<p>Has anyone had it?
How did it go?</p>
<p>I had one. It wasn't bad at all--held at the Starbucks on my block, and the interviewer didn't even take notes. The conversation wass fairly casual, with a few difficult questions thrown in.</p>
<p>I had mine at the alumni's house. It turned from an interview (why are interested in Swat? What ECs do you enjoy the most?...etc.) to a casual conversation. It lasted 2 hours.</p>
<p>Mine is tomorrow!! :/</p>
<p>I'm a little nervous, because it's my first one (unfortunately), but hopefully it will be okay. Maybe I'll update in this thread once I get back....mine is at the alumni's house too.</p>
<p>The thing is, my interviewer's spouse and two children have ALL attended Swat, so it's a TINY bit intimidating...but I suppose that increases the chances of learning about the topics I'm interested in (maybe one of them was an English major? <em>crosses fingers</em>).</p>
<p>Wish me luck :)</p>
<p>Mine is tomorrow toooo!!!
at some coffee shop... the guy's gonna tell me the direction tomorrow.
im exciteddd heh, i love interviews!
mine is actually a recent graduate.
wish me luck too!
good luck to you toooo!!!</p>
<p>=)</p>
<p>mine (first interview ever as well) is on tuesday, but on campus! good luck equilibrium & dinosaur! :)</p>
<p>agh! I missed the 12/1 deadline... is there anyway to still get an interview? or should I not even try since I'm already late..</p>
<p>wow i'm doing RD and i can't get an interview?</p>
<p>have you guys tried scheduling it via swat's site? that's how i scheduled mine (and had to reschedule it again later over phone) for this tuesday.. i believe the last day for interview is the 16th, so you could try the site or call them up if you haven't already.</p>
<p>hmm.. you can try calling them and beg them for an interviewer.</p>
<p>Just got back from my interview......I dressed up a tiny bit, just to look nice, but overall it was pretty informal (my interviewers wore their slippers, haha). They didn't ask me anything that was totally "out-there," mostly just typical questions one would expect (What do you like to do in your free time? What was the last book you read? Is there anything you want us to know that might not have "come through" on your application? etc.). I tried to express my interests and multitude of dimensions as well as possible, and I think it went pretty well. I had the chance to ask a lot of questions, which seemed to solidify Swarthmore as my first/one of my first choices. Our families had a lot in common, and they participated in things I would do at Swat, so there was sort of a "connection" you could say.</p>
<p>Now I'm writing my thank-you note before I forget everything we talked about! :)</p>
<p>awww good job!
we pushed ours to next week..
my interviewer's brief is due today -_-..
i thinkkkk--- he is a lawyer, a very big one.
ours is at a coffee shop near the beach.. it would be nice.</p>
<p>any tips?</p>
<p>I have my on-campus interview tomorrow!! Any last minute advice from past interviewees?</p>
<p>Tips........</p>
<p>I guess I would say to BRIEFLY go over what you might say to common interview questions. Before we left the house, my dad asked me some ?s I got off the internet and I responded. Doing this made me realize that I don't have to go on and on - BE CONCISE, they will prompt you further if they want to hear more on a particular subject. Have an idea of what points you'd like to make depending on the ?.</p>
<p>I didn't bother filling out the activity part of the interview sheet, because I already had a resume that I've been sending to schools. So that helped them a bit - they saw that I am the news editor for my school newspaper, so his wife asked what that involved, or something. That led to me telling them about it, which led to my interview saying that HE worked on the newspaper at Swat, which led to him telling me how a linotype machine worked "back in those days." ;)</p>
<p>Don't try to memorize things, because you want to sound natural. Make eye contact but don't stare them down or anything...just act conversational, SMILE, and showcase the passion that you have for your endeavors.</p>
<p>Oh! and it's VERY important to make up a list (as in WRITE THEM DOWN) of questions to ask your interview. And I don't mean, "How many parties did you get to go to at Swat?" Prompt them to reflect on their personal experiences, and relate it back to what you would like to pursue while attending college. First, it gets THEM talking, second, you can take notes to show you value their opinion, and third, it will provide you with a basis for the THANK-YOU NOTE (hint hint) that you'll start writing to them upon your return home.</p>
<p>One of my own conclusions is that one should attempt to establish connections between him/herself and the interviewer. I got lucky, because I'm Jewish and so is my interviewer's family. As soon as I walked in, I commented on the pile of wrapped Hanukkah gifts in their den. Later, I found out that he had grown up a town away from my mother in Cleveland, OH. Lastly, I expressed interests in pursuing some of the activities they had been involved in while at Swat.</p>
<p>Hopefully this helps anyone who still has an interview, whether it's at Swarthmore or any other university! :)</p>
<p>Compared to my Bryn Mawr and Bowdoin interviews, my Swarthmore one wasn't very good, at all. I did dress up a little, but my interviewer had slippers on. I tried to answer her questions the best I could, and I told her I am applying EDII, but she was pretty hard to communicate with. We didn't have much in common, she's Jewish, I'm Mennonite, but, heck, we live in the same state (CA), I guess. Then, midway through, she flat out told me that I smiled too much, I was too enthusiastic, and that I wasn't able to criticize things. I thought this was a bit out of line, considering I find myself to for the most part modest and respectful, if not opinionated. Then she kept asking me to elaborate on my experience at Harvard SSP two summers ago, and to find negative aspects of it. I had a great experience- the only negative I could seriously think about was that the food in Annenburg got old after a while. Anyways, not a good interview, especially considering my other two had been decent.</p>
<p>So, I talked to my parents about it- they were disappointed. They had visited Swat in Oct. and had found a friendly, caring place. So, when I got home after school the next evening my dad tells me that he called Swat and ranted to the head of alumni interviews. Argh! Why did he have to do that!? I know he thinks he was being helpful, but he is pretty clueless to the admissions process. I guess I'll just ride it out till Feb. Hopefully it didn't ruin the little chance I have to getting in any further.</p>
<p>I have my Swarthmore interview tomorrow. He scheduled it at IHOP at 10:30am, told me he had an appointment afterwards and stuff. Any tips on what I should or shouldn't do?</p>
<p>My interview today went really well.
6pm at Starbucks near the beach pier.
very very romantic?!
haha,
but my interviewer was very funny and dorky.
it felt like he was my best friend!
haha,
he walked me to my car after the interview.
i just smiled a lot.
at first i thought he would be scary.. just because.. he's a lawyer.
but, naw, he was really nice.</p>
<p>SO DON'T WORRY!
LOVE YOUR INTERVIEWER!</p>
<p>=D</p>
<p>My interview went pretty well. It turned out that he was a perfect match for me, we could relate about alot of things. He had an appointment afterwards so we rushed things at the end but otherwise it went great. </p>
<p>It was perfect.</p>
<p>I also missed the 12/1 deadline. I REALLY want to have an interview for Swarthmore. Any suggestions? Would I be hurting my chances of getting in my harassing the admissions office trying to get an alumni interviewer?</p>
<p>There's kind a season to this whole admissions business. After Christmas, the Admissions Office shifts into fult tilt boogie mode on filing, organizing, and reading 6000 applications. It's an all-consuming process for the admissions office.</p>