<p>My son will be having his first admissions interview. Is there anyone who can help me prepare him? For any current or past Yalies - what did you experience? Also, how important is appearance? Should he go full on suit? Thanks for any insight.</p>
<p>Please start with the Resources sticky thread at the top of this forum, there are links to a couple of threads about interviews, one with FAQs. After that, if necessary use the Search function on this and/or the College Admissions forum for ‘interview’.</p>
<p>My husband and I are Yale grads and he does alumnae interviews which might be different from those done through the admissions office; I’m not sure. But his recommendation re: attire is to dress like yourself–only a bit neater and more put together than usual. If a suit is close to normal attire, then fine. Otherwise, you probably don’t want to be dressed more formally than your interviewer. Then again, we live in CA! As far as interview advice: be sure your son has done his homework and has informed questions to ask about the Yale experience–questions not readily answerable on the college tour or gleaned online. Have him be prepared to talk enthusiastically about his passions. My husband had much more favorable impressions of the kids who steered the conversation topics toward areas they knew well, rather than those who attempted to impress with vague social commentary. He remembers one in particular who unfortunately over stated his accomplishments in what happened to have been my husband’s field of expertise. And another who joyfully and engagingly shared his experience with origami. In general, my husband was most impressed with the kids comfortable in their own skin.</p>
<p>Thanks osasmom. This sure helped him prepare for his interview.</p>
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<p>The only time my son has worn a suit is to weddings, funerals and his prom.</p>
<p>My suggestion is to dress for the location of the interview. If the interview is at a fancy lawyer’s office, then your son should wear a suit. If the interview is in a coffee shop, or if it is on-campus interview with a Yale senior, then a nice pair of pants with a button down shirt and a sweater would be more appropriate – which is what my son wore to his Yale interview.</p>
<p>Your son can google “college interview questions” to get an idea of what is being asked. Here’s one link from four years ago that I recently posted in the Harvard forum:<a href=“http://www.soootellmeaboutyourself.com/2009/12/current-interview-questions-harvard.html[/url]”>http://www.soootellmeaboutyourself.com/2009/12/current-interview-questions-harvard.html</a>. You can find similar questions that Yale Alumni have asked in the past. The one I question that seems to come up a lot is “Tell me about your biggest failure.” It’s a standard business interview question that trips up many college graduates. The interviewer couldn’t care less what you failed at, they are looking to see how you have overcome disappointments in your life, how you bounce back from a failure and learn from those experiences. Every student applying to college should be ready for that question.</p>