I have just reserved an interview with InitialView, but, being a Brazilian applicant, I really don’t know what to expect from it. I know thousands of you have already done your interviews, so I was just wandering if any of you would be nice enough to give me any tips, explain me what to expect, etc. I am specially curious about the writing sample, since there is close to none information about it on the Internet…
For anyone who provides some valuable insight, know that you are awesome.
College interviewers will not require any sort of writing sample. Indeed, perhaps you place too much importance on the interview? Initial View is a commercial concern, correct?
College interviews, for the most part, mean almost nothing. BTW: I’ve interviewed for my Ivy college for +25 years.
Yes @T26E4 , indeed it is a for-profit organization, and it DOES include a writing sample. I am just interviewing with them since one of the colleges I applied to (Carnegie Mellon University) strongly recommends international students to do it, as they seldom offer any alumni interview opportunities to international students and want us to prove our English communication skills. So yeah, as a Brazilian applicant, I had no option but to schedule the interview (and pay $220 for it).
CMU is the only college I applied to that required an InitialView interview. As I said, it has nothing to do with the traditional college interviews, since it’s mainly a means of evaluating your English communication skills (I really don’t know what the TOEFL is for then, but okay), and not related to the college at all.
I know that for the most part college interviews really don’t have that much importance on the admission process as a whole, but in this case, being something like a test, I believe it is almost required.
Yes, InitialView is an oral interview in the same way you can have a job interview. The program was created by an entreprising group that saw there was a need for proctored, secured interviews (due to a number of applicants paying others to take the interview for them, or having people whispering answers to them, etc.)
To answer your question skywalker, expect “tell me about yourself”, “why do you want to study in the US”, “why do you want to major in (subject)”, “why do you want to study at CMU”, “tell me about a book you’ve read/film you’ve seen”, etc. The questions in themselves aren’t difficult but they need to hear you formulate answers in English as if you were in an American classroom, and in an English-speaking seminar class. The answers need to be as developed and clear as possible.
No, unfortunately I don’t, but I assume you’ll have questions about it.
They may also ask you questions similar to question in your application, or to elaborate on (develop) something you’ve written.
I had 20 minutes to write, and I think the interview went pretty well. But you know, it’s a completely commercial thing, so the interview itself is completely impersonal. It is noticeable that the interviewer doesn’t care about anything you are saying, and they even try to sell you an InitialView t-shirt at the end.
I certainly would not make an interview like that again, not if it was optional, at least. It’s considerably expensive, and I don’t even think the admissions officers have time to something like that!
A lot of colleges have been burned by International students claiming high TOEFL scores and not really being fluent in English. (The assumption is cheating)
They are just trying to verify that you are a real person who has a command over conversational and written English. Which it seems like you do! Fingers crossed you get it in!
Thank you for your report.
Yes it’s a purely commercial outfit.
The sole goal is to ensure that you can read and write English, since so many students in some countries have cheated. Of course ALL students in all countries are now “punished” because of those cheaters. :s
There was just one college (CMU) out of the 13 I applied to that strongly recommended me to have the InitialView Interview. Usually, they require or recommend such “demonstration of strong English communication skills” for Chinese applicants, specially regarding the spread of test prep (read doubtful test prep) companies like New Oriental. For Brazilian applicants like me, it’s really the first year we have to follow similar requirements and, as you @MYOS1634 mentioned, be “punished” because of cheating scandals in other countries.
Just for you guys to have an idea, I spent over $2000 this past year to “prove” that I can read and write English pretty decently to go to college in the US. The average monthly income here in Brazil is just $575, and considering the way our economy goes, it will probably get even worse.
Think about that.
Regarding what @whatthewhat said, it has become pretty much a scandal the way how many unqualified international students make their way into US colleges, specially into the most prestigious ones. Students now learn how to game those tests and to earn scores that belie how limited their language skills actually are. In the case of the TOEFL, it’s just a matter of recognizing some patterns on the speaking section and memorizing speeches that can be used (and quickly adapted) for virtually any question. And on the SAT, we all know how similar the essay prompts are, and how easy it is to prepare some one-size-fits-all examples. Businessweek has a very interesting article regarding this topic on http://www.bloomberg.com/bw/magazine/content/11_20/b4228058558042.htm#p1 .
@skywalker11 $2000 is a lot of money, but since CMU and most US universities don’t offer financial aid to international students they probably assume it isn’t a hardship since you will be paying full price (64k) for 4 years.
Definitely not a hardship for any international student aiming for 60k-ish universities, but still something that should be already addressed through TOEFL, maybe. If they can’t trust the results and scores we get on the TOEFL, I think it’s past time to change some aspects of it.