<p>I might have an interview with a Penn Alumni and I'm wondering what kind of questions she'll ask. Should I prepare questions for her? Penn isn't my first or even second choice, so how should I answer the "why Penn" question? I don't think I'm going to get in anyways, but would the interview improve my chances?</p>
<p>“Penn isn’t my first or even second choice, so how should I answer the “why Penn” question?”</p>
<p>Imagine if your first two choices reject you. How would you answer the question if you knew that already? You’d be pretty darn enthusiastic, I would hope. Do likewise. Don’t lie but convey the excitement you might feel if my scenario takes place.</p>
<p>What will they ask? It’s a conversation to see how mature, how self-motivated, how intellectual you are. To guage your desire to attend Penn. To provide you an opportunity to give to Penn’s admissions office details/facts about you that aren’t in the application. That’s what you should prepare for.</p>
<p>genuinely, why penn? it doesn’t have to be your first or second choice school but there definitely is a reason you’re even applying right? if it’s just for the prestige, then why penn over other ivy league colleges/universities of equal prestige? if it’s just a blind shot, why would you blind shot penn and not hyps? (unless you did also then that’s a different story) why a university in an urban environment rather than a single-sex suburban LAC? what would you do at penn if you ended up enrolling there? what do you like about penn?
The above questions all yield answers to ‘why penn?’. Point is, it doesn’t have to be your top choice to answer the question. </p>
<p>the interview usually starts with general background questions (e.g. where you’re from, ECs, etc.). your job would be to start there and then elaborate or carry the conversation away to the less mundane parts about yourself. interviewers don’t know much about you, so you could even have a conversation on the topic you wrote about for your personal statement (provided that it’s an interesting one), which is what i did. it’ll make the interview a lot more enjoyable too. you could prepare a couple questions, but always pop in a few spontaneous questions related to what the interviewer was talking about. it’s a great way to learn more about the university.</p>
<p>and yes. take the interview if you have confidence in yourself and would like another small shove.</p>
<p>Hi, i have my interview tomorrow, and i was wondering what anyone would suggest if i stutter when i get really nervous?</p>
<p>Realize that your interview is next to worthless in your overall evaluation. Period. Go to learn about Penn, ask the interviewer his/her best and worst moments, ask why they chose Penn, ask what went into that decision. Go to learn. Go to tell a little more of yourself that wasn’t covered in your app. </p>
<p>That person is not your adversary and most likely will consider himself/herself as your eventual advocate – without even having met you. She/He is expending valuable time from life/family/friends to sacrifice a couple of hours to meet HS students because she/he loved their time at Penn. </p>
<p>relax. go in, expecting to enjoy it.</p>