<p>oh my gosh....i'm assuming that ur friend didn't get in?</p>
<p>ok so last year i had an interview for a subway job..the interview was going well asking little questions about me and watnot..then the guy asked why i wanted the job..so i was honest..i said I relly love your subs..like there so good.the man looked at me like i wa crazy..i didnt get the job</p>
<p>I remember reading a book about college interviewers' most memorable interviews, and there was the one sentence story:</p>
<p>"What was I supposed to do when the kid I was interviewing got so nervous that he pee'd in his pants?"</p>
<p>Wow. I guess that would have been a deal killer, no?</p>
<p>For one of my interviews this fall, my alumni interviewer arrived ~20 minutes late. She refused to make eye contact, looking past me or at the table (I stared at her forehead for two hours). Halfway through, she answered her cell phone and excused herself for a few minutes while I just sat there. She started telling me about how wonderful all the other people she'd interviewed were, before launching on this massive story about another school. I think my half went well, but she reflected negatively on the school.</p>
<p>This is a funny thread!</p>
<p>lookatme89--I'm surprised by the Subway response. These places want you to <em>believe</em> in their product. I easily got a job at Burger King one summer cause I said I really thought their hamburgers were the best. Fortunately I found someplace better to work, that didn't involve smelling like fast food by the end of the day. ;)</p>
<p>I had a theater scholarship audition/interview with a small liberal arts school. the theatre professor had my parents stay in the room during the interview which made me a lot more nervous. He went on for probably 15 minutes about not liking shakespeare and classic theatre, which was pretty much mainly what was on my resume (which he had right in front of him...), so that made talking about my interests and experiences hard.
and the worst part: he hardly asked my anything, he just kept asking what questions I had. I always go in with prepared questions, but he kept asking! it was like 45 minutes of my trying to come up with topics.</p>
<p>t was pretty bad.</p>
<p>I had an interview with a school on the east coast. The interviewer was really nice to me and very quiet and patient but then she brought out a pad of paper and began writing down EVERYTHING I said and barely made any eye contact. It made me incredibly nervous and I remember stuttering because it was so intimidating. But afterwards, I tried to ignore it and told myself that she's listening to what I have to say. Towards the end, I started ignoring the paper and just kept saying what I had to-although once in a while I still stared at it. Not quite the casual interview that I hoped for!</p>
<p>I've had three interviews - and all the interviewers took out a pad! One of my interviewer kept asking me about politics (i'm a science guy) and expected me to say complicated stuff and he would point out that I wasn't making sense later.. it was terrible! and he kept offering me water so that I could take a breath before he asked for the next question.. It was for columbia by the way.</p>
<p>I had a phone interview a couple of weeks ago and as I was answering the interviewer's questions I could hear him typing my answers up on the computer (Occasionally I could hear him whisper the last few words of the last sentence I said... "working at the theater for a year", "British history more then American".) It was very distracting.</p>
<p>This isn't a college interview but first job..interview thru campus recruiting...I had dressed up in a business suit and put my long thick hair in a bun at the back of my head. The interview went OK but not stellar..the interviewer, a young woman, seemed a little bored. As I got up to leave and was walking toward the door, the bun in my hair sprang loose sending bobby pins flying all over the floor. The interviewer helped me pick them up and we laughed about it..I think I ended up getting an office visit because that memorable event helped her remember me over all the other applicants. Then I flew to chicago for the office visit, which started with breakfast with my first interviewer. I had no appetite but I thought it was best to order a hardy breakfast so I ordered bacon and eggs. Then it came, and I couldn't figure out how to eat bacon in front of him..so I was half-heartedly trying to cut it with my fork and a piece of it shot out and hit him in the eye!!! yikes...
