<p>Hey guys!</p>
<p>I recently scheduled an interview for this Saturday, but I'm stressing out. Do you have any interview tips to help me out?</p>
<p>I'll start off: 1. Be calm >,<</p>
<p>I know this is going to sound frustratingly cliche, but just be yourself. What I mean by that is just answer the questions the way you would if this wasn’t a college interview. In my interview, they didn’t ask really, really tough questions but rather just asked me what I like to do in my free time, and then my interviewer asked specific questions based off of wherever our conversation went. It’s not really so much “why do you want to go here,” but “who are you?”–(at least that was my experience!) Good luck!!</p>
<p>I appreciate your advice!</p>
<p>Do you think I should prepare myself academically? Or do these interviews not test that?</p>
<p>The interviews don’t test anything. They’re just conversations.</p>
<p>I see. My Oxford one was academic, and I got in (probably because they don’t make you write 20 essays >,< I can’t find a way to meet expenses so that’s off the list anyway). That was my first interview, this one is going to be second. But for UChicago I wrote my intended subject different, so it’s relieving to know.</p>
<p>Since I’m still hurrying up with financial aid applications, should I prepare to answer slightly general questions like why UChicago? What I like about the area? What I intend to do out of the university?</p>
<p>You definitely should prepare for those questions, but having written the why Chicago essay, you shouldn’t sweat a lot.</p>
<p>I appreciate your contributions.</p>
<p>Thanks for the tips; I’ll get on with it now. No stress.</p>
<p>Every reviewer is different, so it is tough to predict/prepare. However, the worst start to an interview is when they open with “Tell me a little about yourself.” That can be extremely awkward because most of us are not comfortable with self-disclosure. If you stumble on this one, then it is hard to get your confidence back. If you prepare for that one, as a worst-case scenario, everything else is easy.</p>
<p>Haha thanks, that’s golden advice. If I get asked that, I might ask them the same question too :D</p>
<p>During my interview, I spent atleast 10 minutes at the end asking my interviewer questions about her time at UChicago and other general questions. I wasn’t really expecting to have an opportunity to ask questions, so just in case you are preparing for your interview have one or two questions ready so you aren’t caught off guard. FYI, she did write down the questions I asked.</p>
<p>Other than that, I would just stay calm and collected. There is nothing wrong with pausing for a couple of seconds before launching into your answer to gather your thoughts and plan out what you are going to say in response. This isn’t an oral examination…consider it an informal conversation where you can both impress the interviewer and take part in an engaging discussion.</p>
<p>The whole point of an interview is basically for you learn more about the school and for the school to make sure you are not socially inept. Just be yourself, act natural, and you’ll do fine. It has little bearing on your admission decision.</p>
<p>IDK, mine was a little like a quiz. He was a really nice guy overall but there was one thing that was kind of weird. He would start telling me something about Chicago and throw out the name of some famous alum or something and then ask me if I knew who it was. I have a tendency to quickly answer affirmatively to that sort of question and he would always follow it up by saying: Who is it? I knew something about all of them, fortunately, but for some I just had a couple of words, like for Milton Friedman I could just come up with “free market”.</p>
<p>^Out of curiosity, who were the other alumni?</p>
<p>Thanks guys. I had my interview yesterday and it went great! She asked me if I enjoyed reading books about five minutes in and I talked about one that she ordered that very day!</p>
<p>Yes, I recommend you have questions. I had about 11 interesting questions and I got to ask them all. They’re also really useful to prevent awkward silences. My interviewer didn’t ask me anything about alumni at all.</p>
<p>It definitely wasn’t academic; just like a conversation. I enjoyed it! :D</p>
<p>@NewAccount
How can you be sure that the interviews don’t hold weightage? Is it because they’re not required of everyone? And not having one ‘will not affect your chances of admission’? Surely it can help if it went well :)</p>
<p>Don’t remember, sorry. It was a pretty long interview.</p>
<p>Interviews do really hold weight, but only so much so as to fill in the holes in your application. That’s really the biggest purpose of these interviews, to give the adcom another look at all your EC’s with your explanations of everything and such. The report generally is geared to explain to them all of these things that you’ve done, and it gives you (the interviewee) the opportunity to correct or emphasize points which you feel add strength to your application. Obviously, if you had a terrible, horrible interview, it is not helpful to your application, but I seriously doubt any interviewer will have the malice to write a negative or scathing report from it, so really it can only help. Also, the fact that you showed up at all really shows the school that you have an interest in it, which is critical to their calculation of the almighty yield…</p>
<p>@bpsbgs
In Pakistan, where I live, internet is very slow. I arranged for the interview to be done at my high school – on a Sunday. I told my interviewer and she was surprised!</p>
<p>I had a list of my ECs with me, and I discussed all of them. I think ECs are something every applicant should be able to talk about.</p>
<p>This was my first interview for a US university; are all US university/college interviews similar to UChicago’s?</p>
<p>Yes and no. Each university wants something different out of the interview, in a sense. Some universities, such as Harvard and Yale, hardly take them into account, offering them solely as vestiges of an earlier time and for comforting the applicants by putting a friendly face on the procedure. Other schools, such as Chicago, use them to confirm the applicant’s fit in the school. Still another group, such as Georgetown and Princeton look upon them as being critical to assessing the candidate and practically require them. It is this third group of schools, those which really emphasize the interview, for which you need to prepare. If an interview isn’t required or highly suggested, then generally it’s a rather minor part of the process; however, it definitely can help you if you’re a borderline candidate.</p>
<p>EC’s are really a subjective part. Some interviewers like a list/resume, others loathe them. You’ve got to feel the pulse of your interviewer to ascertain which one he/she fits into. However, bear in mind that nobody likes to feel like a depository or a machine spitting out answers, so do not overload them and check off questions to ask them. You should be prepared without giving them a thing, and your EC’s should be strong enough that they can remember them for the hour or two until they write the report. However, if you feel that they can’t remember it all, it is fine to give them a short list, but keep it simple, straightforward, and do not use acronyms or anything the interviewer may not be familiar with.</p>
<p>There are two main purposes in the alumni interviews:
- Get a feel for whether you are a fit for the school.
- Give you chance to answer questions / talk with an alum to figure out for yourself if it seems like a good fit for you.</p>
<p>So you should be yourself and have questions. In most cases, it’s more of a conversation than an “interview.” So if there’s anything to prepare, it’s probably to have questions, since coming up blank in that area makes it seem like you haven’t really examined the school that closely.</p>
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<p>Is this true? I know Georgetown values the interview, since they won’t join the Common App for fear of overburdening their interview network, but I haven’t heard the same about Princeton. (I had a truly horrible Princeton interview Friday, so I’m a wee bit touchy.)</p>