I had my MIT interview today, and I’ve read a couple of threads on CC about them so I thought I’d just report on mine.
I contacted my EC over email. She responded within an hour, and we set up a time within the week.
The interview was held in a coffee shop, so I just dressed in a nice-ish sweater, khakis, and some boat shoes (I think that’s what they’re called??). I decided to go in between formal and casual, perhaps something like on a picture day.
She gave me her number and personal email, for convenience purposes I would guess, so I texted her that I was set to arrive about 15 minutes early and as it turns out, she was also going to arrive at about the same time!
My interview experience probably lasted about 90 minutes in total. She was very nice, but I’m always a little bit awkward in person. She first tried to break the “ice” by telling me about herself. Then she launched into some questions such as (not the exact wording and maybe not entirely accurate but):
Where have you lived?
Have you traveled anywhere?
What are your courses? AP? Favorite?
What would you be interested in conducting research in?
What do you do outside of school?
Tell me about a technical problem that you dealt with.
Tell me about a problem that you dealt with in a group.
Then she gave me an opportunity to add anything else that I would like to tell her about myself before I was given a chance to ask her any questions that I had about MIT.
I have to agree with a lot of what I read. I know for sure that I’m a lot harsher on myself than she will be on me, and the EC is really just trying to get information about you to advocate you in the best light possible to the admission officers. She told me the purpose of the interview was to provide context about where you are from and the opportunities (or lack thereof) that are offered in the area as well as just trying to get to know you as a person.
Overall, I think it went well, but personally, it didn’t assuage any of the doubts that I have about my fit within MIT and if anything, confirmed them.
