<p>Hi, there, Brown Forum people; I’m new here, and I have a question that I can’t find the answer to anywhere else. Any thoughts or opinions would be much appreciated!</p>
<p>I had an alumni interview-of-sorts for Brown last Thursday during my lunch period, and I am really confused as to his approach to the interview itself. I was notified sometime last week by phone by my interviewer, who said he just wanted to meet to “chat about Brown”. I was expecting a conversation with my interviewer, but I was really surprised. Instead, I was regaled for forty-five minutes on how my extracurriculars and chosen major would fit in at Brown. At first, he told me a little about himself, and then asked me about which extracurriculars I participated in, but as soon as I would give a sentence on my favorite after-school activities (theater and softball) or on my ideas for my future, he started telling me about how wonderful the Brown theater department and softball team are. I didn’t really get much of a chance at all to explain what made me tick as a student.</p>
<p>From what I can tell from reading other threads, this isn’t exactly normal of interviews at Brown. I’ve had several other interviews for different schools, and this has never happened before. Is this just an interviewing style that I didn’t pick up on, or is it possible that this wasn’t an interview at all?</p>
<p>I think it was certainly an interview, just a bad one. You obviously did, (and were ready to do) your job, you just got the luck of getting a bad interviewer. Though it seems that if anything, when he writes up his report he’ll talk about the same things (how all your missions and goals would fit in well at Brown) so I don’t know how much you should worry about it. If it is troubling you though, write a letter to the appropriate board (either Admissions board or whoever runs the interviews) and ask them to cancel the interview because your itnerviewer hardly let you express anything about your interest.</p>
<p>I’ve been interviewing for Brown for 25+ years, and reading about interviews on College Confidential for several years. Unfortunately, your interview was really not that “strange” – many interviewers spend too much time discussing themselves or the school and not letting the applicant talk. It’s a shame, but there’s not much you can do about it. While interview reports are read by admissions, they are not such a significant part of the file that you should worry about it.</p>
<p>It sounds like though the interviewer did most of the talking, he seemed to think you were a good fit. So the write-up might be a positive one.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t worry about it. I, too^, had a Princeton interview that was basically an hour and a half of an alum talking about himself and his old suite mates at college. My Brown interview went well, but the interviewer did make a point of talking up Brown. I’m beginning to think that the interview is probably about half-PR/half-“We want to get to know you better because our review process is holistic.”</p>
<p>My D has had 4 interviews so far. I won’t go into detail, lest anyone recognize themself. I’ll just say it was FAR AND AWAY the oddest of the interviews in MANY ways!</p>
<p>But what threw me off about my Princeton interview was that my alum worked as a professor at Princeton. Because I was being interviewed in his/her (for privacy) office, I expected him/ her to grill me with questions. But instead, it seemed like he/she was trying to sell Princeton to me. The interview only lasted 30min because that’s how he/she schedueled them. There was a kid there right after me.</p>
<p>well you want to let them talk mostly. people talking about themselves / their experiences usually is a good thing and it makes them feel good about themselves and puts them in a good mood. i wouldnt look too much into it.</p>
<p>yeah mine was pretty similar.
not as extreme, but she told me about her and her experience but she also asked me what i liked to do/extracurriculars and then told me how i would be able to do that at brown.</p>
<p>Oh my god. I just had my Brown interview, and it lasted all of ten minutes. I am being perfectly serious here. It wasn’t even thirty minutes–it was ten. I was contacted out of the blue–he just called me up, no prior contact, and wanted to have the phone interview right then and there. I’m still reeling. I don’t even know his name or his phone number. I don’t think I’ve ever stumbled over my words as much as I just did right now. (It certainly doesn’t help that I was in the middle of a mental breakdown right before he called me. That? That’s perfect timing, right there.) </p>
<p>Whee. Well. I’m certainly glad that interviews don’t make or break an application.</p>