<p>My interview went well. I had a 2008 Wharton undergrad alum (so he was pretty dang young!) And he was very nice.
He was actually an international student from Nicaragua so he had a thick accent but its fine cause I’m Cuban so we connected on the hispanic front 
Mine was definitely more of a conversation (although we did have less to talk about considering I’m applying for bioengineering and he was a finance/marketing major).
Expect the typical “Why Penn?” type questions.
One that kinda through me off was “What would YOU like me to write on my evaluation of you to show that you stand out among all of Penn’s applicants”
He neither read off a paper nor took notes.
All in all a good interview! Fingers crossed</p>
<p>haha well then definitely put that on your resume :)</p>
<p>What would YOU like me to write on my evaluation of you to show that you stand out among all of Penn’s applicants"</p>
<p>Hmm! that’s a tricky one… well one of the biggest things I wanted to come across to my interviewer is that I ain’t a typical Asian. Although I had my share of getting tiger parented, I rebelled at times. lol Like doing photography, competing, and at my mom’s disgust, actually winning (She told my twin that she was scared that I might become a photographer instead of a doctor… I wanted to be a radiologist on my own accord though)</p>
<p>Although I come across as a nerd in school (khakis, glasses, polos, huge stack of books, gigantic backpack, Asian) as was labeled as “too stereotypical” at one point, those who know us that there is much more to us than studying.</p>
<p>LOL but now I wonder is it RIGHT to say such a thing? I am not trying to come across as racist or stereotyper, just reflecting on how others have stereotyped me. lol</p>
<p>Interview tomorrow omigosh…</p>
<p>^btw that post was a joke.</p>
<p>Dang guys my interview was so confusing. He asked where else I applied. He asked why penn and that i shouldn’t apply because of my career goals because I’ll change them. It was so confusing because he would be a little contradictory. He shrugged at my mention of photography and then like minutes later asked whether I liked art and described how awesome penn is for art music… </p>
<p>and when i answered Johns hopkins for where else i applied, he said that to let him know if i got in since he knows someone but then after that he starts saying how bad the area is around johns hopkins and that i would fit better at penn than JHU and stuff.</p>
<p>I made it clear that penn was my favorite of the three though.</p>
<p>IDK at least i know it will not give me a bad letter.</p>
<p>That sounds like an intense interview! I’m sure you did great though! I can’t really relate to your interview since mine was so chill for Penn. But I do know that my interviewer for another school I applied to asked me that same question. “Where else did you apply?” Completely awkward silence…haha I just told her about Penn but luckily she changed the subject after that. It sounds like your interviewer was pretty down to earth though. My interviewer for Penn was a doctor and he was the nicest person ever. He really didn;t put me on the spot about anything. But instead, he was just really nice and friendly. I hope he wrote me a good letter of recommendation! btw, did you end up bringing your resume? And did you add that you stack bowling balls?!</p>
<p>Mine was I think an attorney but when asked what other passions I had, I told him golf ball stacking and bowling ball stacking. And he stares at me and goes, “I’m not going to write that down” and then laughs. </p>
<p>I brought my resume but didn’t give it to him because he didn’t seem to want it I brought a folder with me, so he knows I had papers. But didn’t ask for it.</p>
<p>You see, he talked about his own interview experience with Penn and how his interviewer said the only reason he would get in was because he was a legacy. He said he didn’t think he was going to get in because he was like neorobie(he said my name, i just put neorobie here for privacy reasons) He told me he had bad grades then got a tutor… He talked about how he argued with his Columbia interviewer who ended up saying he would get into both Columbia and Penn.</p>
<p>He recommended loads of books and it was awkward to keep saying no i never heard of them. One of them he started telling me about how Asians are good at math because of a rice-paddy theory… xD</p>
<p>He asked whether I liked sports and I go say Saints! and we discussed the game. It’s good that he thought the Saints would’ve beaten the Giants.</p>
<p>At the end of this confusing interview, he said I was vivacious, charming and quirky but one thing that he really likes is that I have a genuine love for learning (that’s a good sign right?)</p>
<p>My interview was cut off. He had came late and then realized how many kids were out there waiting. I had only one chance to ask a question and apparently it was one he already answered. -___-"</p>
<p>But i was the first he saw this year (so maybe i won’t be judged against everyone else? i dunno)</p>
<p>ahhhhh my interview is wednesday!!! i’ll probably end up showing up at starbucks like half an hour early…in an effort to have my interviewer try to recognize me instead of vice versa haha i guess i’ll bring a resume, maybe a small photo portfolio if i have time to put one together. still trying to decide what to wear…</p>
<p>haha your interview sounds very entertaining I bet you’re glad you got that over with now! And it sounds like your interviewer really liked you. I only gave my interviewer my resume because he asked for it so since your guy didn’t ask, I don;t blame you for not giving it to him. I just laughed really hard when I read his comment about you stacking bowling balls hehe :)</p>
<p>cohobucasw: Good luck Wednesday! I’m sure you’ll do great! Most interviews are just friendly conversations - unless you’re like neorobie - haha but she still did great even though she had a more intense interviewer. Mine was very chill Yes, I think showing up early is a good plan. That’s what I did and it was a lot less awk when my interviewer showed up because he almost immediately knew I was the one he had to interview. And I’d recommend bringing a copy of your resume with you just in case your interviewer wants to refer to it while writing your letter of recommendation. Good luck!</p>
<p>Does everyone get an interview? Cause I didn’t recieve any email or call yet… is that a bad sign?</p>
<p>warmmilk- I got an email for an interview 10 minutes ago. Don’t worry!</p>
<p>I think the best advice I can give is to not be nervous.
