i have heard that college interviews are usually like an hour long but mine was really short. I had an online interview which lasted only for 22 minutes. does that mean I came out as a weak candidate that the interviewer decided to end the conversation too soon?
Did you ask any questions?
i asked like around 5 questions. what i found strange was that the interviewer didn’t ask me anything about myself except for extracirriculars. instead he gave me full freedom to ask anything I wanted.
How old are the interviewer’s kids?
@justonedad what? he didn’t talk about that. are you trying to check if I was inquisitive?
he was a young unmarried person, from what i saw on his facebook. he graduated in 2003.
So, what are you worried about? That the interviewer will write something to the effect of “Nyah…talked to the guy for a few minutes, but wasn’t too interesting so cut it off short.”?
What’s your US safety school?
yes that what i am concerned about, although not the exact same phrase but something equally bad. I am worried if that was the kind of interview weak candidates give.
I think that the interview went well, we both talked, asked each other several questions, but since this is the first interview i gave, I am bit worried.
i didn’t apply to any safety schools since none of them gave good financial aid, something which is absolutely necessary for me. The only colleges with generous fin aid were the top ones.
He might have just been too busy to really give the interview the time he should. Regarding your “no safety” comments, are you an international? If so, do you have an option in your home country? If you are not, did you look at schools with big merit awards for good stats (probably too late now for most of them, but just checking). Some of those are even available for international students. Otherwise you could end up with no options in April…
Some people aren’t comfortable with the online interview format. If you think it went well, here’s how the write up probably looked.
“Pleasant student who asked appropriate questions about our school. Especially enjoyed talking about his extracurricular work and interests in blank, blank, blank.”
Interviews just don’t affect your application much. You know that, don’t you?
Some college interviews are informational. Some are evaluative. Which kind did you have? If it was informational, then short isn’t unusual. If there’s a shared interest or the interviewer wants to probe, it can go on for a while. If not, it might be just an opportunity for you to ask questions. Evaluative interviews tend to be longer and more structured since they need to rate you along a series of dimensions or against set criteria. Even if it was the latter - evaluative - they don’t tend to count that much.
Think about it - how much can a random stranger say after an hour compared to your entire transcript, letters of rec and essays? What would you give the most weight to?
@intparent There seems to be intense focus on HYPSM, apparently to the exclusion of all else.
Yes, I figured. It sort of makes sense for international students sometimes, as only a small number of schools (6?) are need blind for international students and meet full need. So it is at least understandable, even though it doesn’t usually work out. But for a US student, it is just dumb.
If I was an international on the sketchy edge of HYPSM, I’d be looking at all the schools next on the list that might be interested in diversifying their freshman classes with a bright, talented young Indian student and be willing to support him as well.
@kingfernandus: Returning to your original question, interviewees – normally teenage seniors with very little practical experience – almost always consider the interview ENTIRELY from their perspective. Isn’t it possible the alumni interviewer’s calendar unexpectedly became far more constrained, but he didn’t want to inconvenience you by rescheduling and, therefore, he was unusually brief? Isn’t it also possible that he could only devote a half hour to this task, due to several more critical priorities? You might be wise to assess such situations from the other individual’s likely viewpoint and not to be overly concerned (especially because generally the interview report is a most inconsequential element of the complete application dossier).
I wouldn’t over-analyze it too much. Not all interviews are an hour+.