<p>urghh mine was at the school the guy teaches at and it was very uncomfortable since the room we were in had like zero lighting and was filled with boxes all around us. there were like spiders crawling around the boxes and i was just freaked out</p>
<p>Therefore, my interview was most definitely a fail :(</p>
<p>Thanks Mollie for the advice you gave a few days earlier. My interviewer contacted me a few days after I called the office.</p>
<p>I have my interview tomorrow, and I’m already jittery with nerves T____T</p>
<p>^Don’t worry. If you know who you are, you’ll be fine 
</p>
<p>Just be yourself and relax. If you can do that, you’ll be all set :D</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>I contacted my interview on October 19th(late I know :(), but he hasn’t responded. I read somewhere that they must turn in their reports on November 1st. What should I do? Wait a few more days?</p>
<p>^Well, they say to wait about a week, right? The deadline to contact him/her is October 20th, and you met that. If you don’t hear back in time to schedule prior to the EA deadline of November 1st, you can put that on your application – that you contacted your EC on October 19th, OR that your interview is scheduled for “fill-in-the-blank” if you hear back before you submit your application but you don’t interview before that time – did you see the space for that on there? And then you can continue to wait the week or so before you take the next step, if you haven’t heard back.</p>
<p>Question, though: Did you put your intent in the subject line of your email? Did it say something like MIT Interview Request? If not, then maybe you should send again with the proper subject line? My son also put “(Early Action)” next to “MIT Interview Request,” just because he was worried about requesting the interview so close to the EA deadline.</p>
<p>Good luck, laladidum!</p>
<p>If I gave a really, really, really stupid answer to one question, will that hurt me a lot in the end? Oh god, I feel like I’m overreacting, but then it was really just such an awful answer…</p>
<p>What did you say?</p>
<p>haha sorry, never mind, I’d just gotten out of my interview and I was obsessing over every little detail… hopefully, it’ll be okay, and if I could I would delete that post so please just ignore it… :)</p>
<p>Thank you Jimmy797, Mollie and Chris for all of your advice. It was really helpful for my interview this morning which went really well! :)</p>
<p>My son had his interview this morning. He said it went very well. I feel just a little silly, posting as a parent … don’t think I’ve seen one other parent on the MIT threads! But still, it’s not like my son to get on here and write about his experience – and yet, it seems that people here want to know about other people’s experiences. :)</p>
<p>So, him being a very independent teenager and all, and me being a parent who tries to respect his independence and privacy – I don’t know ALL the details. Besides, I was at work before he got up and still there after he got home from the interview. But here’s what I do know:</p>
<p>It was at the EC’s home. My son wore regular ol’ blue jeans and a polo shirt – the kind of thing he wears every day. The EC wore shorts and a t-shirt.</p>
<p>My son said it was a very comfortable, very relaxed experience.</p>
<p>When confirming the time and place via email, the EC told my son to “expect a short interview, no more than 30 minutes.” And, in fact, it took about 35 minutes.</p>
<p>The types of questions you’d expect to be asked were asked. Nothing fancy. (I asked my son if he asked any weird, out-in-left-field, psychological type questions – questions that made him think, “Why’d he ask THAT?”-- and without missing a beat, my son said, “Well, he did ask me ‘What color is the bunny sitting next to you?’” Ha ha. very funny, smart alek.)</p>
<p>Things the EC DID ask:
Why MIT? What brought MIT to your attention?
What is your favorite extracurricular activity?
What was your most impactful service experience?
Of all the recognition you have received, which particular recognition makes you most proud?
Why engineering?</p>
<p>Just stuff like that – the basics that one might expect.</p>
<p>My son did not “prepare” at all – which I’m 100% behind. He doesn’t prepare for any interviews. He thinks that an interview should reveal who he is – and he is who he is without any preparation! 
