<p>I'm just an alum who does interviews and has always had close contact to Penn's admissions office. You can consider me reliable or not, I don't really care.</p>
<p>Yes, the interview definitely gives students the opportunity to ask questions about Penn, however that is not the main objective (and it's much more relevant for RD rather than ED). The point of the interview is to allow the applicant the chance to demonstrate personal qualities, character, personality, etc that isn't apparent on an application. That's why we rate the candidates and have to submit a written evaluation based on your interview. So YES, there is paperwork, and YES it becomes a part of your application. If the interview were just based on you asking me questions then there would be no need for me to make a judgement call on you, evaluate you in comparison to others I have interviewed, and say whether or not I think you would be a good match for Penn and the school you applied to, whether not I feel you can contribute to the community, whether you are socially aware and mature, etc. Is it a critical piece of your application? No, but if your app can go either way, they will look to the interview to do the tipping in either direction. So it can end up being very important.</p>
<p>Interviews have nothing to do with speech and debate lessons, but if you think that's all my advice is then please ignore it.</p>
<p>If I am interviewing a candidate - especially for Wharton - who lacks confidence, is unable to articulate themselves, and can't carry a conversation then I am going to have serious doubts as to whether or not they would be able to hack it at Wharton where confidence is a MUST and the ability to communicate is essential. And when I say be natural, I mean that you should naturally be able to do or exude these things. No one wants a rehearsed speech or an arrogant applicant (ahem). </p>
<p>I think that you are being extremely naive, but if you think interviews are all about you asking the interviewer about Penn then by all means, please approach your interview in this manner.</p>
<p>During my interview I don't think I asked one question about Penn. My interviewer asked more about my life and family and what I do outside of school and a few things about my school and everything. I think that if you're applying ED you probably shouldn't have too many questions once you get to the interview. It's not like you can back out; if you're accepted that where you're going.</p>
<p>I'd have to say I agree with that entirely. Okay, swell, you got a perfect score on your SATs. And maybe you can dazzle everyone with brillance on an essay. But if you've spent so much time studying in your room that you arent very capable of holding a decent conversation, I don't think I'd want you in my school. Or, if all that SAT brilliance has gone to your head and you're, well, an arrogant jerkface, I don't think I'd want you in either. Certain, necessary intangibles, fair or not, can only be derived from an interview.</p>
<p>how much of your application info and package can the interviewers see? can they see grades/transcript/scores and your writing, or just where youre from and your name? your replies are helpful since youre someone who does them, not a student who conjectures what they mean. all your posts in general are helpful. </p>
<p>im looking forward to my interview, for everyone else applying early, if youre got a shot at getting in and are smart enough to hack it there im sure you can handle the interview and that type of encounter. if you cant, well, youre not going to go very far in anything. im sure there are some people who will wow the interviewer and look great, and some who will look just good, but im pretty sure that not many people who look dismal during interviews have a realistic shot at getting in.</p>
<p>Laxman, I'm not sure... but lets see what Whartonalum says. ;)</p>
<p>And Newedition, I agree with Whartonalum as well... except I don't agree that if you can't "handle the interview," then "you're not going to get very far in anything." You can be extremely shy and still invent the next Microsoft. Also, I think that confidence is overrated. People give confidence so much value because confidence allows you to "sell" yourself to people. In the end though, talent is more important and I think it's sad that SOME people are so easily "bought" by confidence, when it is talent that they should be bought by. Yes, confidence could help a lot. But the lack of confidence does not equal the lack of talent. And as I said, talent is more important; What's talent without confidence? Still talent right- and talent will get you somewhere- maybe not all the time, but there is definetely a chance- even without confidence. But what's confidence without talent? I say it is something that could still get you somewhere (until people see that the confidence is just a cover-up for the lack of talent). </p>
<ul>
<li>I hope this post isn't taken as an offense in any way. I just wanted to share my opinion and if anyone feels otherwise, I will respect your opinion as well.</li>
</ul>
<p>will an interview ever have a special purpose besides "knowing" more about an applicant? </p>
<p>will Penn send an interviewer to check up on somebody? Or to find out something that was not clear in application? Will Penn send an interviewr to see if the applicant is truly who he said he was?</p>
<p>Chanman, I think right now, only Whartonalum can answer that question. But if it's any hint at all, my interviewer shared with me that "there were a number of times" when he "caught people who misrepresented themselves in their forms."</p>
<p>All we know about the interviewees are name, school, gender, and basic contact information. We don't know anything about your qualifications, grades, testing, extracurriculars, etc.</p>
<p>With regards to the confidence issue - I find this to be of particular importance for Wharton applicants and I do so because of my personal experiences. I was an extremely confident person in high school, and when I got to Wharton I was extremely overwhelmed by the caliber of students. It seemed like everyone was valedictorian, class president, team captain of something, etc. If you don't believe in yourself and have that confidence, you can easily crumble and start second guessing yourself. So when I meet an applicant who can't exude that self-confidence I think to myself "will this person get eaten alive at Wharton?" I think that you will understand this more once you are here. </p>
<p>Chanman - you talk about interviewers trying to trick you and see if you are who you really say you are. You have talked about your suspensions and asked about lying on your application. I think that you are only paranoid because you feel you have a reason to be. Interviewers have no idea what you said on your application (unless you yourself provide it to them) so they can't check up on you. They may include what you have said in their evaluation and the admissions officers can check that against your application, and that might get back to the interviewer.</p>
<p>my interviewer sat there with my resume and just asked me about everything on there and then some. He questioned what I knew about penn and what I wanted to do there.</p>
<p>At my interview i was asked basically nothing about why I want to go to Penn. He didn't even mention Penn except to say that he doesn't think he could get in now because it's more competative now. I feel like I messed something up during the interview since I almost never mentioned Penn.....</p>
<p>veamo-- i completely disagree.... I think that talent is overrated and that confidence and unbreakable faith in yourself gets you places. If you have all the talent in the world, but don't believe in yourself enough to use that talent, you won't get far. Confidence, especially in business, is the #1 thing. "If you believe, you will achieve" and that's a fact</p>
<p>It sounds like many of your interviewers haven't been trained (or re-trained) in awhile. You should definitely be asked why you want to go to Penn and you should not be rattling off your resume or giving them your resume.</p>
<p>Unfortunately not everyone is a good alumni interviewer. I think a lot of alums want to think they are a bigger part of the admissions process then they are, and therefore try to get all of your credentials so they can make an admissions decision about you. Which of course they can't...</p>
<p>whartonalum-- i got the feeling from my interviewer that he was me in 20 years... he seemed to really like the ECs on my resume and liked the quantitative Wharton concentrations I talked about...</p>