describe zoology/biology)
int: yeah… alright (writes in her book)</p>

<p>and then at the end she left me at the door, and my mom had driven me, so i stood by the door as she walked away then went to my mom who was sitting in the lobby, and the interviewer turned around with a confused look so i quickly averted my glance and pretended to have a conversation with my mom</p>

<p>i go the job though!</p>

568

<p>On a similar note, during an informal college interview, I couldn’t remember the name of Masada, so I said something like, “the mountain thing in Israel… I think it starts with an M…” And then my interviewer and I spent a minute or two trying and failing to remember what it was called.</p>

569

<p>
[QUOTE=misterme34]

i make an odd flipper movement with my hands, trying to describe zoology/biology

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Hahaha.</p>

<p>I had an interview for a waiter job at some cafe (intense!), and the owner asked me what I wanted to do in college. I said dentistry, and he proceeded to tell me that was a useless thing to do and no one does it. I’m like umm what??</p>

<p>I find out a few days later he thought I wanted to do “dance history”.</p>

570

<p>AHAHAHAHAHA ^ I actually said Dentistry and Dance History out loud to see if it sounded alike. It does. hahahahaha</p>

571

<p>Hahahaha, these stories are great xD </p>

<p>I didn’t realize that giving interviews was common practice. How do schools select students to interview?</p>

572

<p>It depends on the school, mazy. Most colleges don’t require any sort of interview. Others assign them randomly (that is, they do not pre-sort the applicants) and try to interview everyone. I interview for my Ivy league alma mater and we try to interview everyone (including those who have zero chance for admittance).</p>

573

<p>Yaile, your story is SO funny! “um, he’s a superhero who dresses like a bat” :D</p>

574

<p>My Yale interview was extremely awkward. At one awful lull, I asked her what her major was. She stared at me like I was an idiot, and then sniffed “Art.” (Later I googled her and found out she is a legit artist…but her art is a bunch of tree branches, so I wasn’t too impressed, haha.) </p>

<p>I also told her that, coming from such a small school with a limited choice of classes, I was excited about attending a university with so many opportunities to try new things. She responded, “Oh, so you have no direction for your education?” </p>

<p>Then I told her that I plan on being a writer. She asked me if I had anything published. When I admitted that I hadn’t, she said, “Well, then you can’t be very serious about writing.”</p>

<p>THEN, I said that my advice for future high school students would be to be as involved as possible, because that makes school more fun. She laughed and asked, “Oh? Do you expect me to believe you think high school is fun?”</p>

<p>She ended the interview with, “So, you realize you’re going to be rejected, right?” I can laugh about it now, but at the time I went home and cried. No adult had ever been so mean to me.</p>

<p>On the other hand (this is not so awkward, more like uplifting), my Carleton interviewer asked me to list as many of my ECs as I could. When I finished, he burst out laughing - apparently, we had the EXACT same resume! That includes volleyball, student council, NHS, stage crew, recruitment, and even attending an inauguration. Hahahaha, needless to say, we hit it off.</p>

575

<p>^ Wow. That Yale artist sounds like a big bag of douch*. I wonder what her problem was.</p>

576

<p>My D met her Brown interviewer at Panera. When she got into the booth she hit her head hard on the hanging light over the table. The first few minutes of the interview the light was swinging back and forth. She was rejected.</p>

577

<p>Pavement - how about naming the artist so we can make sure not to purchase her work!</p>

578

<p>Pavement: can I ask you a big favor? I know you have no reason to do so but can you PLEASE contact the Yale Admissions office and ask for the contact information for your local Alumni Schools Committee chairperson and inform him/her of the noisome experience you had with your “artist”?</p>

<p>As a Yale interviewer, I’m aghast at her obnoxious and haughty attitude. In my years of recruiting and interviewing, I’ve not met a fellow alumni volunteer who was like that – usually the unsocial types and snots tend not to volunteer.</p>

<p>Please, please alert the Yale ASC chair so another student doesn’t have to endure that kinda crap next season.</p>

579

<p>So early in the interview, the subject of Fahrenheit 451 comes up. At the time, I have a toddler to whom I read nightly.</p>

<p>Me: (Cheerfully volunteers) Oh, I already have a book memorized for posterity!
Interviewer: Really?!
Me: Yes! It’s called I’m a Little Tugboat by I. M. Tubby. It goes (and here I quote the book, page by page):</p>

<p>I’m a little tugboat.</p>

<p>I like to sail…</p>

<p>…the sea.</p>

<p>If you are…</p>

<p>…a friend of mine,…</p>

<p>…you can sail…</p>

<p>…with me.</p>

<p>Let’s be friends.</p>

<p>Me: (Smiles)
Interviewer: (Fighting urge to fidget in his chair)
Me: (Sees that didn’t go over well, jokes) Wouldn’t want to lose that classic!
Interviewer: Uh…
Me: (entering full panic mode): My son really likes it.
Interviewer: I think I’ll wait for the movie version.
Me: (frantically trying to redeem myself) There are other books I know by heart.
Interviewer: (wisely) Why don’t we move on to why you applied here.</p>

<p>Accepted another position and informed them I was no longer interested before I heard back, so don’t know if that doomed me or not (the interview went better after that - I was listing, but never completely sank).</p>

580

<p>my friend was doing an overnight visit at swarthmore and went to a party, where he played an intense game of beirut. (beer pong minus paddles) he goes to his interview the next day, and the interviewer took one look at him and exclaimed, “hey, aren’t you that kid from the beirut game last night!?” …he got in ED.</p>