<p>It was only 20 minutes. FML. We talked a little about me. I asked the interviewer what his major was, and how he liked northwestern.</p>
<p>how was everyone else's interview?</p>
<p>Sounds like you didn’t hurt your chances.
DS’s Northwestern interview is next weekend.</p>
<p>My interview was awesome. If I recall correctly, it went somewhere in the ballpark of 40 minutes, but I wasn’t keeping track of time. My interviewer was mad chill. We bonded over having overbearing Indian mothers who try to make us become doctors. My interviewer was also part of the engineering school, and told me alot about his friends’ experiences in the ISP (my reason for applying to Northwestern). It was my best interview yet.</p>
<p>My interview was in a stuffy law office with a slightly-stuffy lawyer. It was only 35 min but I think I got my point across. I hope this counts at least a little bit in the “demonstrated interest” department. Btw the interviewer did write up a report of the interview and asked me if there was anything that I felt that my application didn’t get across that I would like her to emphasize.</p>
<p>My interview was okay. The interviewer was a very bright, enthusiastic lawyer who asked a lot of tough philosophical and world-view questions. Most of my answers were good (in my opinion) but I probably sounded like an idiot on a few of them. Mine lasted about 35 minutes.</p>
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<p>To me, it sounds like your bright, enthusiastic lawyer was trying to show off just a little bit. In any case, the important thing in this context is that you put some effort into producing thoughtful responses or minimally, that you’ve thought things through before attempting to respond. The relevance of such questions in an interview is to gauge if you’re a critical thinker instead of merely a reactionary one. Whether an answer was good or idiotic (with philosophy, it often seems like one person’s idiot is another man’s beacon of wisdom) isn’t really all that important.</p>
<p>Wow thats tough ! Mine was an hour 20 minutes in a coffee shop. (I’m international, English) We talked about all sorts, it really just was like meeting an old friend. She started by asking why america? Why northwestern ? Then it just went from there to talk about my school leadership positions and fun stuff like the Northwestern rock ! If northwestern produces happy lovely people like that I want to go !!!</p>
<p>Oooh she also said that the interview was considered as strongly as a teacher rec… I did not think this was true! I thought it was only places like Harvard that really assesed you in person !!!</p>
<p>My Northwestern interview was awkward to say the least. The Northwestern alums in Singapore scheduled most (perhaps, all) their interviews on the same morning, concurrently interviewing everyone in the same venue, so I’m guessing they were running on tight schedules. Theoretically, this would preclude the option of allowing a conversation to drag on. But our conversation did somewhat drag on and before I knew it, I was being asked the sort of “philosophical and world-view questions” that I criticized two post above this one. My interviewer was like “What do you think of Palin’s new presence on Fox News?” and I was like, this has to do with Northwestern and my college ambitions how again? </p>
<p>I’m all for interviewers who wish to assess for themselves your ability as a critical thinker, but not when it comes at the expense of more relevant questions. In my case, my interviewer totally ‘forgot’ to ask anything about Northwestern and before we knew it her time seemed to be up and she was asking me if I had any questions. I actually had to work in my interest in Northwestern into a question or two (or else, I might’ve walked out of that room convinced that I had not even been interviewed for NU). Out of the eight or nine interviews I’ve had with various colleges, I guess NU’s interview was the most unfocused (I refrain from using the word bad, because I actually enjoyed the contextually irrelevant and meaningless intellectual conversation). </p>
<p>But if you’re reading this, your take away should be that interviews are unpredictable and over the course of the past two months, I’ve seen quite a spectrum of them. It’s in your interest not to ‘prepare’ yourself, but to mentally ready yourself for unpredictability. It’s alright if you don’t have all the right answers or if you’re afraid that your sincere response might not be what your interviewers. I’ve told several of my interviewers that as an international student, the prestige of an institution is an important consideration and I wouldn’t change my decision to do so. Honesty establishes a firm baseline for an enjoyable conversation. At the same time, not all interviewers manage to keep sight of the bigger picture throughout the interview and sometimes the conversation gets the better of them. As cliched as it sounds, try and put yourself in their shoes. Can you imagine an interviewer’s report saying something like “Kid is unable to convincingly describe the successor to the Kyoto Protocol; not Northwestern material”?</p>
<p>Finally, the interview, in most cases, will not swing your admissions decision. I went into my interviews with a positive attitude towards the chance to have an informal conversation with a stranger (I enjoy such opportunities) and as a result, I’ve enjoyed almost every single interview I’ve had so far. </p>
<p>Oh, and ellietom:</p>
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<p>This isn’t true in most cases unless your interviewer managed to learn something unexpected (good or bad) in conversation that your admissions officer could not possibly glean from your application itself. The odds are that your interviewer’s just trying to convince herself that her 80 minutes weren’t being ‘wasted’ on something that’s relatively insignificant in the larger scheme of things.</p>
<p>Maybe she did! I don’t know, of all the interviews I’ve had she seemed to be the most enthusiastic about it. As in she seemed like she wanted to be there. I mean as an international I’m learning every day about the admissions so I didn’t know if it was true ! Thanks for answering though srrinath.</p>
<p>I’m an international myself, ellietom, so I do get what you mean. In most of my interviews, I’m grateful for the chance to gain a honest look ‘behind the scenes’ and to distill the truth behind the stereotypes. </p>
<p>In most conceivable situations, however, I don’t see how an interviewer who’s gotten to know you over the course of one hour is as important in the admissions process as a teacher who has watched you go through the trials and tribulations of high school and writes a report based on extended periods of familiarity. More often than not, an interviewer has no clear idea as to how your interview can or will be used in the admissions process, particularly because there’s no set protocol in place. An interview report that acclaims the student as an articulate individual might be dismissed when there is a lack of evidence in the app (or worse, the presence of contrary statements) to support that claim, while a report that brands a student as lacking in courtesy and manners might be extremely important if a student’s extracurriculars are focused around things like community service. </p>
<p>The take-away from this is that no component of your application acts in a vacuum or as a part of a set formula to determine your admissions prospects.</p>
<p>^^You are correct in that, at almost every school, the alum interview is of minimal significance; certainly not nearly as important as a teacher rec.</p>