RD Applicants: Interview Advice

<p>Well that’s what I answered… And my interviewer told me that’s exactly the same in any other Ivy. I said “It’s not Harvard !”. He then told me his father and 15+ of his friends are Harvard graduates. Fail.</p>

<p>@hennebou: You just didn’t have enough information to back up your statement. You should have told your interviewer the following:</p>

<p>"One clear difference between the schools is the schedule: Yale’s schedule is much more humane. During the fall semester, Harvard students do not get a break from their studies, except for Thursday and Friday of Thanksgiving week. Yale students, on the other hand, are off for 5 days in mid-October for fall break and have the entire week of Thanksgiving off. To a lesser extent, the same thing occurs in the spring semester: Harvard students have one week off for spring break; Yale students have two weeks off. </p>

<p>Another difference between the schools is housing. Harvard’s residential college system is a three-year program that starts in a student’s sophomore year. Harvard freshman live, eat and socialize together in Harvard Yard, but they do not belong to a residential house overseen by a Master and Dean. Consequently, there is little opportunity at Harvard for freshman to make friends with sophomores, juniors and seniors unless they meet through an extracurricular activity or a class. </p>

<p>Yale’s residential college system is a four-year program. Yale freshman eat and socialize with sophomores, juniors and seniors in their residential college, so there’s much more of a “big-sib, little-sib” atmosphere to the entire school. As a freshman, you can sit down next to an upperclass student and start up a conversation over a meal, or you can attend one of your residential college’s events (ski trip, cruise, picnic, etc) and meet upperclass students – that just doesn’t happen at Harvard!</p>

<p>The biggest difference between the schools is “social tone.” </p>

<p>The “social tone” of a college results from decisions, large and small, made by the administration on issues such as physical space and its use, housing, how freshman are welcomed and integrated into campus life, what role upperclass students play as advisors and mentors, what role graduate students play, how readily faculty members volunteer to host events or trips, etc. </p>

<p>The “social tone” of each campus can be best summed up as, “At Harvard, students are on their own. At Yale, students are all in it together.” </p>

<p>At Harvard, freshman move-in to their dorms on the first day the campus opens. The majority of sophomores, juniors and seniors move in several days later, so most upperclass students are not in residence when freshman arrive. Freshman, and their parents, unpack the car, lug stuff up to the room and get acclimated on their own and with the help of their roommates. At the end of move-in day, parents say their goodbyes, and freshman go off to a series of orientation meetings and freshman-only events. </p>

<p>At Yale, sophomores, juniors and seniors move-in the first day dorms are open. Several days later, freshman move-in to their dorms with the HELP of upperclass students. Freshman year at Yale, during move-in day, your car is literally swarmed by 30 upperclass students who unpacked your belongings and carry them up to your room. In the afternoon, there is a student-parent reception at the master’s house, followed by a dinner for freshman with upperclass students in their colleges, and in the evening, there is a one huge party for the entire campus. </p>

<p>That kind of welcome sets the tone at Yale – and all of it is a well orchestrated plan by Yale’s administration to create a vibrant campus environment that fosters hard work, unity and fun. There’s an old expression in Cambridge: “Mother Harvard doesn’t coddle her young.” That’s a positive way of saying “Harvard’s administration seems to lack the imagination or the desire to make the campus into a warmer, and more inviting place.” IMHO, Harvard’s social tone would be much improved if Harvard were run by Yale’s administration, or at the very least, Harvard adopted a more student-centric approach to campus life – just like Yale."</p>

<p>^^ And if you had the chutzpah to say all that to your interviewer, like my son, . . . maybe you’d now be a Yale student!</p>

<p>Was thinking I wasn’t going to get an interview, but I received a phone call today! Fairly excited and looking forward to next Tuesday. Time to polish my interviewing skills and whatnot!</p>

<p>I am a rising senior on a tour of colleges out on the east coast. I haven’t submitted an application to any schools, but I managed to schedule an on-campus interview at yale the day after campus tours and information sessions. Is it a bad idea to have an interview before they have any information on me? And, since this is my first interview, I’m absolutely freaking out as to how to prepare. Is rehearsing questions really the best way to prepare? I tried this with my dad and we ended up just snapping at each other when he didn’t think I was answering the questions with the exact wording he thinks the interviewer wants to hear.</p>

<p>It won’t hurt you that you’ve not applied. They file the report away until your app is completed.</p>

