The Thread for College Interviews

Gosh so early and I am already going to an interview at WashU before my senior year even starts, oh well, I feel prepared.

Anyone know anything about the “informal” interviews at William and Mary ?
I believe it is conducted by one of the upper class students, and was completely voluntary, so I am thinking that it will probably be a fairly soft interview. Just was curious if anyone went through it already. Thanks. Marc

Is it better/easier to interview after you’ve visited the school at least once?

interviewed at pomona college last week. went smoothly; just like casual conversation

You can still have an interview without sending in your application first right? If you contact the school? Because I’m visiting a university and was planning on doing my interview during the visit

^ it depends on the school. As with Pomona, you can interview before submitting your app. Other schools such as Princeton and Brown contact you personally AFTER you have submitted your app. I would check with the school.

My first college interviews are next week, at Bates, Bowdoin, and Colby. I’ve read through or at least skimmed most of this board and some of the advice seems great. Does anyone know anything specific about any of those three? Anything could be helpful- especially for Colby, it’s my favorite so far.

I had my college interview last month. did four of them. occidental college, reed college, harvey mudd college and pomona college (in chronological order)
all are on campus, both oxy and pomona I had it with a senior interviewer, while with reed and harvey mudd, I had an assistant dean, and director of admission respectively.
my shortest one was in reed, most probably because I had it close to lunch time, and she wanted to eat- so did I. that took 30 mins, the rest are about 40-50 min.
quite scary at first cause you’re in a room by yourself with this other person your life might depend on, but as it progresses it gets easier.
the best way to prepare is to read their catalogs and make a list of questions, preparing a school profile also helps, especially if they’re not familiar w/ your school system.
questions mostly on how did you know about “x” college, your school work, activities/ interest, about my school/neighbor, the people around me, etc

if you have any questions on these four colleges interview, just send me a message, and maybe I can email you my thoughts on it

Has anybody had an interview with an admissions staff member? If so, how was it different from alumni/senior interviewers? Did you feel has if the interview weighed more since you’re speaking with a person who will ultimately “make or break” you?

I’ve had three interviews so far; Carnegie Mellon University, Johns Hopkins University, and Yale.

At CMU (w/ an ad. officer), things went great. I know that it’s a good fit for me (which certainly helps) and I was able to get my interviewer to laugh more than a few times. (Humor is great if you can manage it. People like funny people.)

One of the more difficult and unexpected questions I faced was something like “tell me three adjectives your friends would use to describe you.”

JHU (w/ a senior interviewer) was a little more difficult. I didn’t click so well with the interviewer, and she was a student with very different interests from me. Watch out for those.

Yale was great, again with the humor and the talking.

One piece of advice - if you’re with an ad. officer (which I think is much better/easier than a student) look around their office a little bit. Notice things like diplomas or out of the ordinary items, or artworks. Use them to start a conversation if something lulls out. Awkward silences suck.

Hey, Can anyone answer this for me?
I have over a 4.0 GPA, but the two high schools I have been to give GPA points differently.
How do I know what to tell colleges my GPA is?

You don’t. You just send both transcripts. Colleges rarely take a look at a GPA and move on. Most often, they look at the classes you took and how well you did in them.

When should we start scheduling our interviews?

most colleges allow prospective students from spring of junior year to fall/winter of senior year.
I did mine in summer between jr and sr year
just schedule them early. then you can get those out of the way and focus on other stuff

Puzzled. S tells me that some of his classmates have on-campus admissions interviews at Dartmouth, but the Dartmouth website says they only offer alum interviews.

Any insight?

How do International students face the interview? I mean, do they have to travel to USA for it, or is it arranged via telephone.

I am an student from India planning to apply to JHU, Duke, Darthmouth.

Go to those colleges’ websites. Generally, there will be a section for international students with special instructions. If not, email the admissions office.

I know that there isn’t too big of an emphasis placed on interviews, but if the interviewer wrote something like,

“Student doesn’t know if she really wants to go to this college.”

Will the adcoms pay attention to that statement?

I just got an email from a UChicago alum to schedule an interview, which I was certainly not expecting this early. I’m not sure what to do. Would it sound bad if I scheduled it for December-ish?

eternitygoddess, why the heck would you say that? I mean, it’s not a death sentence. Part of the point of an interview is to get to know the school. But still, it might raise a red flag.