<p>I made a very dumb mistake during my interview. My interviewer asked me what my plans were for the future. I hadn't thought about this question before, so I had to think about something quickly that sounded ambitious. The first thing that came out of my mouth was "I want to be the Prime Minister."</p>
<p>My interviewer initially laughed at my response, and then told me anything was possible. I think this makes me to way to ambitious to the point where it sounds ridiculous. </p>
<p>Other parts of the interview were amazing though, the interviewer seemed extremely impressed with my ECs, etc. </p>
<p>Should I request an interview, or do you think this is fine?</p>
<p>Didn’t this happen during your interview? I don’t think you can request another–and I certainly don’t think you should.</p>
<p>It’s unfortunate that you were caught flat-footed by that question. It’s pretty predictable. Expect it in any interview going forward–for colleges, for scholarships, for graduate or professional school, for jobs. And have an answer ready.</p>
<p>@MeIsHM: For most US colleges, you can’t/should not request for a second interview. If admissions thinks they need a second look at a candidate, they will go ahead and contact you. </p>
<p>There aren’t enough interviewers as is, and they don’t have the resources to accommodate such a request.</p>
<p>@texaspg: Have you watched Yes Minister/Yes Prime Minister? I’m aware that the UK civil service system has changed quite a bit since the 80s, but I’d rather be Sir Humphrey than the Prime Minister (at least in that context)! Psh. </p>
<p>For some fun school bashing. This was addressed to Prime Minister Hacker: “Well, the Greeks gave the Trojan Horse to the Trojans, so technically, it wasn’t a Trojan Horse at all, it was a Greek Horse. Hence the phrase timeo Danaos et dona ferentes which as you would recall, is usually and inaccurately translated as Beware of Greeks bearing gifts. Or doubtless, you would have recalled, had you not attended the LSE.”</p>
<p>If there were ever a place to be ambitious to the point of sounding ridiculous, it would be in your Harvard interview. The only thing surprising is that your interviewer laughed. Most of the Harvard students I have known have been ambitious to the point of sounding ridiculous. (And, I will add, most have achieved a great deal in part by setting such lofty goals for themselves.) Saying you want to be PM will not kill your chances at Harvard. Saying, effectively, that you want a good job that pays well enough to buy a house, take nice vacations, and send your kids to college, and that leaves you time to play some golf – that could kill your chances at Harvard.</p>
<p>The only problem I see with your answer is that, Benazir Bhutto aside, if you really wanted to be PM, you probably would want to go to university in your home country, not Harvard.</p>
<p>@JHS: Surprisingly though, I’ve done a (non-trivial…at least for my age) number of interviews at this point, and ‘sounding ridiculously ambitious’ is hardly the norm. Most kids can’t really comprehend being ‘ridiculously ambitious’. Most just want to be doctors or lawyers. Now, obviously, you can be very ambitious in either track, but you’d be surprised at how ordinariness and quotidian quality of their perception of what a ‘doctor’ does. Do research on public health or epidemiology? Founding NGO-type orgs such as M</p>
<p>Look, WindCloud, you know perfectly well that most of the kids you are interviewing will not be going to Harvard. I am a little surprised that you aren’t getting more ambition out of your interviewees, but I am not surprised at all that, as a Harvard graduate, you would welcome more if it.</p>
<p>I mean that in a good sense; I am not being snide about Harvard as in my previous post. </p>
<p>The pre-med among my Yale freshman roommates openly spoke of wanting to win a Nobel Prize some day. It was with great sorrow that he announced, late in the year, that having met several Nobelists during the year, he now understood that he was one quantum level short of the intelligence required for that type of achievement. He’s now an MD/PhD who heads the Oncology Department at a top-5 American research hospital.</p>
<p>When I went to college, I wanted to be a famous poet, and maybe the drama critic of the New York Times.</p>
<p>Elite colleges select for ridiculous ambitions.</p>
<p>I believe her father, Prime Minister Z.A. Bhutto attended Berekley. Her son Oxford. So, was Imran Khan at Oxford. The founder of Pakistan, President M.A. Jinnah was a graduate of Oxford.</p>