Hi. I am a rising senior and have an interview at Wake Forest soon.
I already know my answers to the “Why Wake?” question but am having trouble answering the “tell me about yourself question.” Do schools want to hear adjectives/characteristics or activities?
I am big on community service, captain of tennis team, debate team, I have a job at a day care, and am a tutor at school. I am hard working, driven, passionate, witty and personable. How would I go about answering this question?
I would think about what you most want the school to know about you - rather than playing defense, what are the things you think will really leave a good impression? Design your answer to show off those characteristics through your interests. Schools often want to see what you’re passionate about and that you have an attitude towards those passions that will lead to positive outcomes. Anyone can list off adjectives, but instead of making them take your word for it, tell them about what really drives you and let your passion and wit come across in the way you express yourself. We’re defined by our interests and attitudes towards those interests, so that’s what I would make sure they see in you. Hope that helps!
I do interviews and I never ask “tell me about yourself” because that is too vague.
But I would work backwards and ask yourself: What type of student are they looking for? What do I want them to know about me?
http://fromtheforest.admissions.wfu.edu/2016/08/the-interview/
"We know Wake Forest is a place that values intellectual curiosity, character, community, inclusion, and open-mindedness and somehow in the course of every interview conversation we are going to explore that. "
So do not parrot what they are looking for but address it…Mention that a debate you did in English class spurred you to look into Debate more and now you are a leader on the team! or how you got interested in that particular community service or what you learned about tutoring other students.
Also search on Wake Forest Interview Questions, e.g.
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/wake-forest-university/824141-wake-forest-web-interview.html
and see that questions are asked…e.g., What book are you reading or what current events you follow.
Every interviewer has his/her own quirks. To some extent you will need to get a read on the interviewer based on his/her questions and body language.
For me as an interviewer, I am not looking for a long list of stuff. The best interviews are when the candidate talks about a few things that he/she is clearly interested in and can give me specifics on exactly what the candidate has done, how long they have been doing it, and what they have accomplished and/or hope to accomplish. Rather than tell me that you are hard working, driven, passionate, witty and personable, show me through the interview with examples of the qualities you are trying to portray. It’s also important to listen to the interviewer, especially when they may interrupt you with a question. On the one hand it may seem a bit rude for him/her to interrupt, but maybe they are interested in diving deeper on something you just said. That is an opportunity. A dialogue is better than a speech. If you are too prepared and come off as just reciting a canned speech, it may be a turn off.
Last thing, relax. It is your opportunity to find out more about the school. Rarely will the interviews make or break your application.