<p>What kinds of questions are asked at interviews?</p>
<p>They might ask you questions related to your theatrical resume – for instance, my son was applying for Acting, yet his resume showed mostly Musical Theatre, and they asked him about this.</p>
<p>If your resume reports any kind of unusual special interest or ability, they might ask you about that.</p>
<p>My son was asked, “Where do you see yourself in five years?”</p>
<p>People have reported being asked, “If you couldn’t study theatre, what would your next most desired subject of study be?”</p>
<p>So often they ask-- what questions do you have for us? Which seems sensible but D has felt as if they bristled when she asked what sets their program apart, or what the performance opportunities are. (She may be hypersensitive.) If you’ve read the website carefully-- the questions you really want answers to can be hard to frame.</p>
<p>When my D was interviewing in technical theater, I noted roughly 5 types of questions.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Technical. This included questions about equipment and so on. Obviously, that doesn’t apply to actors–but they could ask about places you’ve worked or the kinds of training you’ve gotten.</p></li>
<li><p>Personal. Where do you see yourself in 5 years? What is the biggest challenge you’ve faced so far? Tell us something we don’t know about you from your resume.</p></li>
<li><p>Critical. Which are your favorite plays or playwrights? Describe a professional performance you’ve seen recently and tell us what you liked about it.</p></li>
<li><p>Creative. For everything on your resume be prepared to list the problems, explain your choices, and assess the success of your work.</p></li>
<li><p>Do you have any questions for us?</p></li>
</ol>
<p>The interviews varied quite a bit from the brusque 10 minute brush-off to the relaxed one hour welcome but I did not hear of any questions that did not fall into one of these categories. Of course, I was not there–which makes a difference. I will add that, as many others have remarked, you cannot tell by the interview if you got in or not.</p>
<p>These are about the 12 most common:
- Tell me about yourself.
- Why are you interested in our college?
- What can I tell you about our college?
- Who in your life has most influenced you?
- Why do you want to major in ______________ ?
- What will you contribute to our campus community?
- Tell me about a challenge that you overcame.
- What do you do for fun in your free time?
- What do you see yourself doing 10 years from now?
- Does your high school record accurately reflect your effort and ability?
- Recommend a good book to me.
- If you could do one thing in high school differently, what would it be?</p>
<p>I agree with NJTheatreMOM that, if your resume indicates your interests or abilities, you should be prepared for the fact that the auditor(s) will focus on them - and not just to ask you questions! When my S auditioned for acting programs a few years ago, his resume noted that he was experienced in American Sign Language. An auditor asked him to do his monologue again - in ASL! He then did his monologue without speaking - just using ASL. I am sure she wasn’t checking to see whether he actually knew ASL - but whether he could respond quickly to an unusual request and whether he was expressive in doing a monologue without speaking. Another auditor noticed that my S’s resume indicated that he liked to do impressions - and asked my S to do an impression of the second auditor, which my S did. So - it could be that you are not simply asked about an item on your resume - you actually may be asked to do something performance related in connection with an item on your resume! Just be prepared for the unexpected - and if the unexpected occurs, like it did for my S, just go with it and have a good time!</p>