The final round was basically a combination of the first and second rounds, as others have explained before on this website. We started out by sitting in a circle and introducing ourselves (name, pronouns, school, & a fact / something you’re proud of). Then, we played an icebreaker. These will vary but they’re just to help us loosen up and walk around. Then the interview finally felt like it had begun once they separated us into pre-made groups of 5. We sat in a circle with a college rep. Jennifer, the Posse Chicago director told us to select a volunteer to go first. Then, she asked a question and that person had to give a meaningful and concise answer within 30-45 seconds. I wasn’t sure how long we had, but it certainly felt short. I think it’s better to be cut off, than to run out of things to say. Since you have so little time, it would look bad if you can’t talk about something important for 30 seconds. It makes the college reps question if you’re actually even passionate about that specific topic. Then we rotated in a clockwise fashion, so everyone had the opportunity to answer the question. Questions were like, “Describe a social issue that you’re informed about,” “Describe your high school experience,” “What kind of adversity have you overcome,” “What are you most excited for in college,” “How will _______ university / college impact you and how will you impact the school,” “Describe an academic challenge you faced and how you overcame it,” “What is your definition of diversity,” etc. HOWEVER, here’s the catch: I’m not sure how many reps will be at your interview, but we only had 2. Meaning, the reps will only listen to 2 of your answers. The other times, they would move onto another group and your group will simply have the discussion by yourselves. Let’s say you have prepared an amazing answer for a certain question but a rep isn’t there to hear it, and then once they come around you blank on the new question. That nearly happened to me. After this activity we had a break. Afterwards, we were split up into another pre-made group of 5. This time, we didn’t interact with the staff. This activity was similar to the first interview. We were given a social issue at a college and we had to think of a solution in 10 minutes, (as if we were the presidents of that university or college) and present it. This part was fun, but please don’t be the person who takes up everyone else’s time to talk. I noticed that were two people in my group who spent 1/2 of the minutes talking. So once my turn to speak came around, there were only 20 seconds left. I decided to talk for 10 of those seconds, because there was a very quiet person near me. Once I said my sentence, I gestured to them to say something, so they wouldn’t miss the opportunity to have their voice heard. I believe that looked much better than taking up the remaining time to speak about the solution, as it demonstrates that I’m a someone who’s very aware of others. Once everyone presented, we regrouped in the big circle and this was our opportunity to ask the college reps about life on campus, etc. I suggest you talk or ask a question in this period, as it emphasizes your interest in the school.
No matter what, good luck and be yourself because these are individuals who have already read your application several times and recognize that everyone in the room is fantastic. Therefore, now they’re just trying to see who stands out most (in a positive way) and how they click with others. I’m a very socialable person, so I really tried to talk to everyone and CONSTANTLY smile. At the end of the day, you have to be interested in them in order to appeal as interesting!
