I just had my alum interview yesterday and it was horrible. Not that I did anything bad, but my interviewer was, no joke, 90 years old, had trouble hearing, and, since I had visited the campus, said that he wouldn’t answer any of my questions because I shouldn’t have any. It lasted 1.5 hours and I know his whole life story, but the few questions he asked me I don’t think he even heard, though I spoke slowly and loudly. I’m not in a tizzy, but it was just so lackluster I’m, well, feeling disappointed. And he told me that out of his long interview career he has only had one kid get accepted. How’s that for a confidence booster. Where are all the cool, coffee-house interviewers I hear about :)?
I have a Brown interview tomorrow, and I was just wondering if I’m supposed to bring anything to the interview?
Some people have suggested bringing a short version of the activity chart, a resume, etc, but I’m not sure if I should bring anything.
What do you guys think? Thanks. 
I had my U of Rochester interview today, and it went twice as long as my 'Deis interview–45 minutes or something. I guess that’s a good thing?
My interviewer was very nice, and responsive, but we had totally opposite interests–she had a science background and when she asked for book recommendations, she had only heard of East of Eden. I totally understand that, but my Deis interviewer’s <em>favourite book</em> was East of Eden, and she also loved Chaim Potok. She was an anthropology major too and had a background in activism. But, my Deis interview I felt could have been much better. If I could have been as prepared, as sure of myself, and had concentrated my passions, as I did in my UR interview, but with my Deis interviewer, that would have been a phenomenal interview.
Overall I’d say it was very good for what it’s worth.
Im not clear on how to initiate an interview. Do you first submit the app and wait for the college to assign you an interview or do you contact the college seperatley and ask to set one up.
For instance, a student whom I interviewed claimed extensive experience with an organization that I spent a lot of time volunteering with. I’d never seen her before. I knew that if she had the experience that she had claimed, I’d have met her before.
→ lol, so basically automatic rejection?
umm, i had my penn on campus interview for legacy students the other day. I think it went pretty well. He told me that he liked me and that i was very personable, which was good.
my friend just had a brown alum interview and said it went horribly. His interviewer wasnt really interested in his ecs or foreign trips (he had gone to africa to help track elephants and was in costa rica living with a family for a summer). he basically talked the entire time about politics and not so much about my friend. eh, what can you do.
I have a USC interview dec1st… ne1 had one of those yet? howd it go?
It depends on the school, really… I’d shoot an email to each one and ask.
Do i need to bring my application materials(transcript, resume, copy of application…) or any paper materials to the interview?
^ no you don’t need to bring any of those…just know about them…especially about ur ecs and such…they wont really ask too much about ur academics other than maybe gpa and sat scores and u should probly know that from memory…
I usually bring my resume… one of my interviewers asked for it, and another one thought it was helpful.
Just had my Princeton interview. It was very casual and at the interviewer’s house. We talked about me: some classes, really just 1 EC, (even though I do lots) some teachers, why I liked Princeton in particular, etc. I also asked her a couple of questions: Why did she choose Princeton and how has Princeton changed since she went there. Believe it or not, those few topics lasted for a little over an hour!
She did not take notes, said that she had not seen my application, (or really anything about me) and stressed that the interview was chiefly to give us the opportunity to ask questions and just talk with someone who knows the school really well. I’m very happy with how it went, and glad that it’s done!
futurenyustudent: Your post was a while ago, so I don’t know if this will help, but I’ll mention it anyway in case someone else wants to know. I interviewed at Wesleyan. It was very informal, with a senior at the school. We had a little tangent about literature (and our mutual love of Willa Cather) and he reccomended a book for me to read. I’m always pretty awkward at interviews, but I think it went ok.
My Skidmore interview was awful. It was an hour (my mom said like 3 people came and went from interviews with the other adcom in the office while I was in mine). 15 min was him asking about my SATs, class schedule, etc. and 45 was him talking at me about I don’t even know what. I’m not applying. (For more than just that reason, but it didn’t help.)
I just got my alumnus assignment from Pomona, I’m so nervous. I did a practice interview with my mother’s friend who used to do interviews for MIT and Vanderbilt, and I definitely need to think things through better.
o, I have a question:
if i am asked how many hours i spend on homework a day, is it good to say more or less, cause i don’t really know how many hours i spend studying, i’m bad at estimating, plus i always procrastinate my hw till the last minute.
like this year, i study less than 1 hour a day cause my teachers are all easy. but less year i spent maybe 3+ hours a day. so which answer is better: longer hour, meaning you study hard, or lesser hour meaning you’re so smart that you can get perfect grade in whole bunch of ap classes without studying much?
my friend described his MIT interview to me: the interviewer were typing information into her laptop the entire time!!!
My D recently did her Dartmouth alumni interview at the interviewer’s home. If she had it to do over she would have googled the interviewer’s name to find out more about her prior to the interview. Turns out she has an extensive background in early US History & really asked some tough in-depth questions about my daughter’s government course (though D wants to be an engineer). She would have discovered that background with a google search.
Just had my Wesleyan alumni interview at his office (he’s an investment banker). Took me nearly two hours to get there by train, but I was very proud of myself when I got to the city with an hour to spare. I spent it sitting at starbucks, eating lunch and, between mouthfuls, practicing talking with ease to the chair across from me.
I think the interview itself went really well. He asked me for my GPA, my SAT scores, extracurriculars, “why do you want to go to Wesleyan?”, and what three things I thought defined Wesleyan. Then it was just all questions I had from there. He gave me a very honest account of his experience at Wesleyan, pros and cons, something I thought was extremely valuable since collegebooks and websites tend to only give a one-sided view of things (the pros).
However, if I could change one thing about my interview, I think it would be that I hadn’t been so nervous that my vocabulary became severely limited. BLEH! Nonetheless, I remain satisfied.
I also just had my Wesleyan interview. My interviewer was a psychologist and so she asked me some in depth questions, like what I thought about the Oedipus complex. She didn’t ask me any questions about Wesleyan, not even why I liked the school. I got really emotional in the interview but I think it went well because she said that she would be rooting for me to get in.
Hey worth2try, I have a U or Rochester interview on Saturday and I was wondering, what is the ‘interview form’ that you’re talking about? I didn’t see anything like that on the website nor did I receive anything like that…
Also, I think someone else asked this, but I’m meeting my interviewer at Starbucks and another one at Dunkin Donuts. Am I supposed to buy them drinks?
Thanks for sharing your experience! I’ve gotten some good heads-up reading this thread
When you get to the Rochester interview ( I had a couple of weeks ago); the interviewer will hand you a form to fill out with like “why rochester, potential major, SATs, top activities,” etc.
You are supposed to offer them drinks. Most don’t take you up on the offer… but it’s the thought that counts.
yayyyyyyy! i just had my rice interview! it was exceedingly long (1 hr 15 min) but i never noticed how fast time passed by. It was really goooood! The guy was really nice and made me relax. We just had a really natural conversation about colleges. He kept comparing me to his daughter though…lol. But at the end he practically said “I’ll give you a really strong recommendation. You’ll be great at Rice. Let me know what college you choose but I hope you’ll choose Rice.” lol! yay! im so glad its done with!
Looking for advice
My D needs to sched an interview and I decided to google the alum who would be doing the interview… I’m pretty uncomfortable now about the interview and the school in general, is it common for an 05 grad to do interviews and be the kind of person to “let it all hang out” in the local papers?
Requesting a different alum would cause questions and not responding to the interview suggestion will be bad for the application… Gah.