<p>I thought I'd report on S's recent MIT alumni interview, since it seemed to be a bit different than interviews for other schools. The interview was much less structured and more like a conversation than an interview. S was encouraged to talk about his EC's and what he liked about them, but was not questioned about his accomplishments. </p>
<p>For example, he told the interviewer that he participates in a lot of math competitions. Instead of asking him about which ones and how he did, he asked him if he had been able to solve a particular problem in a recent regional competition. When S told him that he had, he asked him how to solve it. The interviewer was not testing him, but was genuinely curious about how to solve the problem. S was very happy to oblige. </p>
<p>When S spoke about his involvement in sports, and his desire to continue a sport in college, the interviewer did not ask him how his team has done in races, but encouraged him to come to MIT and help them beat Harvard!</p>
<p>The interviewer also talked about himself and his career, which is usually not done in interviews.</p>
<p>This interview style seems to support statements that Marilee Jones has made about how they are trying to evaluate applicants. The emphasis was on the interest and enjoyment, not the accomplishments. The interviewer also seemed to be trying to determine if S was a good match for MIT, and help him to think about this question as well.</p>
<p>"The interviewer also talked about himself and his career, which is usually not done in interviews."</p>
<p>That is, though, typical for alumni interviews because the info that alum often are best able to give applicants is how the college experience may affect the students' life after college.</p>
<p>Sounds like your S had an interviewer who knew what they were doing. Good alumni interviewers don't focus on getting lists of achievements. The college has lists of that info anyway. Instead, good alumni interviewers try to get to know the person behind the achievements. </p>
<p>The interview that you described also would be very useful to adcoms. The interview would give information about the candidate's creativity, intellectual curiosity and whether the student participates in activities out of genuine interest or in order to simply dress up their resume. The interview also would give info about the student's social skills and flexibility.</p>
<p>MIT requires either an on-campus or alumni/ae interview and I've been told they give quite a lot of weight to the interview.</p>
<p>Every MIT interview I've heard about has involved the identification of a problem (or problems) and a discussion of how the student worked out the answers--or failed to solve the problem. MIT prides itself on the problem-solving skills of its graduates, and its teaching styles and testing methods follow up on that emphasis.</p>
<p>My S's interviewer had been an econ major. He did not pose a problem for my S to solve. My S felt that the interview went fine (though it was his first and so far only, so he had nothing to compare it with). He and the interviewer shared some common experiences in being advanced in math. Don't know whether that obviated the need for my S to show that he could problem-solve. He did show off his prowess with the Rubik's Cube. :)</p>
<p>I believe that story about MIT believing in the problem solving skills of people. I went to a job interview once many years ago and two of my interviewers were from MIT. They spent a lot of time asking me to solve riddles! I didn't like one of them one bit for other reasons than his asking these type of questions, but I got the job.</p>
<p>Just a funny side note...
When my daughter was interveiwed by an alum from Vassar last year, he actually asked her about her politics and for whom she would be voting. That did it for her(no Vassar!).....although she was accepted to Vassar and others, she is now a first year at Wellesley. PS. and dating a guy from MIT!!!</p>
<p>Achat, my son would probably let you sleep on his floor if you'd like to go for a week-end visit (but you'll have to bring a sleeping bag). You can even help with his physics homework.</p>
<p>Marite, I'm sorry I wasn't clear. The interviewer may or may not present a problem; s/he instead may discuss how a student solved a problem the student has encountered. The goal is explore how the student has approached difficult problems. In my son's interview, for example, they spent over an hour analyzing the tradeoffs he'd made in designing a robot the year before.</p>
<p>I understand. NOthing of that sort came up in my S's interview. Maybe because my S presented his ECs as a way to stay connected to his hs rather than as a way to challenge himself? The poor kid has had to drop a number of ECs because of his late afternoon classes.</p>
<p>So much depends on the local alumni. My S had 1 fantastic interview (not MIT), where interviewer picked up on bits from his CV and "they were off and running", but another interviewer stuck to short answer questions, fair social skills.</p>
<p>Not sure about the hair. We will find out this weekend. (Heading to Boston to see our daughter in a dance performance at Wellesley) MIT date will be there!</p>