<p>Alright, so I've got an interview scheduled in mid-August at Wellesley, and I'm pretty much freaking out.</p>
<p>I live a considerable distance away, so this will be a several-day adventure for me. I have never interviewed at a college before - or for a job, or really for anything - so I'm worried. Wellesley is pretty much my #1 priority as of right now, and I'm daunted by the prospect of having my first ever interview at such a prestigious school that I want to attend so badly.</p>
<p>Any tips, tricks, words of advice?</p>
<p>Try to relax! In my experience, the college interview is a conversation, not an interrogation. This should be especially true for you since you are interviewing at the college with (I assume) someone from the admissions office. I didn’t interview at Wellesley, and all of the interviews that I did have were with alumni, but I really feel that people work themselves into a frenzy about the interview for nothing. To be frank, I just don’t feel that interview is very important in the modern age of college admissions–of course if you come across as Mother Theresa, or Genghis Khan, your application might be truly helped or hindered, respectively, but I think that for the vast majority of people it simply adds another dimension of personality to an application that is otherwise only sheets of paper. If you generally are able to keep up your end of a conversation with a friendly adult, than I really say you have nothing to worry about. If this is a skill you haven’t quite mastered yet, then you may want to look over some typically asked interview questions and brainstorm some answers and/or try to find someone to do a mock interview with. One piece of advice that I do think is good is to have a couple of questions in mind that you couldn’t find in a basic statistic in the admissions material (example: I play the clarinet–what kind of opportunities does Wellesley offer for me to keep up my playing?). Other than that, I just want to reemphasize that the interview is not a trap and probably won’t have much of an effect on your admissions status. My first interview was with a Yale alumni and it went absolutely spectacularly–I was still rejected. When I sent my interviewer an email telling her that I didn’t get in and that I was going to Wellesley, she sent me back an email so nice that I kept it–she said that Yale was wrong and that I was an incredible person and that Wellesley was lucky to have me. So obviously I didn’t get rejected because my interviewer didn’t like me!</p>
<p>I had an alumni interview. I didn’t think it went well as it could have, but I still got in. It is the interviewer’s job to make you feel comfortable. Remember, part of this person’s job is to “sell the school” a little bit, and making you feel uncomfortable would not help “selling the school.” My (alumni) interview was more of a conversation than an interview. </p>
<p>Is there any way you could do a practice interview before you interview at Wellesley? (A family friend, who is an alumni interview for a college I didn’t apply to, interviewed me.) </p>
<p>If not, think about how you would answer what your favorite extra curricular is, why you want to go to Wellesley, and if you have questions for the interviewer. You don’t (and probably shouldn’t) memorize answers to these questions, but having an idea about how to answer these questions might help.</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>I just went through an interview at Wellesley last week. The prior postings are correct. It
is not an interogation but rather a conversation. Understanding your strong points and being able to communicate them effectively is crucial. Being able to convey a genuine interest in the school and the programs they offer is also very important.</p>