<p>Stop practicing w/your dad: recipe for failure on both parts. Read thru this thread – you’ll see it’s a casual conversation. You don’t have to have perfect answers. The person just wants to see what makes you tick. He/She doesn’t have a checklist of things to look for. The interviewer doesn’t want “to hear” anything – beyond the natural flow of your conversation.</p>

<p>Relax. Ask dad to relax. Tell him I told you so.</p>

<p>Sailing machine, for what it’s worth, just relax. People told us ahead of time the interviews really don’t carry much weight, and that is painfully the truth. My child was a stellar student, and every single interviewer gave a 5 rating. They were shocked when they heard my child didn’t get in those schools, because they thought it was a perfect match (and one was very upset, because she really made a great case for my child). Our big issue was financial aid. We needed a lot. And even though my child was top in the class, it still didn’t matter. Colleges have their reasons for who gets in and doesn’t, and we all have to respect that no matter how we feel about it. On the flip side, schools we thought there wasn’t a prayer in the world of getting in, offered acceptances and great scholarships. Go figure.</p>

<p>Here’s our story about Yale. My child applied early action. When we look back, it was a bittersweet experience. It could have gone a lot smoother, but Hurricane Sandy left us without power for 3 weeks, so it was tough. </p>

<p>As for the interview, I mean no disrespect here, but the interviewer that my child was given came totally unprepared and seemed very uncomfortable with the process. He was in his 70’s, and I think he was doing things the old-school way. He originally sent an email saying he’d meet my child at school. All the other interviewers asked what day and time would be best for my child. This man just said “Thursday 3:30 at your school.” The school does not allow it, but they were willing to make an exception.</p>

<p>When the directions were mailed, he said he didn’t know how to get there, so could my child meet him at the coffee shop. Several emails went back and forth about “which” coffee shop. Starbucks? Dunkin Donuts? It was finally sorted out when my child said you tell me what street the coffee shop is on, and I’ll meet you there. Something seemed amiss, but you really can’t tell whose behind the emails when you are first exchanging them. </p>

<p>Other interviewers spent 1.5-2 hours really chatting and getting to know my child. This man was 10 mins late, and he said he left his questions home. My child felt sorry for him and said he resembled my late father who had alzheimer’s. The man just kept saying “why did I forget the questions.” He looked over the resume and said things like “why is your name hyphenated?” He didn’t get the work or volunteer experience (which was very unique and international). He said he never lived outside his home state (except to go to Yale and Harvard), and then stayed in that vicinity after graduating. He talked about how he didn’t care to visit anywhere else in the world, so the international stuff was meaningless to him, whereas it was intriguing and a huge selling point to the other schools. By about 20 minutes, he seemed agitated (not at my child) but almost with an urgency to leave like he was unfamiliar with his surroundings. He mentioned he had to hurry along to meet his friends for dinner (it was only 3:30). He then just up and bolted. </p>

<p>Afterwards, my child sent him a thank you note, but he didn’t respond. We contemplated whether or not to say anything to Yale, but my child didn’t want them to think he was treated unfairly or was complaining. It was genuinely out of concern for the man’s well-being. Perhaps now that the process is over, a note can be sent; or maybe some others interviewed by him experienced the same thing and did speak up. </p>

<p>I think in the end, you will find out you wind up where you truly are supposed to be. It was no consolation to my child last year before all the apps and interviews started, but now we all realize that is very true. </p>

<p>One last thing. Every interviewer was lovely, and there was not a single one (and my child did 7 interviews) that asked any trick questions. My child always brought a resume (and they really appreciated that since it made their write-ups easier), and some asked for transcripts. Just be yourself and relax as T26E4 said, and the rest will come easy. </p>

<p>Good luck!</p>

<p>T26E4 - Thank you! I needed to hear that. Now hopefully Dad’ll back off a bit; I really do want to be comfortable going into the interview, since I think Yale could be a really good fit for me. He says he’s done this for decades and did interviews for a living (for jobs, not colleges) so he knows best, but he’s just making me uncomfortable.</p>

<p>maple370 - I’m sorry to hear about your interview! Hopefully this man will be okay and that Yale knows about it now. I am in a very similar situation to your child, with academics and financial aid, so it’s good to hear that the interview isn’t the final say on an acceptance.</p>

<p>Yes. Plz tell your dad that an interview for Yale is NOTHING like a typical job /promotion interview (which I occasionally conduct). I tell people that they should treat it as an opportunity to tell Yale something about themselves outside the application parameters. It’s an open ended question. If the student gets stuck, I’ll pose questions to lead him/her, to guage the depth of his/her academic curiosity, to see what makes him or her tick. No trick questions like: “tell me what punctuation mark you’re most like and why.”</p>