Also, give genuine reasons on why you chose to apply to Penn. My interviewer said that an applicant had once said he applied because he liked a picture he saw of the Penn campus.
I had my interview on Saturday, and is was very calm and relaxed. As I’m an international student, we discussed the differences in Swiss, American, and French cultures (I’m a French-American who lives in Switzerland).
My interviewer was super sweet and told me about her experience at Penn as well as her daughter’s experience there. She even sent me an email after wishing me luck.
The ‘hardest’ question I was asked was about who/what inspires me. I came up with something in the end that included experts in the two fields that I want to study, and my main goals for the future.
I didn’t bring a CV to my interview, but I submitted one to Penn as an extra document. Even though your interviewer writes a page about you afterwards, I feel that a page on character and converstaion level is more impressive than the generic “the applicant did this and that…”.
Lastly, my interview was at a Starbucks in Switzerland (where you normally get kicked out if you don’t buy anything) but we didn’t get anything because the line was too long. If your interview is also at a Starbucks, I would suggest that you either just sit in talk, or offer your interviewer something for their time and effort to meet you (my interviewer worked for Sotheby’s and had to get off work eary to meet with me, which I would say is the case for a lot of interviewers). If they offer to buy you something, don’t debate it though.
Good luck to all of you!
If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to ask.</p>
<p>For those who may be wondering, only about 1/2 of Penn applicants get interviews, and it doesn’t mean anything if you don’t get one (it depends on the availability of alumni interviewers in your locale, and is somewhat random):</p>
<p>[Penn</a> Admissions: Interviews](<a href=“http://www.admissions.upenn.edu/applying/interviews.php]Penn”>http://www.admissions.upenn.edu/applying/interviews.php)</p>
<p>Many applicants are accepted without ever having an interview.</p>
<p>Don’t most legacies get interviews? I thought it used to be that only legacies got them but I know that isn’t true anymore.</p>
<p>^ That was never the case (that only legacies got interviews).</p>
<p>There used to be legacy advising sessions (both group and individual) provided by the alumni office on campus (NOT the admissions office), but that program has ended.</p>
<p>To my knowledge, legacy is not a factor in determining which applicants get interviews.</p>
<p>Ok, thanks. I thought that was either a rumor or something that has been changed over the years. I’m a legacy and I had an interview soon after I submitted my application. Some other applicants from my school still have not been contacted about interviewing but maybe that has nothing to do with the fact that they’re not legacies.</p>
<p>^ I can’t speak to your individual case, but I’m pretty sure that legacy doesn’t influence whether an applicant gets an interview. Given that one of the main purposes of alumni interviews of Penn applicants is to give applicants a chance to learn more about Penn (and perhaps to make a bit more of a personal connection with the school)–as inidicated on the web page to which I linked in post #33, above–it would probably make more sense to give interviews to nonlegacy applicants, since legacy applicants presumably know more about Penn and already have a sense of personal connection with the school. But again, I’m pretty sure that legacy status isn’t a factor in determining which applicants get interviewed.</p>
<p>^ Read post #33, above, and the page linked therein.</p>
<p>Don’t worry about not being contacted by an interview. I knew someone who was contacted for an interview earlier than me but now today, I just got an email for a Harvard interview by different alumni.</p>
<p>Just had my interview… and it was one interview that I did not expect.</p>
<p>I expected an in-depth interview from around 45 minutes to an hour… but it lasted only 20 minutes.</p>
<p>I’m not sure if this is a good thing or a bad thing.
All he asked from me was basically a regurgitation of my extracurricular activities plus a deep explanation of one of the programs I started up at my school.</p>
<p>He also asked:
What do you take now in school?
What other colleges are you applying to? (questionable question to ask…)
Favorite/least favorite subject in school?
What do you do on your spare time?</p>
<p>HE FORGOT TO ASK THE HOLY QUESTION: “Why Penn?”
and Ironically, when he asked me to ask him questions, I asked him why HE chose UPenn when he applied to college. Which from then he talked about the school and how he had the most amazing times he had ever. It seemed like he had a pretty positive opinion about the school.</p>
<p>But yeah, he asked all of that in 18 minutes… and didn’t let me ask him more questions, which I was eager to ask.</p>
<p>Is this weird? heh…</p>