<p>I’m currently signed up for an on-campus interview, however, there are many questions I have, especially after reading Visnawathan’s chapter 1 of her book online (i’m sure everyone here knows).</p>
<li><p>are questions going to have background knowledge ?? like what do you think of montier? or are they going to be just personal questions to get to know you like in her book?</p></li>
<li><p>can the interviewer really be dean of admissions?? who are the interviewers usually?</p></li>
<li><p>can it make or break your application?? i know it’s informal, but how much weight does it really hold in your application.</p></li>
<li><p>should we have parts of our application in? the common app. for example like in visnawathan’s book where the dean of admissions already had her folder open, in a pile with other interviewees’ folders.</p></li>
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<p>Thank you so much for any responses to these questions! lol i didn’t think i would be nervous, but now i realize i kind of am!! any hints on what to expect etc. would be greatly appreciated!</p>
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<li><p>So, if an admissions officer is interviewing you (rather than an alumni interviewer) they'll more then likely stick to the "get to know you" questions--your interests, ECs, etc. I make the distinction because some alumni interviewers throw curve balls. Mine asked for my opinion on the death of french culture in the US.</p></li>
<li><p>They say it holds a decent amount of weight. I'm working at the admissions office this summer, under an admissions officer who, when he gave a presentation in my area two years ago, put it like this: when you're an admissions officer and you're reading all of those applications, and your eyes are going numb because so many of them seem the same, it helps to be able to get an idea of a person from a source who isn't the faithful, enthused teacher, coach, etc. More importantly, he said it's helpful to see if people who may not jump out at him in their applications are real firecrackers in their interviews, or vice versa. </p></li>
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<p>But obviously, they understand that different interviewers and applicants will relate to each other in a variety of ways, and that the conditions for every interview are not the same. So I wouldn't worry about it unless some egregious incident occured, ie you made a racist remark or something.</p>
<p>I mean, my interviewer and I didn't really like each other. I thought he was sort of a jerk. And he encouraged me to apply to a different school.</p>