I totally agree.</p>
<p>So, he had a nice time there. It was short. And he said the EC wrapped it up with a lot of very nice compliments – about communication skills, interpersonal skills, creativity, and analytical strengths. It sounds like it went much like other people’s experiences on this thread. I think it’s awfully nice of these ECs to wrap up their interviews on such a positive note for all these kids who are trying to get into one of the best schools on the planet! Very thoughtful and kind of those ECs.</p>
<p>Good luck to all!</p>
<p>My interview…did not go too well. It wasn’t horrible. But when I said I wasn’t very good at math (I still have 5 in BC Calc! - yes I know the curve is huge but I’m not an idiot… I just tend to talk a little…too humbly at times) and he went on how math is required for engineering and you need to be good at math for MIT. Then I said I liked biology and he as a physicist said it’s all memorization - I mean it’s not ALL memorization when it gets more complicated! - and said more things about math. Then I said I was taking astrophysics outside of school and he laughed and said it’s for math people… Questions: I asked about orchestra - he talked about how Asians tend to play violin to get into college and then quit when they get in. So I tried to defend myself talking about how it’s one of my dreams to learn music engineering but then he responded by saying 75% students take introduction to music too. And when I asked if people live off campus to somehow come back to my interests - I’m a real estate fan - he talked about how undergraduates are too young to live on their own. I mean, he said all this being nice and funny so I’m a bit confused. He was nice, but I guess I just wasn’t quite what he wants for MIT. (Oh, I had a whole speech about Why MIT? which he did not ask…) I’m fairly certain it did not go well in the twenty minutes I talked with him.</p>
<p>^That’s sad, idiotqueen! Not that I’m agreeing it went poorly … it may not have gone as poorly as you surmise – but it’s sad that you left the experience thinking it went poorly!</p>
<p>When I was your age (many decades ago), I interviewed for one of our country’s top, elite schools. I drove 2 hours to the interview, and I was summoned before a panel of very impressive people with extensive resumes – don’t want to name the school. Well, I did my best. I spoke truthfully and was genuine. The panel was hard on me (I assume on ALL of their applicants – there were many of us there, awaiting our turn for individual review). I maintained my composure and remained outwardly calm. But I cried for some time on the drive back home! I couldn’t wait to tell my parents how much I sucked and that my dreams were over (no cell phones in that day – had to wait the 2-hours). (That age … it’s tough!) I was certain that I did very poorly – mainly because the panel members (interviewers) were testing my mettle. It seemed as though they were disagreeing with me and dismissing my ideas, to a degree. I wasn’t particularly confident at that age, and I was very humble. So I didn’t take any OFFENSE to the fact that they were sort of giving me a hard time – I just internalized their reactions to my answers and thought that I wasn’t doing a very good job at the interview.</p>
<p>Well, it turns out, I was one of very few applicants selected. And I attended and graduated. I later had the opportunity to read several of the interviewers’ comments – in a document intentionally designed for my review. Apparently, I impressed them quite a bit. I have very frequently dwelled on that experience when feeling stupid in front of others. We don’t necessarily come across the way we think we’re coming across – and others may often view us in a better light than we view ourselves.</p>
<p>That being said, my son is likewise very humble. During this college process, I have tried to encourage him to speak out about his strengths a little more. Humility is a very nice, admirable quality. However, the only way admissions reps are going to know about your strengths is if you tell them! So if you think your humility got in the way a little bit this time, learn something about yourself for the next time, and adapt your answers a little bit.</p>
<p>So, basically … don’t count your negative little chickens just yet! The guy could have been tickled by your responses. He could have been testing your mettle. He could have been enjoying the conversation and what he saw as interesting, engaging, and unique answers. The way you describe it, it sounds like he may have found your conversation to be a little entertaining – in a good way!</p>
<p>You just never know! :)</p>
<p>Another parent reporting on son’s interview. He thinks it went well. They talked about an hour and twenty minutes, according to my son there were no tricky questions - lots of talk about his school and classes, about his main extracurricular which took awhile to explain and “why MIT”. My son did say that, somewhat stereotypically, the interviewer did not seem interested or impressed when my son was discussing his language and classics classes (one of my son’s interests/strengths) but really came to life and seemed interested/impressed when my son switched gears and focused on his math/science classes and achievements.</p>
<p>would it be alright if i brought some background materials (transcript, research papers, activity sheet) to give to my EC after my interview? would this be unnecessary/ inappropriate to do?</p>
<p>^ Not necessary.Interviews are interested in character, poise, etc. They leave it to adcoms to decide on EC’s, research, transcript etc.</p>
<p>I had my MIT interview today and I thought it went pretty well. However, I didn’t really have a chance to talk about my activities since he didn’t really ask about them and we went off topic. However at the end of the interview he said he thinks my interview will “really help my application” implying that he’d write a good report. Is it okay that we didn’t discuss too much about activities?</p>
<p>^As I recall, pretty much everything I’ve read/heard about the interviews says something like, “If you’re discussing what’s on your application, you’re doing it wrong.” (paraphrased from my general impression of things) Your activities are on your application. Hence, no need to discuss them during the interview! :)</p>
<p>(at least that’s what this old parent thinks!)</p>
<p>Nothing wrong with not talking about activities. The whole point of the interview is to get to know you as a person - your traits, qualities, how you present yourself, how you speak, etc.</p>
<p>Alright, thank you so much! :)</p>