I ended up not getting an offer from that company...not for that reason..when I got to the office and started interviewing I was told that they had just instituted a hiring freeze! But "since I was there" I had to go through the motions with six other interviewers! ugh...I still laugh about that day though.</p>
<p>oh jesus, this was not the best thread for me to read today. I've got a phone interview tomorrow with a program director (masters) whose work I really admire. I had a dream last night that she told me that her school was way out of my league, why had I bothered applying, etc.... then I had to go and read this stuff. I'm going to log off now and try to settle down and get some work done.</p>
<p>My Tufts Interview...</p>
<p>I get there; the guy interviewing me is a big sports guy (for some reason I feel intimidated). He asks me a couple half-hearted questions (what is your schedule) which I answer vaguely without really saying anything. Then he asks me what my favorite class is, and I talk about my passion for math, how I like the concrete formulas and perfected concepts. He then asks what the opposite of what I like is; panicked, I say "learning new thing". My interviewer is all like "learning new things is what college is all about new things". I say "I'm not expressing myself properly and come up with a BS answer". He also asks what my last English paper was; sadly I honestly didn't write any papers this year (and I'm taking AP Language and Composition). I told him so and he responded with a scowl. Now bear in mind that through out the whole interview he was talking mechanically and looking past me rather than at me. The interview ended with him telling me, off the record, that economics may not be the best major for me. So to keep it brief, I didn't get in.</p>
<p>-The Tuftless Coot66</p>
<p>I had an alumni interview with an ivy school. man i hated the guy</p>
<p>he asked what i thought about myself, so i said i was pretty outgoing and really active at school (uh which i backed up with my elections to class president 4 years straight in hs). and he says "really. you look shy. i dont believe you." </p>
<p>and after a few comments back and forth, I just blurted out "so what am i supposed to say to convince you?" i mean what am i supposed to do when he's content on judging me by my appearance? </p>
<p>later i asked about how he thought of his school, and all he said was really bad stuff about his school. aiyaiyi</p>
<p>during my Wesleyan interview the alumna asked me what my SAT score was, which surprised me because none of my other interviewers asked me that. Anyway, I told her what I got on each of the sections and when I said I got a 600 on the math she asked me what percentile that was. Not exactly a nightmare or anything, but rather bizarre IMO. Maybe she wanted to know if a 600 was better or worse than she thought? I really don't know.</p>
<p>Putting the shoe on the other foot, once an independent consultant came in to interview with myself and another manager at a niche, though prestigious in its field, consulting firm. The consultant wanted independent contracts, of course.</p>
<p>The other manager and I who interviewed him both reviled our boss who was thoroughly detestable person. Hugely full of himself. Back-stabbing. Pompous, but actually rather thick. But actually lacking a track record in private industry; he had only worked in international institutions in appointed jobs. The kind of person who (and this literally happened) promised to hire somebody and told him it was okay to quit his job (the guy had a family) and then revoked the offer after he had given notice at the other job. I found out about it 'cause I happened to see a fax come across the machine in which the man was pleading at wit's end.</p>
<p>Anyway, the interviewee came in to do a meet-greet, more informational kind of interview. We started out thanking him for coming in and then saying that we could understand he'd want to come and work in a shop led by a man we commonly refer to as The Sage, F.V. The man looked kind of dumbfounded but we tag-teamed saying we had never really worked for someone with such brilliance or vision, etc. Blah blah blah. For several minutes. I think I even said that working for the Sage had given me a new reason to live.</p>
<p>Eventually the interview said, well maybe I should meet this guy. And I demurred, saying no, while many people want to meet the man we sometimes call the Messiah, he is so busy and often very distracted. It would be hard to keep his attention and therefore might be stressful to meet him.</p>
<p>And then I paused and said, "I am not saying he is stupid or anything, I am just saying sometimes he is unaware."</p>
<p>It continued on like this for about 20 minutes. Of course this was a petty way for us to rebel as underlings. And of course it was in a way cruel to do it to an interviewee who was smart enough to sense he had walked into some weird joke vortex, but couldn't quite put a finger on what exactly was off the rails. The hardest part was for either one of the interviewers to keep from laughing at the crazy stuff the other came up with.</p>
<p>We do think we did a favor by turning off any potential interviewee who was looking to work in that group.</p>
<p>Another time I got a call from a student who was in my graduate school. He wanted to know about job opportunities in the group. I basically used the Sage line and then said that as brilliant as he was, our fearless leader was eccentric. And then I paused and said, "Now I am not saying he has strange bathroom practices or anything...." At this point this particular interviewee/information seeker burst into laughter on the phone. He knew I was full of crap</p>
<p>Of course I would have been fired had people found out about what we had done. And though weak, it was our way of venting during a really stressful and awful period where the fools really were in charge. The "Messiah" got let go pretty quickly after this time, but not before I quit.</p>
<p><em>Some interviewers should retire</em></p>
<p>It was a snowy evening. I ran my hardest while trying not to slip in the snow. I chanced a quick look at my watch, which flashed 7:02. Two minutes had already passed from the scheduled interview time. I would have arrived on time had the interviewer given me correct directions to his villa. Instead, he told me to walk to the opposite direction. When I finally reached my destination, six minutes had passed. I called my interviewer but he did not pick up. Eight minutes… Ten minutes…</p>
<p>At 7:15 I was able to pass through reception and knock on his door. He gave me a stiff greeting. I apologized for being late and when I met with his unpleasant eyes, I felt uneasy about the next forty minutes.</p>
<p>He was old. Very old. Yet he lacked an aura of warmth and homeliness that most grandparents had. He seemed to have a delicate throat and hissed when he spoke. I had to strain to hear what he was saying.</p>
<p>The first question he asked me was, "What did you major in high school?" Startled, I said, "Excuse me?" But he kept asking what I majored in, so I answered that high school kids do not have "majors" and asked if he was trying to know a subject of my interest.
