I haven’t heard back either @EllieF
Question: Are there any restrictions for Posse Finalists on interactions with the matched school? There is a reception coming up which he registered for and will be able to mingle with the college president, alumni, etc. and he is getting email from the regional admissions encouraging off-campus interviews. Should he take advantage of these opportunities or will they conflict with Posse?
@Esteere @EllieF they said next week or the following. GOOD LUCK, LA FOLKS!
Oh, speaking of which, which are your top schools?
@liveonboca He should definitely take advantage of these kinds of opportunities.
@liveonboca Nothing should conflict with Posse besides another ED contract. It is a good idea to apply for other scholarships/apply to other schools normally because you don’t want to have Posse fall through and be left at square 1!
Thank you. Do you remember if your parents had to fill out the CSS profile by the ED deadline? My son is doing all the interactions with Posse (I did go to the family meeting) and none of the paperwork mentions anything about making sure that the profile is done or that it has to be done by the ED date. I know the school website says the admissions and financial aid deadlines are one day, like November 15, but Posse and the schools have an agreement to allow Posse applicants to apply ED after the school’s ED deadline because the Posse final interview process goes into December. Thanks.
@liveonboca , you have to fill out the CSS profile because it is one of the financial aid packages. After that, you have to make sure your son finishes all the applications before the ED deadline. He will apply early decision like any other student outside of posse and the final round interview is just like the admissions office accepting him or rejecting him. That is how it works and your son will meet up with posse staff members before the finalist interview so that they will review his common app and submit it themselves as posse is a different form of application . There will be few changes they will make on his application and they highly recommend finishing the CSS profile before going to the Posse office for his application submission. Text me if you have any doubts.
@Cjesusinme1 Thank you so much. My son had his Posse Application appointment yesterday and his CA is finally submitted along with additional writing supplement. I submitted the CSS Profile tonight after reading your message so that there are no delays. Thanks again for your guidance.
@liveonboca , you are very welcome. Feel free to ask me if you have questions.
@gk1733 , How many questions do you think they asked you during the final interview? Please tell us more questions they asked you if you remember other than the ones you mentioned earlier.
@Cjesusinme1 I want to say there were 4/5 ‘rounds’ of question asking, meaning there were 4/5 different people who came to our individual group and asked us probably 2/3 questions. so in total there was probably 8-12 questions asked? I’m apprehensive to say that estimate because I honestly can’t remember, but I think leaning towards the lower end of that number would be more accurate. These are questions I remember
-If you could meet anyone, who would it be and why?
-What is one thing a lot of people don’t know about you?
-Describe the neighborhood you come from
-What impact will (your college) have on you and what impact will you have on it?
-What are you most passionate about?
-How will college help you achieve your goals (something along those lines)
-What is something you’ve had to overcome?
@Cjesusinme1 and for anyone else wondering about the third round, here’s an overview I sent to someone else:
Right when I walked into my Posse city’s office for the interview, they signed us in/gave us a name tag. I was then brought into a room where the other finalists had been waiting and talking among themselves. Once there was a good number of us there, we did some icebreaker activities BUT they were not a part of the actual interview. They were led by Posse workers, and we just did things like playing the game Ninja in order to alleviate some of our nerves I presume. We did a few of those games (again, don’t worry about them because they were laid-back and just to waste time/make us less nervous).
Once it was time for the interview to start (I assume, unless it started a little later than the given time) we all sat in a large circle and representatives from Posse and mostly from the college you are a finalist for sat down and introduced themselves. For example, I know at my interview there were Admissions Directors from my college there, and definitely a few higher-up people. Once the introductions were done (I believe we went around the circle saying our names and where we were from), we did another icebreaker type activity that included the college reps and the Posse workers. We got a sheet of paper and a pen, and we had to go around finding specific people who had done specific activities (so it would say something like ‘plays an instrument’ and you would have to find someone in the room who had done it- keep in mind that the college reps and posse workers were also ‘playing’ so you would be talking to them too!). Once the time was up, we all sat back down and a Posse worker just asked us about some of the categories and people would share who they found for them. If it was a pretty special category, that person who had done it might say a few words about it (it seemed like some were taken directly from someone’s commonapp specifically for them- so for my interview, there was one that said ‘has raised money for education overseas’ or something, and there was one person who had. after the game, that person talked about their accomplishments. so, if you have something on your resume that is really outstanding, it could possibly make an appearance in the game).
After the icebreaker game, we all split into four or five groups of about five/six people. The groups were given to us, and we all sat in a smaller circle. This was the flash-question round, and so we would have an adult come to our group and sit down and ask us probably 3 questions before time was up and the adults would rotate, and another one would come. I want to say we did 4 or 5 rounds of this. The people asking questions were the representatives from the colleges as well as some Posse people (I believe, if not it was just college reps). A representative would come and ask a question, and then we would either go around in the circle or we would just decide amongst ourselves who wanted to answer the question first and second, and so on. Unfortunately I don’t remember many of the questions besides the ones I have already mentioned
(-If you could meet anyone, who would it be and why?
