I just left my Penn interview at a coffee shop and while I think I expressed my interests well to my interviewer, the whole thing lasted only about 15 minutes. I asked a good 5 questions and we had some laughs but I expected to be grilled or something. Is this normal?
Too short.
That seems too short in my opinion. How many questions did they ask you?
Not too short. They all work differently. If the interviewer liked you and thought you were "normal and would fit in to the Penn community then you are good. Don’t worry.
She asked me "Why did you apply to Penn? “What’s your favorite class?” “What are your career plans?” “What is an article or newpaper that you have read recently and tell me about it?” I answered her questions as thoroughly as I could but most of the interview was intended to be informative for me, she said.
Interviews are meant to be half an hour at minimum. This seems like the interviewer was probably quite busy with work or personal life, as opposed to you having dome something wrong.
If she asked four questions and you asked five questions then it’s likely the interview lasted more than fifteen minutes. That would mean 1.6 minutes per answer not including the intros and asking the questions. Could you be mistaken about the time?
I think I may have just been too brief with my answers 
it started at 3:00 and I left at about 3:16
@taniatrejo3 Maybe you didn’t too well with carrying on the conversation? My interview lasted an hour and a half and we both did equal amounts of talking. She asked, I answered/told a story and if an opportunity for a topic came up I grabbed it and carried it on. Interviewer did the same.
Mine was 20 mins. Not a problem. I think it is more a reflection (at least in my case) of the interviewer not being very social. She only had three questions for me, and unlike a lot of other interviews, we did not converse much. I think she got what she needed to know in that time period. I think that the interview is mainly to make sure that you are a sane human being
In addition, what really matters is the interview report (or what they say about you in it). As long as you gave a positive impression, I certainly do not think that it will hurt you.
@TheWaffleMan149 I’m going to have to ask your platypus about the “sane” part.
OP,
Not to worry. My son’s was about 20 minutes and he said they had zero in common. My son was a Fine Arts applicant and his interviewer was a doctor. He said he’d ask her a question and she’d say, “I don’t know. I didn’t have anything to do with that.” The only common ground was the fact that he has diabetes and his blood sugar was high that day, he told her, and she understood what it meant. LOL He got in anyways.
Hi, I have applied ED for M&T (primary) and Wharton (secondary). I have gotten an interview for M&T and gave it 2 weeks ago, but have not been contacted for a Wharton interview. Can anyone shed light on this? Do students who apply to both typically get 1 or 2 interviews? I’m really WORRIED!
Nobody gets more than one interview!
@texanhowler you only get one dude. It’s not a job interview too. I applied ED to Wharton and got interviewed by a CAS alumni.
i had a really short M&T interview. We covered all the standard bases but she didn’t want to seem to really get into it, she was probably really busy.