<p>I was just contacted for an interview, and I think my interviewer and I will meet at a local coffee shop.</p>
<p>Has anyone had an alumni interview for SCEA? How did it go? What did you wear? Anything specific they asked? Please let me know!! I want to prepare as much as possible.</p>
<p>Please calm down</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/yale-university/283957-rd-applicants-interview-advice.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/yale-university/283957-rd-applicants-interview-advice.html</a></p>
<p>I had mine on Friday. I stressed way more than I needed to. The lady was very nice and asked me generic questions that I answered by including as much relevant information about myself as I could. Don’t worry. You can praci</p>
<p>I had mine on Friday. I stressed way more than I needed to. The lady was very nice and asked me generic questions that I answered by including as much relevant information about myself as I could. Don’t worry. You can practice you answers by talking to your self, but try to do that in private or others might think you are crazy. You may also have a chance to ask your interviewer questions about his/her Yale experience. Don’t try to find out personal information about the interviewer because 1) that’s creepy and 2) it won’t help you at all. </p>
<p>The whole point of the interview is to try to meet the person behind the test scores and the GPA. Just be you! Don’t try to give answers you think the interviewer wants to hear. Be honest and true to yourself and your goals. </p>
<p>Best of luck.</p>
<p>I think I’m going to turn into a giant cheeseball when I have my interview, and start gushing about how much I love to create things, and like… learning for the sake of learning, and how beautiful life is… I’m excited to do it though, because i hate waiting… it’s one more thing to fill up time before the fourteenth. </p>
<p>I was wondering about what to wear as well, because I pretty much live in jeans, and from what I can tell jeans are a definite no. I get the sense that being remotely fancy is bad, but you shouldn’t wear anything too casual. Like business casual. I was thinking about a sundress. A blazer over most anything not torn up would probably be fine.</p>
<p>My mom used to be an interviewer for rice university (she’s an alum) and when I was stressing she told me not to worry at all. She said it’s not really about specific answers, and moreso about getting a sense of your overall personality. The one thing she told me specifically was that interviewers always had to ask you if you enjoyed reading and what you read (not just books) and that it was very important to them for you to say that you read regularly, even if it was just the newspaper or magazines. That an interest in reading, and an ability to talk about that interest, was fairly crucial.<br>
This IS a different school, but I bet having an idea in your mind about what you would say if someone asked you what your favorite book is, couldn’t hurt at all.</p>
<p>“Business casual” is the way to go in terms of clothing. For a guy, this is easy–a shirt with a collar (can be a polo shirt), and pants that aren’t jeans, like khakis. For a girl, the equivalent–harder to be more specific. A blazer is good–can be a skirt or pants, or a dress.</p>
<p>You know what? Maybe I’m becoming a bit contrarian these days, but I’d rather have an applicant rock whatever they’re wearing. As they say, a cheap but tailored jacket is better than the four-figure but ill-fitting suit. </p>
<p>Be comfortable in your own skin. Don’t wear your dad’s old suit with sleeves that extend to your fingers. It’s sloppy.</p>
<p>^ In general I agree… but also be sensitive if the interviewer is inviting you to his/her workplace and it’s a more conservatively dressy atmosphere. I know several local alums who are judges or attorneys with some of the larger law firms. I would think wisdom would dictate dressier attire if going to an interview there than a Saturday afternoon at Starbucks.</p>
<p>I’ve met my interviewees (not for Yale) at a coffee shop, and I think they were mostly dressed neatly, but honestly I didn’t really notice. If they were wearing a ratty tee-shirt and jeans with holes, I might have thought, well, that’s eccentric, but I honestly don’t think I would have held it against them if I liked them otherwise. Maybe it would even have been a plus for my alma mater (Swarthmore) 
I would say just dress neatly if you have such things in your closet.</p>
<p>@donnaleighg: oh you Swarthmore hipsters…jkjk</p>
