<p>Ithink I committed a big mistake by asking my interviewer her SAT score. Is it? She told me to be quite informal and I think I went too far 
Rest of the interview was awesome.</p>
<p>I had a bit of an unusual question: would a stack of pennies as high as the Sears Tower fit inside the room youâre in. It seems like this is question at companies where they make ridiculous questions. Did any of you experience these kinds of questions. I had an answer and i think it was rightr, but it definetely knocked me out of balance.</p>
<p>@devasia1000- It depends I guess on the interviewers. My EC didnât ask me any thing apart from Why Penn⊠</p>
<p>@bist- Nice man, you had a personal one! I donât think it is too much to worry aboutâŠ</p>
<p>@lambda- It all depends on the ECs you getâŠ</p>
<p>^^ Whatâs EC stand for? Usually when people say EC they are referring to Extra Curricular activities. What are you referring to?</p>
<p>I do interviews for Penn. First, they tell us to make sure applicants know not to dress up. Donât be a slob, but donât wear a fancy suit or anything different that you would wear to school. Second, yes interviewers vary, but they give us a zillion typical questions to pick from. Some are indeed ridiculous and doubtful how your answer would affect whether you got into Penn or not.</p>
<p>I am definitely a younger interviewer, not 50 yet, so that gives you an idea too. Donât be shocked if the interviewer graduated <em>well</em> before you were born or even before your parents were born. I try to put the applicant at ease, and ask them about extracurricular activities or things at school that would tell something about themselves. I was nervous when I was interviewed before I was accepted to Penn, so being nervous isnât a deal breaker.</p>
<p>But showing lack of interest in Penn, not having visited, not knowing much about it means you donât want to go there. This will be noted. I think the main reason for these interviews is to determine if the applicant is well-rounded and can speak about their activities with some confidence, in addition to interest in Penn. No one wants to be one of twenty schools someone was accepted to; why offer a spot to someone who wants to go somewhere else?</p>
<p>Of three interviews I did, one was outstanding both for interest in Penn and activities. Another applicant was pretty good, and the other was a nice person, but didnât seem to know or want to know much about Penn. In this last case, I felt like I had to try to convince him to want to go to Penn, he wasnât very sure at all. I would think he wasted his application fee if he really wasnât interested.</p>
<p>If you really do want to go to Penn, the interview may help you along in the process, change you from maybe to a yes. But it also could change a maybe into a no if you just arenât interested enough.</p>
<p>That is NOT good. You definitely should report the interviewer and she should not interview for Penn any more.</p>
<p>SSC members are ambassadors for Penn. I hold my interviews at public libraries convenient to the student. We are not supposed to have interviews at our workplaces or homes. Twenty years ago my interview was at the alumnusâ house, and it was kind of creepy, his wife kept coming in and offering snacks, and it just made me more nervous. My parents came with me, and were told to wait in the car. But the guyâs wife certainly ruined any attempt at a normal interview.</p>
<p>But I also wonder, you said you âdidnât get a chance to present a full picture of myselfâ like you did at other interviews. Do you really want to go to Penn? Or did you apply to all the Ivies? Some schools are heckbent on grades etc., but Penn wants humans more than grades and test scores. It will show in your interview if you have Penn as one of many choices. But I agree, you werenât even given a chance and making you go out of your way to her place of business was unacceptable.</p>
<p>One more thing. We were also told to beware of applicants who bring a resume. My regional contact gave us guidance to refuse anything written from an applicant, including a resume, to make sure the playing field is level. I have judged science competitions, and it is the same thing - if no written material is asked for, we are not supposed to accept it.</p>
<p>If you canât express yourself in words, and depend on a resume which we donât even know if you wrote or not, would we want you at Penn? Granted, if Iâm 85 and falling asleep, maybe a resume would help me write up the interview laterâŠ</p>
<p>^whew im glad i didnât give him my resume. He didnât ask so i didnât offer. I ainât gunna lie, I was so nervous(first college interview), and even more nervous when he told to be stop being nervous several times at the beginning of the interview XD.</p>
<p>Iâm not even sure whether he understood my great interest in attending penn. He was trying to convince me not to select schools because of the field of interest you intend to study because you are probably going to change your mind. Then when I talked about fitting in and discussed activities i was interested in, he kinda seemed to brushed it off (shrugged). :/</p>
<p>When he asked about what my parents do and what other schools applied, I think he took notes. Hopefully he didnât mark down my financial need but i kinda think he did. :/</p>
<p>When I first left my interviewer, I shouted in my car with delight because of how much better it was than I expected it to be. A few days later, Iâm still very glad about how well it went but there are definitely a few things I wish I could have done better. (It was my 1st interview so I forgive myself!)</p>
<p>First off, he told me all of his credentials which made me extremely intimidated (but definitely impressed!) He liked to talk a lot so I definitely had to use the opportunities I had to speak and give lengthy answers, which actually made for a pretty interesting conversation. We talked about a lot of stuffâŠmost of the questions were extremely specific: like how ___ situation made me a better person, how I reacted to _____ situation, etc. (I donât want to reveal too much) So, I definitely felt that the questions he was asking followed what I was telling him, which helped a ton. I was glad to answer these.</p>
<p>The two questions I didnât really plan for were: âWho is your role model in a business sense (not related)?â and âWhat can I tell Penn that they may not know about you from your app?â</p>
<p>I think good advice would be for you to have a few questions in your head going into the interview that you want to definitely answer, even if they arenât asked. For example, I made sure I knew my response to âWhy Penn?â âWhy business?â âWhy would you be a good CEO?â âWhat sets you apart?â etc. That way, if I was asked, I wouldnât have to stumble for an answer. Also, if I wasnât askedâŠI could somehow tie those responses to something else he asked me. Either way, I just wanted him to know those core things about me so that no matter what direction the interview turned, he had a solid idea of who I am.</p>
<p>All in all, it was fun. I definitely liked it, for personal benefit too. I learned a lot about Penn and he was a nice guy. </p>
<p>P.S. Make your interviewer laugh as early as possible. The early tension subsides quickly.</p>
<p>Oh, and my interviewer was the type of guy who loved to answer questions. I had to make up a few on the spot but it might be nice to have a few already planned. ;)</p>
<p>A little off topic question but related to UPenn interviewsâŠ</p>
<p>Is there any symbolism for getting an interview this late in the game? I got a phone call today from an alum offering an interview. I just assumed that all interviews were done at this point (I called Yale since I didnât get one from them and they were very adamant that they were all over and this was in mid Feb). Does this mean that I am a borderline applicant or just a coincidence?</p>
Wondering what information does the UPenn interviewer have about the applicant?
I recall seeing tips from amanivy and others but canât find it.
Please help asap! Getting ready for my interview, finally.
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