<p>i'm done interviewing for colleges and ba/md programs and i think that all of my interviews have very/pretty gone well. however, i realize this is merely my own perception and that almost everyone says that his or her interviews went well.</p>
<p>so i am wondering, "is it possible to have a bad interview?" and how would one even be able to tell if he or she interviewed poorly?</p>
<p>Definitely. If you show up late without an excuse and an apology, if you answer in monosyllables, if you respond in ways that make you seem dull (e.g., "Oh, nothing much... a couple sports... um..." in response to "So what do you do outside school?"), if it seems like you know nothing about the school (telling MIT you want to become an English professor, telling Bob Jones University that you lead your school's Gay-Straight Alliance)... that's a bad interview.</p>
<p>A lot of people think that they've had very good interviews. After I do an interview, I usually think, "I did a good job!" But then again, I can never truly tell, because the interviewers try not to suggest whether you're doing well or not.</p>
<p>You can have a bad interview, certainly. It's hard to tell, though. But I think that the vast majority of the interviews are going to end up well, unless you dress very inappropriately, show lack of respect, etc.</p>
<p>^^^
lol! i guess all that is possible. i don't think i did any of those in my interviews... at least i hope i didn't lol.</p>
<p>My first interview was sort of bleh... And my second interview was pretty great. The first one was sort of my interviewer interrogating me, and the second one was more natural and seemed like a conversation. Huuuuge difference. The first was twenty minutes and the second was an hour... in most cases, I think you can tell something about the quality of the interview by how long it lasts. Sure, sometimes interviews are cut off or are purposely short, but most of my friends that had really good interviews seemed to have long interviews too...</p>
<p>I'm wondering.. it seems that a lot of people have "good" interviews, and people say that's why they count for so little, but really, is all interviews that are supposedly "good" really good in an admissions point of view? </p>
<p>I mean, if can seem good if you hit it off with an interview and talk for 3 hours about some interest you have in common, but if that interest is like your love for picking mushrooms or football.. that probably doesn't set you apart.</p>
<p>My interviewer told me that HYP did "priority interviews", which I've never heard of before.</p>
<p>Showing up drunk would probably qualify you for the bad interview category.</p>
<p>eternitygoddess: I'm an HYP interviewer and I've never heard of such a thing as a "priority interview". We get contact info once the student finishes his/her app. We contact them, interview,and submit a report by a deadline. </p>
<p>As for the perception that most interviews are "good" , it shouldn't surprise anyone as the vast majority of kids who are applying to the selective schools are pretty darn accomplished -- even if they may not make the cut given the miniscule accept rate. I've probably done about 70-80 sessions and can't think of any that were real stinkers. Sure, some kids were not impressive but generally no one slobbered on themselves or used a racial slur or anything. LOL</p>
<p>Maybe read the thread about Interview Goofups. Some funny stuff there.</p>
<p>"telling MIT you want to become an English professor"? What's wrong with that? MIT isn't just maths and sciences- on the contrary: they have a strong philosophy department for example.</p>
<p>There are plenty of people who go to MIT to study politics, for example.</p>
<p>I hope my interviews don't go horribly. I have two coming up and I'm really nervous.</p>
<p>Here's one that must be somewhat common:</p>
<p>"I'm apply to Hopkins because.." given in response to why you want to attend Columbia.</p>
<p>Sometimes it does happen that you stumble onto a horrible interviewer. Sucks for you if that does happen.</p>
<p>In my first interview, I was nervous but it was more of a conversation I would have with a friend that for some reason made me nervous. My second interview felt like I was talking to a teacher. I guess that's sort of a good and bad thing... :/</p>
<p>yes...i've heard of people completely blowing it to be honest. One acquaintance apparently said some nasty comments to someone behind the desk who she thought was a secretary...she was surprised when it was her interviewer!</p>
<p>i do agree with you that most people think their recs, interview, essays are amazing-it's all relative; and they are amazing in a small pond, perhaps not in a large one though</p>
<p>True story about a blown interview at Swarthmore.</p>
<p>Applicant was interviewing with a rising senior working in admissions over the summer. For whatever reason, the applicant volunteered that she and her friends liked to bash the gay kids in her high school. She elaborated saying that she kind of felt bad about it, but it was fun anyway and all the cool kids did it.</p>
<p>Swarthmore places a very high premium on diversity and is a very gay friendly campus. Any applicant spending even ten seconds learning about Swarthmore would know that bragging about gay-bashing during the interview is a really bad idea. Especially bad when the student interviewing you is gay and you don't even know it. Now, that's a bad interview.</p>
<p>Probably had 2400 SATs and everyone back home is still trying to understand how she could possibly get rejected.</p>
<p>Why would anyone brag about gay-bashing? Wait, why would anyone commit gay-bashing to even brag about it? The people in this world...</p>
<p>Just goes to show. Next time you hear about a rejection letter that makes no sense, there's probably a "rest of the story" somewhere.</p>
<p>The Swarthmore interviewer was just stunned listening to this applicant. The girl torpedoed her own application. Who knows, maybe she did it on purpose? Maybe her mother made her interview there? Admissions people see it all.</p>
<p>i heard about one person whose interview person asked to meet at his house. she didn't feel too comfortable about it, so she left him a voice mail message to meet her at a coffee shop instead. he never got it. she never showed up.</p>