<p>I had my Yale interview today with a recent grad who now teaches higher mathematics at the local uni. The first half hour of the interview went well, until I mentioned my planned major:</p>
<p>Me: "I'm still undecided, but I think I want to go into mathematics."
Interviewer: "OMG that's great. I was a mathematics major." <em>Pulls a pen and notepad out of his bag... "Show me your favorite proof of Fermat's last theorem."
Me: "..."
Interviewer: "Really? When I was in high school, I read books about this stuff. Can you prove that the harmonic series diverges?"
Me: *Shows the proof via an integral test</em> (We did this in calculus a while back).
Interviewer: "I don't know why you would use calculus for this. It's perfectly simple with basic algebra." <em>Proceeds to show me his proof.</em>
......</p>
<p>I realize interviewers are allowed to ask whatever they feel like, but....really?
I'm expected to have memorized a proof that took mathematicians 350 years to solve?
gah.</p>
<p>That’s a shame. These interviews aren’t supposed to be pop quizzes. </p>
<p>I’m not sure what to do about it, other than ignore it. I suppose it’s possible the interviewer was unimpressed and will say so, but unless you’re on the bubble, it probably won’t be the thing that nudges you out of contention, and I think the admissions office will take it with a grain of salt.</p>
<p>I know your interview is over, but I have a suggestion for anybody who experiences something like this. What you should exhibit in this situation is interest and excitement about math. So, you might say–“I don’t have a favorite proof–my main area of interest is blah, blah, blah–but tell me more about Fermat.” Etc.</p>
<p>It’s not so good to say that you want to major in something, and then show little knowledge of or interest in that topic. (Imagine saying you wanted to major in photography, and then confessing that you haven’t taken any pictures yet.) Try to at least show great interest in what you do know so far.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t assume that the interviewer is going to say anything negative at all in his report. He may have just wanted a chance to show off a little with someone that could appreciate what he had to show.</p>
<p>Agree withe Yale84Alum. The sociology or american studies major working in the admissions office is not going to be concerned that you only solved a proof with the integral test while the math professor knew a more elegant solution not using calculus.</p>
<p>I would agree with the previous posts. If that was the only thing that was slightly questionable about the interview, I doubt he’d write a bad report!</p>
<p>Your interviewer must have been joking. The proof of Fermat’s last theorem is over one hundred pages long; constructing one on the spot would be worth a fields medal, not a decent interviewer report.</p>
<p>I had a pop quiz for an interview, and it would be unfair of them to use it in one way or another. My interviewer told me later that (even though I nailed the “quiz”) it would not have hurt his letter/report if I had got it wrong. The simply want to get to know your strengths and weaknesses and make an unbiased report on who you are as a person.</p>
<p>Humph. My son had the exact same thing happen, only he got quizzed about World War II–and he is not even planning to major in history nor was that even a topic they were discussing. I posted a lengthier commentary on the ridiculous interview under the discussion on “stupid things interviewees say,” although my comments could start a thread on “stupid things interviewers say.” All I could say after dealing with his serious distress afterward was that he needed to view it as a learning experience. We discussed, “How do you stay gracious and centered under fire?” “How do you respond to curve balls?” Throughout my son’s life he will face idiot interviewers, so he might as well get used to it now. Too bad it just happened to be one, in this case, from the university he DID want most. (Yale’s presently at the bottom of his stack, unfortunately, because all of the other Ivies had such amazing interviewers.)</p>
<p>Lol, just kidding, and I digress. Actually, I learned about this in senior Calculus. Although there was no math involved, the teacher told the story of the guy who spent years on that simple equation and showed us a video. </p>
<p>I would of just said my focus on math is in scientific calculations related to (insert) example: finance and engineering. Same with your programming abilities… and then proceed to talk about that.</p>
<p>Frankly it sounds like a bad move on the interviewer. I am modestly surprised though that you haven’t heard of Fermont’s Last theorem. I certainly couldn’t do any proof. It sounds like it was a trick question since I’m fairly certain the proof is long and there is only one proof available today - it took the guy who found it decades of work. Now you know! Although this may seem like a long shot for you, I can assure you that if he is somewhat unpleasant, the admission officer will know this and not slam your application because he said something like ‘disingenuous’ or ‘poof-less’ :D… there is a strong knowledge of how good some interviewers are at all colleges, especially Ivy’s.</p>
<p>As the parent of an incredibly happy Yale student (one who had a lackluster but not stressful alumni interview) I’m distressed to read about these nightmare interviews. </p>
<p>It sounds as if Yale is not providing much guidance to its alumni interviewers. </p>
<p>For those of you who are alumni interviewers, would you consider communicating with the office that coordinates alumni interviews about providing better guidance to interviewers? Alumni are devoting their valuable time to conducting these interviews. They should be helpful to students, and they should accurately portray the institution. These encounters certainly shouldn’t be making high school kids feel like they’ve somehow flunked a critical college admissions test.</p>
<p>I appreciate the comment from the Yale parent who suggests Yale interviewers may need some guidance. Perhaps it is an aberration and just those of us who have had problems are posting here, but I have to say that out of eight interviews my son has had (with the most recent one earlier this morning with Dartmouth, which he just reported was terrific, relaxed, informative), the Yale interview was the only one that was so off as to be offensive. I will say that the actual Admissions official that visited our area did a nice job of public relations for Yale, but this was completely canceled out with the offensive nature of the individual with whom my son spent nearly one hour. As an individual who interviews and selects for doctoral level programs, I recognize that I may be the only person a prospective student ever meets and therefore I am, for all intents and purposes, the face of the university. Even if a student is ultimately NOT accepted, I want to leave the person with a good feeling about the institution and who we are. I would hope these posts are instructive to Yale.</p>
<p>wjb and others: I feel Yale does provide good guidance. Our handbook is sound. In our newsletters, they have started a “letters to the dean” where alumni interviewers and even some parents and students’ notes get printed and an answer is given. It’s a good feature to inform interviewers of some of the more topical issues.</p>
<p>That being said, I suspect there are some people who feel their method is tried and true and don’t need any updating or input. I think this is the problem.</p>
<p>My interviewer stated that Yale doesn’t really provide much info to her (or at least the local alumni group doesn’t) and that she felt that the interview was less of an evaluation and more of an informal way for to get to know me. She also (half-jokingly) suggested that perhaps it was just to make the alumni feel important and involved :). At the end, she told me that she considered it just an additional rec-letter-type deal, to put in another good word for the candidate and maybe highlight something not mentioned on the CommonApp or Yale supplement.</p>
<p>This made it quite a bit more comfortable for me, as I didn’t feel as I was being judged on every little detail.</p>
<p>If she had quizzed me (she didn’t, fortunately; she was a lawyer and I was applying to something totally different - she said she only received info on my name, school, and indicated major interest) I would have considered it either having a little fun on her part and doubt it would have gone into the stuff they send in to Yale.</p>
<p>Any admissions person who sees, “This applicant didn’t know how to prove Fermat’s Last Theorem” is probably going to ignore it or have a little laugh and not weigh that much.</p>
<p>I know it’s not much consolation, but even an interviewer who asks you a stupid or offensive question may not necessarily ask similar questions of all, or even any, other interviewees.</p>