<p>Hey guys,</p>
<p>Can you guys help me out? I'm having the interview this Saturday, and I need some advice. What questions do MIT interviewers ask?</p>
<p>mine asked "what do you do for fun", "why MIT", "describe your school", and "describe your family".</p>
<p>It was more conversational.</p>
<p>Tips? Just relax and be yourself. I think that most (not sure if all) interviewers want to hep you, so don't give them a reason not to :) Good Luck!</p>
<p>Tips to help you if you are interveiwing with the same guy as I did:</p>
<p>1.) The only president to serve in the Senate after his presidency was Andrew Johnson.
2.) The only president to serve in the House after his presidency was John Quincy Adams.
3.) Nothing important ever happens on June 31st, no matter what the year, because there is no June 31st. Remember the number of days in each month, even if you've always had to count your knuckles to figure it out. Memorize it now.
4.) Harvard College was founded in 1636</p>
<p>I was asked all of these questions, and I said, "I don't know!" to all of them. But you'll do better...</p>
<p>Haha, bitter much? The guy was awesome other than that, though.</p>
<p>He asked when Harvard College was founded in an MIT interview? :o</p>
<p>Yes. Unfortunately. </p>
<p>He also asked a bunch of other random questions related to my local region, none of which I knew... so I ended up saying, "I don't know!" a lot. I tried to be chipper about it... admit right away when I don't know so I can learn as fast as possible! but I don't know if he took it that way. He might have got more of a "she really doesn't know much!" impression. </p>
<p>But I'm probably warping the experience in my mind; I actually think that, for the most part, it went well. </p>
<p>I would say for anyone still waiting to interveiw, make sure you have some semblance of a decent reply to, "What makes you different from any other applicant? Why do YOU deserve to go to MIT?"</p>
<p>It sounds like he was quizzing you on things. I don't think I left my EC any room in the conversation to ask any squirrelly questions, because when he'd ask one I'd steer the answer to a discussion about something more interesting :D</p>
<p>I tried many times to talk about things... tell him something interesting about myself to get my "personality" across... but he kept interrupting. I didn't mind listening to him; he knows a lot, and it was all cool. But I guess I should have been more assertive... maybe he was looking for that? There's a difference between assertive and impolite, though, and I don't think there's any way I could have stopped him from talking without being impolite, heniously so. GRR.</p>
<p>I guess you can tell that I'm really sort of apprehensive about it. I wasn't when I walked out of his doorway, but as the days pass it seems like it went worse and worse. Oh well, I guess...</p>
<p>The interview is more a validation than anything... many have opined that as long as the EC doesn't say you're a complete psycho, it usually won't work against you. I guess a truly wonderful interview could be a good thing, but ...</p>
<p>(I had my interview around the end of September so the MIT energy was running high. I don't know if I'd be as enthusiastic today - I'm farther along in the process and I don't know that the interview is worth a whole lot in the grand scheme of things.)</p>
<p>A friend of mine went undergrad (and grad) at the 'Tute, and he was an EC for some time.</p>
<p>I asked him what his interview was like once (this was in the '60s or '70s) and he said it consisted of him watching Bill Cosby episodes. He said the EC was trying to see if my friend had a sense of humor under pressure. He then proceeded to tell me that all ECs have a certain goal they are trying to achieve when interviewing. I'm not sure if this is entirely true or if some interviewers do their own thing. Mine seemed straight-forward.</p>
<p>But, it is really odd that your EC quizzed you. Especially on such asinine trivia. Not only is it ridiculous to be quizzed on a college interview, but to be quizzed on a series of useless political facts by a technical school interviewer doesn't make sense.</p>
<p>I think the interviewer was trying something like my buddy told me. Maybe he was seeing if you could admit you didn't know something. Testing your ego? Seeing how you react under pressure?</p>
<p>Beats me!</p>
<p>My EC was definitely a passive guy. You could tell that his wife did the talking in the family.</p>
<p>Wow. thanx guys. i hope my guy's nice and all.</p>
<p>Yeah... I thought of that too... but I don't know if he wanted someone who tries their best to answer the question (so I should have made up a date for Harvard instead of instantly saying, "I don't know!") even if they might be wrong, or if he wanted me to do what I did, which is admit my ignorance. Well, I think I held up fairly well. And perhaps he saw something in me that he wrote glowingly about, despite my reservations.</p>
<p>Yea my interview was cool cause it was basically him writing down all my stats (SATs, classes, extracurriculars) that were already on my application. he showed me the campus maps and class requirements, a bunch of stuff in case i get in AND choose to go. Not much about the actual prospective student stuff. He just told me to try to stand out on my essays. I felt like an idiot cause i was talking about how good and hard my school is (its a little unknown nobody school really), and he later told me that he went to Exeter.</p>
<p>JLP,</p>
<p>I think I might have had the same interviewer or someone related. Seriously, this is exactly how my interviewer acted. I was talking and all of a sudden, he would interrupt and ask a question or make a comment, usually sort of critical. I told him about my two chemistry classes in HS and he would all of sudden say, "Isn't there some redundancy?". He seemed to question me on everything, almost trying to act snobbish and arrogant. As the days go by, it seems more and more like he did that on purpose to see how I reacted. I should I have been more assertive, but I don't really want to sound impolite. It's really a tough situation to be in, because the last thing I want to do is argue, and if I didn't make any concessions, then I'm afraid that's probably what would have happened.</p>
<p>Yeah. I think if he had brought something up I disagreed with--"So, do you think abortion should be legal even though it's murder?"--I totally would have called him on it, or at least said, "I don't think it's a good idea to get into a heated political debate on that subject..." but he just kept interrupting me with a lot of information (most of it interesting, so I kind of liked it, but still) that I couldn't say "Stop talking" to. He did tell me once that if I wanted him to stop, say so, but I didn't want him to stop. I just wanted him to let me FINISH. </p>
<p>But I agree, "impoliteness" was the big deal for me. Maybe he was looking for someone who would disregard that, too, to get what they want? WELL THEN I GUESS WE BOTH FAILED.</p>
<p>My interview was pretty good i guess. I could have answered a lot better on a few questions, and there is particularly one question that I think I screwed up.</p>
<p>My EC was really interested and fortunately he didn't ask me anything strange. Here are some of the questions that he asked:</p>
<ul>
<li>why separates you from other applicants</li>
<li>what are some SPECIFIC instances of leadership you have had</li>
<li>why are you pursuing (major)? What career plans do you have in mind?</li>
<li>How would you like to be remembered in history?</li>
<li>What are your passions?</li>
<li>What are your most significant academic achievements?</li>
<li>Describe your family</li>
<li>Why MIT?</li>
</ul>