<p>@T26E4: Fair enough. Some interview locations do have their own dress codes, so you should observe/respect that if your interview location requires it. For example, I know the Harvard Club in NYC is used as a interview location; the club, like most private clubs (and other university/Ivy clubs) in the city, has a dress code for members and guests. If your interview is there, you have no choice but to dress more formally. </p>
<p>Basically, judge based on location and/or time. You CAN end up being overdressed. No one will bat an eye if you’re in business formal at a Manhattan Starbucks during the week, but it can be a bit weird if you wear a 3-piece suit to a Starbucks in a suburban mall on a Saturday afternoon.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t advise a student to wear a three-piece suit to any college admissions interview–it will look weird. But I would advise all students to dress in something around the level of business casual, because some interviewers will notice if you are dressed down from that, and it won’t be a positive notice. Even if it’s at Starbucks.</p>
<p>Any internationals get contacted for an interview yet?</p>
<p>My son had his interview yesterday. He wore dress slacks and shirt with a cardigan. They met in a coffee shop. He said the time flew by and it lasted about an hour. I am sure the questions asked will vary based on the interviewer. I truly don’t think it is formulaic, but as I am not an interviewer, I could be wrong. If you want, I can get more details about the questions he was asked. My best advice is just be yourself. :)</p>
<p>Question! How do you identify your interviewer in a coffee shop??</p>
<p>He or she will be the one looking at the door for the 17 yr old. It’s not that difficult to connect.</p>
<p>Oops, haven’t been on this thread in awhile!</p>
<p>My interviewer told me what she would be wearing, and I told her what I would be wearing as well. I got there early and grabbed a table (it was at a coffee shop), and let her know where I was sitting as well (she gave me her cell phone number). </p>
<p>I wore a button down shirt, pants, and flats, and straightened my hair. The interview was about an hour long but it wasn’t nerve-wrecking at all! The conversation flowed well and I didn’t even realize how long it had been. </p>
<p>Good luck to everyone else with interviews :)</p>
<p>Don’t sweat it. The people who conduct these interviews are chill people. I’ve had 22 year old friends straight out of college conduct them. Just be nice and friendly and you’ll be fine.</p>
<p>@Gryffon5147: I think your post implicitly highlights a very interesting aspect of alum interviews. </p>
<p>I think the heterogeneity of interview experiences might sometimes be understated. The fact of the matter is, each applicant will get very different interviews. </p>
<p>The pool of alum interviewers for any school will be incredibly diverse, even if we just limit to one parameter. Let’s take age as an example. Some may have C’12 grads as interviewers, while others may have C’85, or C’60. Conversations with the latter will feel more like talking to your aunt or a grandparent, while interviews with the former might feel like meeting an older bro. The conversations will naturally be different, and interviewers’ recollections of Yale (or whichever school) will also be very different. </p>
<p>This heterogeneity in interview experiences is also, paradoxically, why interviews are simultaneously a very useful piece of the application for the admissions office, but also probably not a super important or determinative part. On one hand, your ability to charm or engage with a complete stranger (of indeterminate personality/type/age etc…i.e. something very hard to ‘prep for’) can be extremely revealing; on the other hand, since this process is so hard to standardize, it would be unfair to weigh the interview (and report) too heavily.</p>
<p>I had C’early70’s. He felt pretty entitled and ‘good-ol’-boy’ish to me. It was terrible, he seemed almost to be testing me for entrance into an elite social club.</p>
<p>I asked him what drew him to Yale. He didn’t want to go to Harvard because his parents worked there and he wanted to get away. No Princeton, because he had already gone to 4 years of boarding school and he thought it would be the same thing. Yale, because he was a 3rd gen legacy</p>
<p>I had mine(Vancouver, Canada) a few weeks ago. Extraordinarily casual. We ended up talking about fifty shades of grey and asian people trying too hard…seriously. Lasted almost two hours. Don’t try to prep, don’t try to tell them your accomplishments when it isnt very relevant to what youre talking about at the time. She actually specifically said they don’t care at all about grades and sats - apparently Yale is considering scrapping the SAT requirement altogether - and they want to know what kind of a person you are. So be yourself.</p>