Just got my interview email from Brown

Colleges and Universities A-Z Brown University
1

<p>It was a mass email to around 50 other people in my area - I guess the interviewer is holding a “Brown Interview Day” on a first-reply, first-served basis. Good thing I check my email every 15 minutes (it’s midnight, the email also had a typo in it so it’s comforting to know my person is at least human). Anyway, it says each interview will be about 30 minutes. Maybe I was expecting too much, but this all seems very impersonal. I’ve been really looking forward to the interview because there’s just so much I can’t convey through writing/applications. It’s kind of a bummer that I won’t get to talk to my interviewer at a coffee shop or something, without worrying about time limits. I realize this is the best they can do, but still kind of disappointing. How can I stand out among all of those people without crossing the line? I tend to push things a lot, so I don’t want to come off as not being serious or not caring about my admission. </p>

<p>Also, I really don’t have a good chance at Brown or a lot of the other “reach” schools I applied to. I’m not a kid who has planned out their life to look good on a resume. I didn’t even know what schools I was applying to until a month before applications were due. I’ve been thinking about this whole process and I just wanted to say to everyone here not to worry over it. Yeah, I’d love to go to a school like Brown, but if they don’t want me then there’s really not much I can do about it. I’m sure that every person on here is unique, charming, insightful, and worth more than the collection of stats on their application. Don’t forget that - it’s not the college that should make you look good as a person; you as a person should make the college look good. If your dream school doesn’t want you, it’s their loss. When you’re out curing disease in poor nations, coming up with ideas for alternative energy, writing best-selling novels, directing box-office hits, or running for president, that college will wish they could call you an alumni. Anyway, I hope that this puts things into perspective - it helps me deal with the fact that there are kids in my school who will probably get accepted over me because of their GPA/scores/extracurriculars (which they generally don’t care for very much). We’re all going on to great things, regardless of how impressive our life looks on paper.</p>

2

<p>Or is it alumnus? Who cares</p>

3

<p>People can go to Harvard and not end up in the position they perceived from the Harvard brand. It’s just that colleges like Harvard and Brown tend to recruit the people who they think will make a difference – more often than not, the innovation (Microsoft, Facebook, among countless other examples) happens because of the students themselves. There are tons of awesome things in this world that haven’t been made by top-college alumni.</p>

<p>As a Pakistani, I always look to the people who don’t even have a chance to study at junior school, let alone try for college. I would feel incredibly privileged to simply get a college education. Of course I wouldn’t mind going to a place like Brown, but that’s because I feel I’ll be able to make more of a difference than if I didn’t – especially so I can provide the less fortunate people a shot. I dream to make a school here in Pakistan one day. I know it’s hard to predict if I’ll get into the schools I want to, so I’m just gonna wait it out. I’ll be satisfied that I had a shot at it.</p>

<p>By the way, I haven’t yet been contacted by Brown for an interview. Think of your thirty-minute interview as a privilege too, because many applicants don’t get one. And you did.</p>

4

<p>I believe that interviews are not “acceptance deciding”</p>

<p>The way you stand out is be yourself, and make a strong impression by your passion in whatever you want to achieve.</p>

<p>I believe that if you show your passion and such, it will be enough for the interviewer (and not pushing too far)</p>