Interview Experience

Colleges and Universities A-Z Brown University
1

I had my interview back in January, but I just realized that I want to put this out there, both for applicants and interviewers.

I don’t think I “bombed” the interview (I mean, it’s kind of hard to really really screw it up, right?) but it definitely wasn’t the best. It certainly wasn’t as good as my Yale interview.

I’ll admit, part of it might’ve been my fault. The Brown interview had a lot more oddball questions than Yale (don’t know if this is a theme in Brown interviews or if it was just this interviewer) and I was thrown for a loop several times. Perhaps I should have prepared better, but I had already had my Yale interview and that went well, and I didn’t want to over-prepare and seem scripted and unnatural. I also don’t know how I could have prepared for some of those questions, because they were just that unexpected.

My interviewer was young. I think he graduated only a year or two ago. This may have been his first year of interviewing, so, imo, he wasn’t a great interviewer. I mean, I’ve never interviewed anybody, so I guess it’s not my place to judge, but here’s a few things that threw me off:

He was using his laptop to read off his questions and take notes the whole time. We barely made any eye contact through the whole 50 minutes, and it’s really hard to connect with somebody and have a conversation with them when they never look at you. Even when it was over, we said “have nice day” “Nice meeting you” etc, but he was typing the whole time. I tried making eye contact to see if we were going to shake hands or anything, but nothing, so I just awkwardly walked away.

My Yale interviewer didn’t take notes, I’m guessing he wrote stuff down right after while it was still fresh in his mind. The Yale interviewer also didn’t seem to have super prepared questions, just went with the flow of the conversation, which was more what I was expecting based on what other people said. Which brings me to the second point with my Brown interviewer: He had very prepared questions, I could tell he was reading them from his laptop, and it very much jumped from topic to topic. It felt more like a question and answer session a than a conversation, and it felt very unnatural whenever I would ask him questions throughout the interview.

For some reason I had never considered the possibility that I could get a not so good interviewer. It seems obvious, but I guess I was just so focused on not being a bad interviewee. I guess my point is that this is probably one of the reasons the admissions officers take the interviews with a grain of salt. There’s a variety of factors that can go into a not so stellar interview, and it’s not always a reflection of the applicant.

My Brown interview didn’t go great, but I don’t think it was all my fault. I’m not saying this to complain, but I guess the biggest thing this whole college application process has taught me is (cue the cheesy music) that a lot can happen and you have to give up the idea of being able to control everything. I also would like any interviewers that might read this to maybe take a lesson from it.

2

That sort of reminds me of my Bowdoin interview. It was on campus with a current student, and the student was very nice but the interview was quite strange compared to the other interviews I had. She definitely had prepared questions, and just asked them one after the other instead of going with the flow of the conversation, and she was taking very thorough notes (pen & paper) right in front of me so she wouldn’t make eye contact, which was awkward. It felt like an interrogation almost lol. In contrast, my alumni interviews were pretty chill. I had one for Brown and one for Dartmouth. The Dartmouth guy didn’t take any notes. It was more of a laid back interview. He asked a few questions but mostly just went with the flow of the conversation. My Brown interview was similar, but it was a bit more structured I would say. My interviewer took notes, but they were very brief and he jotted them down discretely under the table (we were at a coffee shop) so I didn’t notice that he took notes until the interview was done. Alumni interviews are not very uniform, and it depends a lot on your interviewer. I feel like current students/recent graduates take them more seriously almost. You’d think they’d be the more chill, seems like the opposite. But that’s probably not always the case, just an observation. It really depends on your interviewer.

3

For Brown, literally any alum who wants to be an interviewer can, and as long as you don’t abuse/harass a student, you won’t get removed from being an interviewer no matter how bad at it you are. There is no training or feedback.

4

My Brown interview was the same way, definitely not my best. I had a lot of oddball questions that I really wasn’t prepared for!

5

I had a couple of oddball questions, but overall, it was a really good conversation and experience.

6

For those of you in NorCal, when did you have your alumni interview (if you had one)?

7

@LibbyOK I had mine Jan. 20

8

I had a similar experience, especially because my Brown interview was online rather than in person. The whole time I was talking, my interviewer never seemed to show reactions until after I had finished and was typing the whole time. Then, at the end, she was all enthusiastic until she proceeded to say something about “wherever I end up” and “if I don’t get in”, when I believe I am a very good interviewer and answered her questions well? Like, I got a huge merit scholarship at another school and I believe a huge part of that was because of my interview. It almost seemed like she wasn’t going to give me a good review and I have absolutely no idea why. The whole online experience felt incredibly awkward and I wish I could have had an in-person interview.

9

She probably just recognizes that odds are you won’t get in. Almost every kid I interiewed was rejected. Pretty much the only ones who got in were PLME applicants who didn’t get accepted to PLME, just regular Brown.

10

Also, another point I forgot to make yesterday is that I, for example, would use similar language to her because for many high schoolers there is a feeling that if they don’t get into their top X choice(s) they will be unhappy and they will be failures. I hope that when someone like me - (an MSTP student https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medical_Scientist_Training_Program) tells them things like how I was deferred and rejected from the school I applied ED to and then accepted to Brown off the waitlist and, that “I’m sure they’ll do well wherever [they] end up,” that they can more quickly get over the sting of not getting in to wherever it is they really want (which may not even be Brown) and not feel like their life is ruined before it has even really started.