<p>What sort of questions can I expect at my interview? Also, what should I wear? Thanks!</p>
<p>Thats a good question to ask. I have heard that the interview is not at all evaluative, but I don't know if that statement is entirely true. I would also appreciate an answer to jota's questions.</p>
<p>I had an interview this summer after doing the tour/info session thing. It is very casual and non-evaluative, which they really stress. I wore shorts and a T-shirt and basically just chatted with the admissions rep, who was very cool. You'll complete a summary of your academics and EC's before you go in, and the admissions rep will probably base their initial questions on that. If your EC's show focus or committment in a specific area, you'll probably get asked for more detail on that. However, there is no set of questions that they go through, and your conversation can range widely. I don't think he wrote anything down, and if he did, it was nothing substantial.</p>
<p>Go in with a couple of specific questions in mind. This allows you to reveal your interests and is an excellent way to spark all sorts of conversational paths. There is a very good chance you interviewer will be a current student or a recent grad working in admissions, so you can ask all sorts of questions about social life or anything else. Good questions for alums/students are why they chose Williams and what the best/worst part about it is.</p>
<p>Overall, there is nothing to be nervous about. Just be yourself and be friendly, and it should turn out well.</p>
<p>Thanks, Catfish!</p>
<p>It is wholly non-evaluative. Almost 20 years ago, the admissions department concluded that evaluative interviews were often used as a way of reinforcing the "old-boys" network. Since that kind of information is readily available to them in other ways, the information they received this way was not a useful adjunct.</p>
<p>A good rule of thumb for all interviews - college or otherwise - is dress one step up from what would normally be expected in that environment. If the common dress is blue jeans and polo, wear chinos and button-down. If normal wear is chinos and button-down, add a jacket. If jackets are normal, add a tie. If jackets and ties are normal, a suit is appropriate, etc. (That's for men, of course, but the same holds for women.)</p>
<p>There are two kinds of interviews: those with the admissions office and those with alumni. I just did an alumni interview this morning. The alumni interview is completely non-evaluative. I am not even sure that the admissions office cares what I write about the applicants I meet. They have certainly never given me any feedback. Instead, it is a chance for me to tell applicants about Williams. They ask all the questions. I don't ask them anything other than general questions about what they are interested in and where they might be applying to. The College does not give me any details (test scores, grades, et cetera) about the applicants. My goal is to educate them about Williams and about colleges more generally. Today, the big victory was in telling the applicant about Williams's wonderful math department, which she did not know about. The honesty part came when I advised her to take a look at Swarthmore, which she had not been considering.</p>
<p>I tell applicants to dress completely casually. Whatever they would wear to school is fine.</p>
<p>Although I think that the admissions office interviews are also non-evaluative, I would guess that they matter more than the alumni ones. After all, the person you are meeting will be in the room when the decision on your application is made.</p>