Sorry if this is a weird question, but reading through the interview thread, I noticed that a lot of people were posting questions that they were asked (e.g., where will you be in 10 years, why do you think you are a good fit for MIT, etc.)?
My interview was pretty different. Mostly I just told my EC a lot about a research project that I’m doing (he’s in the field that I’m interested in), and he talked about his MIT experience and life after MIT (which was really cool actually- the interview was in his office and he showed me some of the projects he was working on). However, I was wondering if it was a bad sign that I didn’t get asked more of the typical questions? Since we were running out of time after I talked about my project, I didn’t really get to talk about a lot of my activities and such. I still thought the experience was super cool, I’m just a little bit worried.
don’t worry, my daughter’s interview went totally different, too. Some of the typical questions were asked, but the rest of the interview was more of a scientific conversation, since her interviewer was a pretty accomplished scientist in the field my daughter was interested in. She was accepted early action last year.
Don’t worry. It is a perfectly normal interview. My MIT freshman DD was asked about her research and then interviewer talked about his post MIT career. Good luck. There’s no other school like MIT.
We EC’s are actually encouraged to think of it as a cconversation and not an interview. MIT does not give us any set questions, and the only question I always ask is “Why MIT?” The rest is a free flowing conversation where there naturally are other questions, but those questions are mostly about the stuff the applicant has shown interest.
I also always ask “Why MIT?” I ask that question because I expect that the applicant has anticipated that question and SHOULD have a thoughtful answer. And “because it is the best” is common but NOT very thoughtful answer.
I also usually ask a few questions that I am pretty sure the applicant has not thought of just to see how they think on their feet.
Other than that; it pretty much goes where the applicant’s interests lie. EC’s are encouraged to get the applicants to do most of the talking and so they are the ones who dictate where the conversation goes. It seems as though each interview is unique to great extent with some common elements to it.
I wouldn’t worry about your interview being different.
I just had my MIT interview. I’m kinda confused about how it went. I met the interviewer at a local Starbucks. I had prepared answers to a list of questions but none of them came up. She just asked me what extracurriculars I do, what I did during the summer, and a bunch of other random stuff. She didn’t even ask “why MIT.” I don’t feel that we connected very well, and I think she believes that I’m leaving my app to the last minute (Is it seriously that uncommon for MIT applicants to start on their essays late November?) I also think I left the wrong impression about several things. How much would that negatively impact my application?
hi @Krissy1998 ! I’m also an applicant so I’m not really sure, but I don’t think late November is too last minute. I know that most schools the interview doesn’t count for all that much, but MIT seems to be a lil more hardcore Into It™. That being said, my interviewer also asked me some random things, so I don’t think that in itself is a problem. If you don’t feel like you connected very well with your interviewer, it’s in the past, and you can’t really change that. My advice would be to work super hard on your essays, maybe get a teacher to look over them (I asked my English teacher)? You could also try submitting a supplement, like research or music, if you think that will make them go “wow that’s legit”.
Like I said, I am but a lowly applicant so I would take most of this advice with a grain of salt, but I hope it helps at least a little.
@Krissy1998 I had a similar experience, so hopefully we shouldn’t worry too much. Actually, I probably should have mentioned it on here earlier - it was really strange (kinda funny) in multiple ways - but like zeezeebee said it’s in the past and there’s nothing we can do about it now!
@Krissy1998 I’m still interviewing applicants so don’t worry about the date. MIT decides when it is late to start on your applications, not the interviewer. Your conversation about random stuff and your extracurriculars may very well have answered the Why MIT question. I choose to make it an explicit question, but other interviewers my prefer hearing a ‘non-prepared’ approach to the question. I’m not sure about the “wrong impression” about several things. If there is something that you think something you said sends a critically incorrect message, clear it up in your ‘thank you for your time’ email.