<p>Now certainly don’t be mistaken. I’m the eyes/ears on Yale’s behalf, not the student’s. I report fairly what I perceive and am not an advocate, per se, of the interviewee. If the kid is great, I say so. If the kid is mediocre or poor, I also say so w/o any reservations. </p>

<p>Whether this individual gets in or not, despite my liking him/her or not is not the point. I am Yale’s representative.</p>

<p>I feel that it went very well! She seemed very interested in my environmental focus and asked natural questions that were easy to answer. She didn’t give me any of “The Questions,” but instead asked me about summer plans, how I liked my school and why, etc. Feeling MUCH better :)</p>

<p>my daughter was just contacted by her alumni interviewer and he indicated he was supposed to reach out much sooner but could do the interview on dec 1st or december 8th, which seems way too late for an early action candidate, which she is. will the feedback from this interview be submitted in time if it is done on the 1st?</p>

<p>[Interviews</a> for Freshman Applicants | Yale College Admissions](<a href=“http://admissions.yale.edu/interviews]Interviews”>http://admissions.yale.edu/interviews)</p>

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<p>The Dec 1st interview seems like it would definitely be in time if the interviewer sends the info back quickly.</p>

<p>I had my Yale interview recently and we talked for nearly two hours even though they typically last for 30-40 minutes. My interviewer was familiar with the rigor and competitiveness of my school and seemed really impressed with my EC’s and we really went into detail about my dedication and motivation behind it.
However, in my initial nervousness, there were a few awkward moments where I accidentally said something weird and scrambled to rectify the mistake. He also took very little notes of our entire conversation and I’m scared that it would reflect negatively on the report he sends to admissions. Did I tank my chances?</p>

<p>^You’re seriously paranoid. You think the guy sat and conversed w/you for 2 hours because he was having an excruciating time?</p>

<p>Certainly you might get rejected but it won’ t be because of the interview report</p>

<p>How do I schedule an interview with an alumnus? I’m applying RD, should I do it before I send in my application, or is this too soon?</p>

<p>@wow: once you apply and your folder is complete, your name will be given to an area alumni organization if you live close to one. You may or may not be contacted – due to sheer numbers of apps. See post 812 above. You don’t initiate the interview.</p>

<p>I am also a Yale interviewer (though I had to recuse myself this year because my D is applying). Some ask if the interview can really make a difference. While there is no cookie cutter answer for how any candidate is successful in this process, I do know that they take the thoughts of the interviewer seriously. What is important is for the student to be themselves in the interview.</p>

<p>It is assumed that everyone that applies to Yale is the best and brightest. So how do they pick from the masses? I always ask my interviewee to tell me something about themselves that they could not on their application. I ask them to tell me about their extra curricular activities and tell me why they are important to them (this lets me get a sense of whether or not they just have padded their resume with activities with no real commitment or interest). I also ask them to tell me about what current event in the news interests them. This gives me a sense of whether or not they are paying attention to the world around them or just has their head in the books.</p>

<p>Most importantly, it is the intangibles. I love an interview where we just move into a conversation, instead of one where I am getting yes or no answers. Tell your child to try to engage the interviewer and find a question that interests them and “get into it”.</p>

<p>Be themselves is key. Some of us have been doing this for awhile and it is easy to tell when someone is applying just for the name, because a parent is pressuring them, or if they really want to go. I have had kids tell me they contacted a professor in the area they are interested in majoring in. That shows initiative. Some may tell me something about the school they saw on a tour or in a brochure that hit home with them.</p>

<p>Finally, they should have at least one good question to ask the interviewer at the end. I don’t really like it when I ask and they just say “no”. It kind of falls flat then.</p>

<p>I may interview 5 or 6 kids a cycle. They have to do something to make themselves stand out in my mind.</p>

<p>I am happy to answer any specific questions.</p>

<p>PS Yes it is so stressful to be on the parent end of this for this application cycle. My kid is stressed beyond belief.</p>

<p>Yale interviewers are not supposed to ask for resumes or transcripts. That is told to us specifically. I have been doing this for over 20 years off and on and I have NEVER asked for or seen either during an interview.</p>

<p>@Tperry1982 </p>

<p>First, as an applicant, I’d like to thank you for your volunteer work. I have two questions:

  1. How do you evaluate interviewees?
  2. How many interviewees leave thank-you notes after interview every year? What do you think about these?</p>