<p>""Why should we take you and not someone else". In my mind, this implies that the student is being asked to discuss what makes them better than others....something my son would be uncomfortable with."</p>
<p>I don't think the question is, "What makes you better than others?" I think the question is, "We have limited space, and will have to turn down a lot of excellent candidates. What do you have going for you that means you should get one of our few spaces?"</p>
<p>One can answer the question by saying what unusual thing that one might add to the campus or to society. In your son's case, his having an unusual academic interest could be a way that he answers the question. I am sure that most of the schools that he is applying to are not getting a flood of applications from students interested in being museum curators.</p>
<p>Anyway, the question could be answered in many ways that did not involve putting down other candidates. In fact, I think that even at the ultra competitives, a student whose answer was, "I am better than everyone else," would not be a desireable candidate.</p>
<p>The questions sound like inquisition. Specially # 6.</p>
<p>No doubt the alumnis will always have that attitude. With alumnis, there is always the possibility of under current that they want to 'feel' superior. That was one of the reasons we opted for on campus interview with an ad-com.</p>
<p>" With alumnis, there is always the possibility of under current that they want to 'feel' superior. That was one of the reasons we opted for on campus interview with an ad-com."</p>
<p>? The same logic (which I don't agree with) could be used to say that adcoms wish to feel superior.</p>
<p>I agree with Northstarmom and disagree with Simba. All the alumni interviewers I have known have volunteered for duty because they loved their schools - not out of any weird psychological problems with wanting to feel superior. And I don't think the questions sound the slightest bit like an inquisition. Interviewers know perfectly well not to put a naked light bulb over a kid's hand and start hounding him with questions --- the questions are put forth as part of a friendly conversation, often couched in the "tell me about...." phraseology, and are always designed to be open-ended, so the student can start talking about what lights his fire!</p>
<p>Our job is not to intimidate students, but simply to get them to open up. And believe me - you can tell an awful lot about a student in a 45 minute interview. I can't tell you the number of students with blank, dead eyes who could not speak articulately about anything - whose entire college career was apparently geared to racking up scores, grades, and club memberships, but who loved (apparently) nothing.</p>
<p>[To those who would argue that maybe they did, but but were "shy" etc., I was well-trained to both recognize and deal with that kind of interviewee.]</p>
<p>Even question 6, which I said I always somehow got around to, was never in those words nor in an inquisitorial tone - it was always more, "how do you see yourself contributing to the school" (and usually not even that direct).</p>
<p>As for generalizations about adcoms versus alumni --- I could tell you horror stories about SOME adcom interviews that left the kids in tears - not often, granted, but enought to make me know that there is no "superior" interviewer.</p>
<p>My D also got asked a few off-the-wall questions in her interviews. For example, for one very highly competitive school she was asked which comic book hero/character she would choose to be if she could be one. I don't think it was the custom of the school to ask that, just a quirk of the interviewer.</p>
<p>My S had his first interview this afternoon. Nothing quirky or tricky.<br>
Why do you want to go to College X?
What do you do for ECs?
What kind of books do you like to read?
Tell me about your classes.
Tell me about your school.
And some questions that were quite specific to S. It turned out that the interviewer had some experiences in common (CTY, for example).
Nothing, however, on the order of "Why should the college admit you?" or "What would you contribute to the college?"</p>
<p>S brought his resume along and the interviewer took it with him at the end.</p>
<p>I think that when I was interviewing, we also sometimes asked what newspapers and magazines they read. Unfortunately a lot of them didn't read any and so it was always exciting when they did and we could talk about the merits/demerits of different ones.</p>
<p>My son had some interviews last year but the school he is attending (and several others) did not have interviews. Since the admissions at this school tend to overlap a lot with the selective schools that do interview, it does make me wonder a bit how really important they are. I am not trying to start a debate, but just feeling kind of bad that it is another stress on these kids (not including the scheduling, which can be tough for busy kids) and I wonder how necessary it really is.</p>
<p>Some of you had taken offense at question 6. This question is actually a very good question because it IS a trick question. If the student ( or job applicant) starts bragging, that says alot about them. If, however, they give a more thoughtful answer such as " I really can't say about the other applicants since I don't know them. I can only discuss my strengths." This shows thoughtfullness, humility, and good people sense. Believe me, I have seen this question a lot in many different types of interviews.</p>
<p>I think people partly take offense because it is a trick question--my kids didn't run into any, and I'd be very disappointed by an interviewer who tried to trick them into being something they're not, in the interest of trying to answer what they're asked. I really do hope it's not used widely in that form (as opposed the alternative, what would you add to our school, form). This is not the corporate world, and I'd expect the same kind of upright forthrightness of the interviewers as I'd expect from the school in general.</p>
<p>In retrospect I am really glad I never attended a 4 yr college or knew anything about CC while my daughter was looking and applying to colleges because then I didnt feel I 2nd guessed what she should be doing.
She took the SATs but while I got some books on essays and a practice test from library, I doubt if she opened them.
She didn't prepare for interviews other than to go out and buy a nice sweater and pair of pants ( her closet was bare)
I don't know if they asked any trick questions but I doubt it, she seemed relaxed and happier after the interviews than before!</p>
<p>I don't see question 6 as a trick question at all. Every candidate to a competitive school knows there are far more excellent applicants than there are spaces. When the candidates do their application and interview, their object is to show why they should get one of those spaces, which means that they will take a place someone else would get.</p>
<p>Someone who is offended by being asked a question about why they should be selected is someone who is not going to be happy at that kind of college. There are many types of colleges in the country, and part of the application process is for students to find colleges that they qualify for and that also meet their own needs.</p>
<p>It seems that if question 6 drives some students away, then it's meeting it's serving a good purpose by helping those students realize that this is not the kind of college where they'd be happy.</p>
<p>I always ask my interviewees: "What is your greatest asset and what is your greatest flaw?" I ask to see how they handle it and whether they can be candid...</p>
<p>OK, in all fairness and because I raised the initial complaint about #6...
I just asked my son how he would feel about and respond to #6......</p>
<p>He said he doesn't think it's a bad question and would respond that the school should choose him because he's unique in that he's good at so many different, unrealated things. He chuckled and said that the school probably has lots of applicants who are excellent at this or that...but he's really good at lots of things from sports, to academics to leadership.....</p>
<p>So, if it was a trick as Taxguy stated, I guess he'd fail the test. But, he felt that it was a good question.</p>
<p>It's not a trick question. Your son's answer was fine. Being aware of one's strengths and being willing to speak up about them is not "failing" the question. Top colleges want students with the confidence to be able to thrive in an environment in which they are surrounded by the best and brightest. Having confidence is not the same as being arrogant.</p>
<p>I definitely got asked #6. He asked what I would bring to that college and why that made me special. He also asked me 5 things to bring to a desert island. That threw me a little.</p>
<p>At his Johns Hopkins interview, my son was asked: "If you were a beverage, which one would you be?" First thing he thought of was diet Pepsi, his favorite soft drink. I'm sure glad he didn't say a margarita.</p>