<p>I've already gone back and read just about every single interview thread on CC...we're meeting in a coffee shop. I should dress business casual, right? I'm thinking of wearing black dress pants, a gray polo, a green sweater, and black closed-toe low heels.</p>
<p>And I know this is probably a silly question, but I was reading a thread where someone was talking about how he/she shouldn't have ordered some type of drink or another at a coffee shop, which led to a rather extensive discussion on which drinks one should/should not order when at an interview taking place in a coffee shop. Anyone have anything to say about this? I was unaware that there was some kind of coffee ordering etiquette of sorts when it comes to college interviews...</p>
<p>Any other tips/advice/experiences you're willing to share are greatly appreciated!</p>
<p>the chicago people want to have a conversation. they could care less about listing your awards or activities. I talked to my interviewer about the election. Very casual, and actually fun.</p>
<p>sorry to steal your thread spazzity, but should we bring like a short resume? i did for other interviews, but idk if it's appropriate for uchicago.</p>
<p>Well, I brought a resume for my interview today but we never got around to that. We wandered off into a tangent about politics, the media, elections and basically tied everything I did into it. Near the end of the interview, my interviewer just looked over the resume to see if we missed anything important. </p>
<p>I wore a gray dress shirt, jeans and some nice shoes. Not too formal, but not too casual either.</p>
<p>Interviews don't mean much at places like Chicago.</p>
<p>A good rule of thumb is that when a college uses alumni interviewers, then the interviews are much more oriented toward keeping alumni engaged and keeping applicants happy - most applicants would look negatively on a college that does not offer interviews!</p>
<p>Colleges that DO take interviews into account will use professonals, usually members of the admissions staff, to do the interviews, and make it clear in their materials that the interviews count. Even with these, though, they accommodate (i.e. don't penalize) those that can't interview.</p>
<p>Think of it this way: How much value can possibly come out of an interview that is done by amateurs who have received no training and use widely varying approaches? Not much. Argue and think about the hypothetical all you want (wow the person anyway, who writes a glowing testimonial to the adcoms who are then swayed by the glowing testimonial from this unknown source...). Then come back to earth...</p>
<p>Right... it's not like the admissions office knows the alumni that well at all.</p>
<p>However, I feel the interview can be excellent on another level. It can put you in touch with local alumni who are proud to represent their school and answer questions. They have stories and reflections-- and even though their information might be outdated (like anybody who graduated Chicago before the late 90's did a different core than the one we have today) they can still be helpful to you.</p>
<p>Also... remember to write a thank-you note. Don't leave them without contact information in the form of a business card or something else. </p>
<p>My parents went to the same school, and they used to give back to it by doing alumni interviews. More specifically, my dad decided how much money they wanted to donate each year and my mom interviewed applicants. I remember sometimes she'd interview four or five in a row, so by the fifth candidate she was running out of steam a bit.</p>
<p>Her big turn-off was when applicants spoke negatively about their high school experiences.</p>
<p>It's interesting that S's top two interviews, within 2 weeks of each other, were with lawyers with the same firm and offices next to each other. At least when he went for the second one the first lawyer wasn't in and I don't think he mentioned it to the second guy. He got in at both schools. :)</p>
<p>Thanks, guys! My interview went very well, except for one thing. One kind of major thing. While she was very nice, and we had a wonderful conversation about Classics, tennis, why we hate Ayn Rand, why we love Aristotle, anarchy, current politics, my political ideology, world cultures, feminism, diversity, and law, she also asked me where else I was applying to early...I didn't want to lie, so I told her Columbia and UMich. If she reports that to Chicago, I'm kind of screwed, aren't I? Because Chicago admissions knows that Columbia only does ED, they'll either be like "well, we'll definitely lose that cross-admit battle, no question, might as well not waste an acceptance on her," or they'll defer me :/</p>
<p>Oh, and at the very end, when we had gotten up to leave, she asked me for my SAT scores and GPA as an afterthought almost, which I felt was rather strange because Chicago already has that info on file form Collegeboard/my school? I thought Chicago didn't roll like that, but whatever. She didn't write anything down, either.</p>
<p>And my concerns about dress were completely unnecessary -- she showed up in huge baggy sweats and told me she was going to go play tennis after our interview, lol.</p>
<p>I was asked about what colleges I was applying to, and I vaguely responded (I was kind of surprised by the question because my interview had been going well, too)... "Oh, I don't know, maybe Carleton, maybe Shimer... yeah." And she asked me what Shimer was, and I explained. Hopefully that doesn't hurt me, though I'm not applying ED anywhere.</p>
<p>Hahaha, Shimer used to be affiliated with the U of C.</p>
<p>I really wouldn't worry about mentioning Columbia, though. Really really. I don't think you can assume that she's a spy for the school (she could have been asking out of pure curiosity) and I think if Chicago wants you, they'll let you know. There are a lot of ways in which Columbia is a good answer to that question-- it shows you're interested in urban schools with core curricula.</p>
<p>She specifically asked me where I'm applying to early, so it's not like I could say "IDK yet" or whatever, because what if I told her "just Chicago" or "just Chicago and UMich" then they found out? Plus I'm a terrible liar. And Columbia would've come out eventually, we were discussing how I wanted an urban school with diversity and a Core :/ Which makes it seem even less likely that Chicago will accept me, now that I think about it.</p>
<p>no, I think Chicago would turn you away if you wanted a sports-oriented school with no academic restrictions in the middle of a cornfield that offered engineering.</p>
<p>Again, don't sweat it. Chicago adcoms are dumb if they don't know that potential Chicago kids are eyeing Columbia, Yale, Brown, et. al. as well.</p>