I have my Skype interview for UPenn on Monday and I’m starting to get really nervous! I’m scared that they will ask me a question that I don’t have a good answer for! I would also feel much more comfortable doing an interview in person so this is freaking me out. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
Please relax, take a deep breath. It’s just a conversation.
Turn it around. You are the interviewer. Today you have, say, a half dozen interviews with high school students who want to study at Penn. You’ll assume they are bright and motivated. You’ll be trained to understand their perspective. Since you have that job, you’ll probably be someone who roots for the students. You’ll want to get to know them a little and find out more about why they are interested in Penn and what they might contribute to the Penn community. You’ll want to give them an opportunity to ask some questions they might have about the school and/or the community. You’ll probably hope, at some level, that the student has come away with a more positive view of Penn. That’s all.
Do you have someone with whom you could practice a skype interview, just so you can get comfortable with how that format feels, and the technology?
Good luck.
Thank you for this! It feels good to think about it in that perspective. Maybe I could practice with a family member or something.
Don’t be too nervous — interviews are meant to be informal discussions. Interviewers are volunteering their time and usually write positive reports unless you say something along the lines of, “I’m only applying because my parents forced me to.” At the end of the day, they’re most likely going to be your advocate and will try to incorporate whatever you want into their interview report.
Search online for some sample interview questions and practice answering them (don’t memorize anything though). Penn publicly posts the guidelines for interviews, so that’s a good starting point.
How did your interview go ?
@imjdad1 it went really well I think! Only lasted about 20 minutes. She asked some difficult questions but I managed to come up with some clever answers in my opinion haha