He squinted at me and said, "Other kids I interviewed at your high school said you have majors."
I was beginning to feel doubtful and wondered if the old man was pulling some sort of trick. Cautiously, I explained the general curriculum at my school. He seemed not to appreciate the fact that I was correcting him. He even raised his voice menacingly and I sensed danger. I withdrew and steered away from the topic.</p>
<p>His questions were pointed and direct. He asked me if I was involved in student government. I said no. He asked me if I was involved in school band. I said no. He asked me if I was involved in sports. I said no. I felt stupid because I sounded like an inactive, unmotivated kid. I had some special circumstances to explain this “lack of involvement” and my major involvement had been outside my school community, at the workplace. However, he never asked about what I did outside of school and when I tried to bring the subject up, he switched into another topic. I was speechless, partially because I was endeavoring to conceal my frustration at his quirks and rude demeanor.</p>
<p>After the interrogation was over, he launched into a brief talk about himself. I learned that he was a Korean War veteran, and being the mathematical person that I am, estimated his age to be about 80. He mentioned that when he attended XYZ college, everyone was white and male, and started to laugh harshly. I was unnerved. Toward the end, he explained a little about some aspects of XYZ college that I recognized as outdated. But I did not attempt to correct him this time. </p>
<p>I didn’t get the impression that he liked me. He seemed eager to drive me out the door and I was eager to leave. I was convinced the old man was senile yet perfectly capable of writing up a nasty report about me. That XYZ college was my dream school, but that dream lost some of its luster by the time I left the building.</p>
<p>Um...
How bad is GOING TO YOUR INTERVIEW A DAY EARLY?
The receptionist called him up, passed him to me on the phone, while he calmly told me it was the next day.
I went back the next day, feeling very embarassed. I tried to make a joke about "at least I wasn't late" but he didn't laugh. at all.
The interview went horribly.
He quizzed me BIG TIME! I thought college interviews were just there so the alums can meet you, not quizz you.
Anyway, here's a bit of how it went.</p>
<p>Me : I'm majoring in economics and law at my high school. This year I'm studying international law.
Interviewer : Oh I have a masters in international law. What exactly are you studying?
Me : Well we just had to write a paper about the legal differences between the Iraq war and the Kosovo intervention.
Interviewer : So, what were they?
Me : :o Um......................................................... (he also looked like a republican big time so I couldn't say much about Iraq being illegal)</p>
<p>Next</p>
<p>Me : I'm also studying philosophy. I'm studying Kant right now.
Interviewer : Good old Kant. Can you tell me the principle points of Kant's theory?
Me : um....... wellllllll....................... philosophy isn't realllllllllly my strong point........ but........... um........... well............ imagine a stone......... (I SUCK in philosophy, btw)</p>
<p>Need I mention that this school has about a gazillion philosophy requirements!</p>
<p>About a month and a half later I was waiting for the bus in front of my interviewer's office. I was sitting on the ground, as us rebellious teenagers so often do, looking like a tramp, may I add, and who walks by on his lunch break? MY INTERVIEWER!</p>
<p>My brother's interviewer at Wesleyan said,
"I do interviews differently.
You just talk."
!!!!</p>
<p>I really hope I get someone like that.</p>
<p>"
Me : I'm majoring in economics and law at my high school. This year I'm studying international law.
Interviewer : Oh I have a masters in international law. What exactly are you studying?
Me : Well we just had to write a paper about the legal differences between the Iraq war and the Kosovo intervention.
Interviewer : So, what were they?
Me : Um................................................ ......... (he also looked like a republican big time so I couldn't say much about Iraq being illegal):"</p>
<p>I don't know what college you applied to, but I know that I am a Harvard alum and have asked similar follow-up questions in response to students' mentioning their research papers. I wasn't trying to trick them, but was interested in what they had written about and learned.</p>
<p>I think that most interviewers are interested in one's research and critical thinking skills, and wouldn't be judging you on whether your politics match your interviewers. They might, however, have understandable concerns if a student couldn't answer some basic questions about the topic of their research. </p>
<p>If you thought the evidence showed that the war is illegal, you should have said so -- and backed up your opinion with evidence.</p>
<p>However, going to the interview a day early wasn't a big deal. It's really something to chuckle about, not something that would get you rejected. It's also far better than going a day late!</p>