<p>Hey! I'm going to have my college interview tomorrow to one of the top schools. I want to mention some personal problems I experienced a few years ago, but which I sorted out long ago and thanks to which I'm now a much more strong and experienced person. My question is: will it do harm to my interview if I share this secret of mine with the interviewer? I just think that the whole story might be impressive because of what I've learned from the experience. </p>
<p>Bart</p>
<p>It really depends on the story … if you learned to stop bullying, I would say don’t bring it up. If you learned how to manage your time and have been getting A’s since sophomore year as a result, then yes.</p>
<p>What I would not want to hear is some contrived story that you spun to make it sound like you overcame extreme odds to quality for an Ivy. Focus your interview on being who you are and talk about things that really matter to you and interest you. They are trying to sell the school to you as much as learn about you.</p>
<p>Okay, I’ll keep your tips in mind during my interview 
Thank you.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t. This is something you should have written about in your essay, especially if you’ve demonstrated significant character development as a result of your troubles. The fact is that many adolescents go through major struggles during their high school years, and the interviewer is more interested in seeing whether you will be a good fit for the school.</p>
<p>All of my daughter’s interviews (at top tier schools) were more about engaging intellectually with the interviewer than about her personal life. The best thing you can do is not to form an argument about why the school should admit you in spite of past difficulties (the interviewer has little to no say in this process anyway) but to come off as a strong, intellectually capable student. You want to be remembered as the guy who discussed that interesting article/loves history/takes high level math just for fun, not the guy who flunked chem because he was depressed sophomore year.</p>
<p>It’s not that your story doesn’t matter–of course it does–it’s just that it’s not the most important reason why you should get into Yale (or wherever.)</p>
<p>I understand your point, thank you. But I had my interview yesterday, I mentioned it anyway, as it was the context for my future plans (I want to help people experiencing the same problems). After all, the interview is made for the college to get to know me more as a person, and I just talked about what I felt was important for a consistent, complete image of my personality. </p>
<p>Anyway, thank you very much :)</p>