Interviews: St. Lawrence and Hobart and William Smith. Any tips?

Parent Cafe
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<p>I scheduled two off-campus interviews for St. Lawrence University and Hobart and William Smith Colleges during the Martin Luther King, Jr. weekend.</p>

<p>HWS's interview is on my birthday, January 15th. Oh, how lucky was I? Lol. Luckily, something told me not to schedule St. Lawrence's interview on my birthday (nerves and stress, maybe?), and I'm glad I didn't and got it for the 16th. </p>

<p>Back to back interviews. Oh boy, haha. </p>

<p>Does anyone have any tips to share, such as questions to watch out for? I plan to bring a copy of my transcript and my resume. </p>

<p>Any help (and heart-calming methods) would be greatly appreciated! Here are some stats if you are interested and would help to form a reply.</p>

<p>Stats:
Race: Black, specifically Afro-Carribean
Ethnicity: American born, Haitian background.
Hopefully majoring in: Biology</p>

<p>SATs (highest scores): 630 CR, 470 M (I know, I know), 500 W. ACT: Scores not available yet.</p>

<p>Class Rank: 12/120 (from 06/2010, after the marking period ended in Nov., I think it's higher... it better be... hopefully)</p>

<p>GPA: 91 unweighted. On a 4.0 scale: 3.7 (once again from 06/2010)</p>

<p>ECs: Chapter VP for Junior Statesmen of America (nationally student-run political organization);
Homeroom Rep. for Student Gov't.;
Student at SUNY Downstate Medical Center taking college-level general anatomy and physiology classes, formally known as the Science and Technology Entry Program (STEP);
Internship with the Geriatrics Psychology center at Downstate socializing with an Alzheimer's patient;
National Honor Society.</p>

<p>APs: U.S. History, Literature (junior year), Language (senior year). APs have recently been offered in my school about 5-8 years ago, from my knowledge, and I've taken all that my school currently offers.</p>

<p>Other college-level classes: Pre-Calc (with credits received from school partnership with St. John's University, along with AP Language); *Student at SUNY Downstate Medical Center taking college-level general anatomy and physiology classes.</p>

<p>*Note: I wrote about the SUNY class twice, because it's an after school activity, but we do have tests and transcripts.</p>

<p>**Note: St. Lawrence has a CSTEP, which is a collegiate version of the program I'm already in at SUNY Downstate Medical Center.</p>

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<p>I think HWS is score optional. In your case, I strongly suggest withholding your scores because otherwise your profile is great. Find something about HWS that you love and mention it in your interview. Does HWS have that auto-admit to Albany med or is that Union? Actually you might want to take a look at Union as well. Hope it’s not too late!</p>

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<p>@woody I already submitted in my SAT scores, unfortunately. I have yet to receive my ACT scores to see if they outweigh it. =/ I found out these schools were SAT optional AFTER I applied, but hopefully I get to mention the scores during the interview.</p>

<p>I think I’ve already applied to enough schools for my liking, but thank you for the suggestion and the reply. :)</p>

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<p>I can’t say that you will be asked this, but both my daughter and a friend where asked the same question from their HWS interviewer:</p>

<p>“If you could choose from any historical character, who would you choose to have lunch with, and why? Who would you choose to have dinner with, and why?”</p>

<p>My daughter’s interviewer was totally taken aback when she chose to have lunch with Sandy Koufax. He told her, “I sure didn’t see that one coming!”, and noted that they like the question because it lets them see if kids have a wider world view than the more typical picks (current pop music/film star or current politician), and if they have the ability to back up a position with real information.</p>

<p>Of course, you should be prepared for the standard questions:</p>

<p>“Why do you want to attend this college?”</p>

<p>“Is there anything else you would like to tell us about yourself?”</p>

<p>“What questions do you have for me?”</p>

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<p>My son’s interviewer (pn campus) at HWS asked him which animal in the rain forest he would want to be and why. Only school he got a question like that. </p>

<p>He also interviewed with an SLU alum. </p>

<p>My advice and what I told my son was to simply be himself.</p>

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<p>@ALF and @emilybee: </p>

<p>So HWS ask those kind of unique questions, huh? O_O Wow, that just shows how open-minded and cultured (if I should say) they want their students to be. That’s good, and exactly what I’m looking for in a school. Thank you! =)</p>

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<p>There was a thread started yesterday with a link to a blog with really good info re: interview tips (this was for Harvard, but I’m sure it’s helpful across the board).</p>

<p>[The</a> other side of the table](<a href=“http://harvardinterviewer.blogspot.com/]The”>http://harvardinterviewer.blogspot.com/)</p>

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<p>@LINYMOM: I remember reading that article while creeping around that same thread. Really helpful suggestions the person blogged. </p>

<p>Thank you. =)</p>

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<p>Rosary, one of my sons interviewed with HWS. It was fairly straight forward. They just chatted about school and high school life. I know that the interviewer asked specifically either about his favorite book, or the most recent book he read (not sure) and he was asked if he saw a movie recently. My son interviewed at a private prep school and he attended a public high school (he was asked to travel to the private prep school). My son said that he was the only male who interviewed without a suit and tie. My son was nicely dressed in slacks, a solid colored cotton sweater with a collared shirt under that. He wore black leather shoes. I thought that he was very nicely dressed, but he felt a bit strange because of what he saw the private prep students wearing. My son was admitted and was offered a merit award.</p>

<p>My son found the interview to be fine. He said that the interviewer made him feel comfortable and they just chatted about all kinds of things. It was an easy conversation between them. I will say that this was one of my son’s last interviews, so he already had some practice!</p>

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<p>Make a list of the things YOU want to be sure to get across. And read their website carefully, be exact about what interests you in the school-- that will show a lot about you too. The questions you ask will show as much about you as anything else, so plan some good ones. And of course, be yourself!</p>

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<p>@Gwen Fairfax: I’m lurking around the forum to write what questions I want to ask. Thank you!</p>

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<p>My son’s HWS interview was off campus, during the summer. We had visited campus in the spring. He wore a polo shirt and shorts. He told me there were no “tricky” questions or at least questions he perceived as tricky and that most of the time they spent talking about high school, what he was interested in, golf and sailing and at the time my son was “into” a particular author and I think they talked about that. I think it was alittle over a half hour. My son seemed quite relaxed after (more relaxed than when he left his Colby interview) and he was accepted at HWS.</p>

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<p>Thank you for all of your suggestions, everyone!</p>

<p>My HWS interview was conducted by a recent alumnae (Class of '09) and she was really nice and we literally had a conversation ranging from school, future plans, and HWS. Found out we had a lot of things in common from her reason to staying as a resident at HWS (she lived in Geneva), and also that she now stays in NYC, even at one point lived in my borough. </p>

<p>My SLU interview was conducted by the director of admissions (who also overviews the scholarship I applied for) and an alumnae herself (Class of '00). Our interview went so well, she even stated how she could speak with me all day. Take that as you want, but I felt really excited and honored when she told me that. </p>

<p><em>crossing my fingers that I get in</em> Once again, thank you, everyone! <em>Off to write thank you notes to the interviewers!</em></p>

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<p>So glad that it went so well! Best of luck!</p>

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<p>Great to hear it went so well for you and good luck!</p>

<p>We were very impressed with both schools and they are probably my son’s top choices.</p>

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<p>Yay, Rosary, that sounds so promising! Good for you!</p>