<p>Not a college interview story, but the last post reminded me of a time when I was with potential employer at a restaurant and the waiter spilled her tray of 4 ice waters on my lap…yeah not a fun experience.</p>
<p>lol. Can these little “awkwardness” hurt us in some way? No right? D: If yes then i’m screwed.</p>
<p>Mine was less in the interview, but more how I got there.</p>
<p>So I was the second day of Macalester interviews at a hotel and I was early by about 15 minutes. The bellboy person guy told me that they met yesterday downstairs. I sat downstairs for half an hour, seeing no interviewer, walking up and down the stairs, ignoring the awkward stares from people actually needing to use the club house. I walked back outside to the car where my mom was waiting, checked my time again, and walked back in. There was a small woman who was asking about interviewees and the bellboy told her where I was. This was twenty minutes late from my 9:00 interview time.</p>
<p>It turns out that the lady was upstairs to catch people since she thought since there was a new bellboy he wouldn’t know where to point people. When I walked upstairs, fifteen minutes “late” she had gone to get starbucks, assuming I wasn’t going to come or was late.</p>
<p>Other than that the interview was fine, but not the best foot to start out on!</p>
<p>At my U Chicago interview, two alums who lived together interviewed me. I arrived at the coffee shop early, but they were already there and I didn’t recognize them. I went to the bathroom and I guess the door didn’t lock all the way or something, and one of them - the male I might add - opened the door while I was using the restroom. He apologized and waited outside. Afterwards, I left I let him know I had locked the door and advised him to make sure it latched when he went in. I then realized he might be one of my interviewers, so I asked him if he was. It was so uncomfortable. I waited for him to return to his table with the other interviewer, and as I was walking to the table my phone dropped. The back opened up and the battery slid across the floor and under a couch. They saw. I was so embarrassed! I think the interview went well though, or at least I hope so!</p>
<p>@gracieekinss, I don’t think the awkwardness of your interview will have a negative effect since it’s Chicago. You’re lucky in that sense. :)</p>
<p>awkward moment #117</p>
<p>At my Brown interview, the alumna says, “I don’t know what to ask you. You’ve just got so much.” I then spend the next hour guiding the interview in my direction, talking about the interviewer’s life. Some Brown-nosing I’d say…</p>
<p>Okay, gracie, I think that the interviewer saw you peeing might be the best post on this whole thread! And you totally deserve admission based on that fact alone. Although I bet the interviewer did not mention that in his writeup…</p>
<p>Kinda late, but I had my Yale interview a couple months ago at my interviewer’s (INSANELY nice, CEO-esque) office. I was about 15 minutes late. Luckily, he had a staff meeting, so his secretary (his wife, who was INCREDIBLY nice) told me to wait for about 30 more minutes. 2 hours later, he was done with the meeting and finally invited me into his office with a view. About 10 minutes into the interview, his wife calls him and he has to leave for another brief meeting. About 20 minutes later, he came back.</p>
<p>The interview itself was fine. He seemed to take extensive notes and kept referring back to what I previously stated and frequently asked me to elaborate. It was very on-the-spot, and I felt like I was playing whose line is it anyway lol. </p>
<p>I think I came across as a bit pretentious in the beginning. I carried around my (private) school planner, but ONLY because it had my brainstormed ideas of what to expect in this interview and appropriate responses to each question. Nothing else. I think the interviewer thought I was trying to show off my school, which I sincerely wasn’t.</p>
<p>Overall, it was probably the best one I had. Except for the fact that my dad had to wait for almost 3.5 hours in his car</p>
<p>@Juvenis, holy crap. That’s rather unprofessional on his part, but at least you had a good conversation!</p>
<p>I accidentally told my Tufts interviewer that I didn’t have a top choice. But it ended up being okay… I got the impression that she admired my pragmatism - she told me it was good that I wasn’t stressing out about it, lol. In retrospect, the whole thing was stupid, because Tufts pretty much is my top choice.</p>
<p>My Penn interview was in a Starbucks in Boston. The woman was really, really nice and fun to talk to and we were having really good conversation. There was a homeless man at the table next to us making grunting noises and literally downing a bottle of Advil. And then, he knocked his cane over and it made a loud “ping”, and my interviewer kind of shrieked and I jumped a little because it scared the crap out of me and in doing so, I almost spilled hot tea on the interviewer. We had a good laugh about it and the guy didn’t say a word, but if that tea had spilled, I would have been horrified hahaha.</p>
<p>Juvenis, I think keeping someone waiting for over 2 hours is more than unprofessional, it is out of line. Once decisions are out, I would write a short note or e-mail to admissions describing your experience. Clearly this individual does not have the time to undertake this responsibility. I think he is doing Yale a disservice by representing them so poorly. While I certainly understand that these interviewers are volunteers, delays that total over 3 hours seem to me to be inexcusable.</p>
<p>This isn’t too awkward, buuttt:</p>
<p>My MIT interviewer asked me about the schools that I applied to. I mentioned JHU, the UCs and couldn’t remember anymore because I was just blank. She said, “Oh, so MIT is the only top one that you’re applying to?” </p>
<p>Me: “Well, JHU has #1 BME program.” </p>
<p>Her: “Yeah, but it’s not MIT.”</p>
<p>And I don’t know what to answer because I was in total fangirling mode for JHU during that time - on one hand, I wanted to defend the school, but on the other hand, it’s not a really good move esp. during a MIT interview :o Thank God she went on to the next question lol.
My interviewer is a really nice person, though. We had a nice chat after that.</p>
<p>@intparent - Thank you!! Haha, part of me wished he would have joked about it to make me realize it was fine, instead of awkwardly ignoring it… hahaah, anyways, I ended up being wait listed - but I’m not too bummed. :)</p>
<p>Is it too late to bump this thread? I’m addicted to these stories!</p>
<p>OK, let’s see…</p>
<p>At one point, my Harvard interviewer asked me what activities I liked doing outside of school. This was my first interview, and I was super-shy, so I murmured some things about Color Guard, reading, playing the piano, doing crossword puzzles. Then I trailed off into an awkward silence but she waited, nodding at me like she wanted me to go on. </p>
<p>So, devoid of anything else to say, I blurted out, “Oh, and I LOVE maintaining my Cafe on Cafe World!” As in, the Facebook App Cafe World. I was mortified :o. I tried to cover it up with a nervous laugh, as if it had been a joke. But then to make matters worse, she didn’t know what Facebook or Cafe World were. She thought it was some kind of work experience, so I had to explain that it was actually a game… I’m still cringing now. I tried to put a spin on it, saying that it taught me to be committed (I’m level 590), but then I just stopped.</p>
<p>Yeah, I got deferred, then rejected. Alas… 
Thankfully, I learned how to navigate better through interviews after that… :D</p>