-What is one thing a lot of people don’t know about you?
-Describe the neighborhood you come from
-What impact will (your college) have on you and what impact will you have on it?
-What are you most passionate about?
-How will college help you achieve your goals (something along those lines)
-What is something you’ve had to overcome?)
The big thing for these questions is that you do have a veryyyy small time to answer them. I planned out some of my answers beforehand, but I just didn’t anticipate the time constraints being so limiting for me personally. I would advise to try to answer the question outright first, and then add details if you have time. Don’t start talking about background info or anything before you answer the question for sure. I also noticed that in my interview, I started panicking because many of my peers in my group were highlighting their adversity in many of their questions and I didn’t really have much of anything I could’ve highlighted as far as struggles go. I know a lot of people at the interview were URM and/or first-gen college students.
After the questions round, we all joined as a big group again. I believe at this point we were able to get drinks/snacks and use the bathroom. Once we all sat down again, they split us into groups again for the next group activity. The activity was pretending like we were representatives on a college’s faculty, and we had to address specific controversies and take a stance/come up with a solution on a problem. So, we were split into groups, and we were then giving a piece of paper that said the issue we were to address. I believe mine was something to do with a college club not allowing an individual to run for the position of president of this club because they were gay. The groups all separated into different locations, and each group was given probably 15-20 minutes to plan. We were giving a big piece of paper where we wrote our stance as faculty of the university. Once time was up, we all sat back down. Groups were picked randomly, and once they were, they would go up and present for ~5+ minutes. The group would describe their problem, and then talk about the official stance of the university and the reasoning behind it. If the activity included something like punishing certain people, they would also talk about suspension/expulsion and explain why it was justified. The audience was then allowed to ask questions, but since it was a group project, anyone could really take as much/as little charge as they want (meaning- you could decide to answer a question or you could easily stay silent- however I don’t think it was difficult/nerve-racking to speak up in this situation). Most of the questions came from the college representatives, however, I don’t think they were necessarily looking for the right or best solution in these problems, rather, they were looking for your ability to be able to problem solve and back up your beliefs. Obviously, you probably wouldn’t want to argue for something that could come across as bigoted or racist, but for the most part I think even if you have a solution that isn’t the smartest, they will look more at how you present yourself and your arguments.
After this part, the interview is essentially over. I know after the group presentation, we all sat in a big circle again and the college representatives talked more about the college and specific highlights, things like that. We then had a Q&A type thing, where people just raised their hands and asked specific questions about the college and programs and things like that. We asked questions until the interview was supposed to be over, and then everyone was allowed to leave. The college representatives hung around, so if you wanted to ask further questions or if there was one person you specifically wanted to talk to, you could and many did. I think I asked about the school’s programs for undecided students, but I would definitely recommend trying to talk to at least one representative at this part of the interview, just so you can try to make a lasting impression (its really up to you how you do this I guess- but I do think its better than just leaving without trying to make a connection or at least thanking them for their time).
Everyone left after this, and the Posse representatives said they would hear from them within a week. However, if you get the scholarship it IS confirmed to you that same night. If you don’t get it, its easy to hold onto false hope for that whole week because you really won’t hear from them until a week after (I was sent a letter in the mail), but if you don’t hear that night, then chances are more likely that you didn’t get the scholarship.
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Thank you @gk1733
Good luck to everyone with your third round interviews. My son has his tomorrow!
For anyone wondering about the third round, these are some of the questions they asked me during my interview
- Describe the neighborhood you grew up in 2.What is something someone might not know about you?
- If you were given $1,000,000, how would you spend it?
- What does graduating from college mean to you?
- What is your role in your family?
- What are you involved in school? 7.What are some problems you’ve had to overcome at school?
- Something that you’re proud of?
- Describe current political/social issue you are familiar with?
- Describe a transitional period in your life or smtn along those lines
- Something significant that happened this week? (but I’m not sure about this one)
Thanks to @gk1733 this thread was really helpful for me. And now I’m officially a Posse Scholar. These are some of the questions they asked me during my third round and these questions might be helpful for others as well.
Congrats @Betsi and thank you for sharing this information. I could not get anything out of my son about the final interview. I am happy for you!
@liveonboca Thanks! I’m so happy for your son!!! 
Yes @Betsi, his final interview was last night. About 2 hours after the interview they called him on his cell phone and they told him he was in and asked what size shirt he wears.
Yaaayy! Tell him I said congratulations!!!
Posse love