<p>What questions do they ask during the interview?</p>
<p>The format is informal, and they typically offer to answer any questions you have about the University. They will ask you some basic questions to try to gauge your interest in activities outside of class, but it won’t be probing. It is not like a job interview… this is not going to make or break your application, and the interviewers do not have set questions that they ask everyone unless they make the questions themselves. They write a recommendation based on how you behave in the interview… people who are more comfortable and have an easier time making eye contact, laughing, etc. will generally get a more favorable review, but with that said, the interview makes up a MINUSCULE aspect of your application, so don’t expect it to do very much. It can put you over the top if you are right on the cusp of acceptance, but it won’t make up for drastic shortcomings you have.</p>
<p>My daughter had her interview today- It lasted about an hour and was very informal, she felt that it went great, but ,that it is a small part of the big picture.</p>
<p>As I understand it, they notify you if they want to interview you? You can’t just sign up?</p>
<p>I just received my Interview scheduling interview today! Tuesday afternoon at Starbucks…I hope it goes well :)</p>
<p>I have my interview on Wednesday! Wish me luck! :)</p>
<p>Why mine came so late?? I got it today…</p>
<p>Another question: I thought if UPenn wants to interview me they should call me directly instead of a random person from MY AREA CODE calling me. Who’s that person anyway… That’s so strange, I live really far from UPenn and I really dont know how does it work. Is that guy UPenn alumni living near my house??</p>
<p>firenfreezes: That’s not strange at all. For most Penn interviews, if not all, staff from Penn do not call you. That “random person” calling you is your alumnus interviewer who lives in your neighborhood/region. I suggest you don’t treat them like a stalker or ignore their call lol.</p>
<p>Interviews at Penn work like this. Once you apply to Penn, your name is given to a Penn grad interviewer who lives in your neighborhood/city/town. That interviewer gets a list of students who applied to Penn and live in their area, and he’ll try to interview as many students on that list as he possibly has time for. </p>
<p>Not everyone is fortunate enough to have Penn grads who do interviews living near them, and some students don’t get an interview even if they do live near alumni. You should feel lucky to be one of the ones who do get an interview. :)</p>
<p>Does getting an interview mean you’ve passed some first cut or is it all pretty random?</p>
<p>^ It’s random. You can be a highly qualified student or be someone who absolutely has no chance of getting in, and still get selected for an interview. (This is because the interviewers just get handed a list of students, knowing only their name, school applied to, and contact info.)</p>
<p>wow, i almost rejected that guy…</p>
<p>I had no idea Penn interviewers are only given the basic informations, such as the name, school, and contact information, because on another website I read that an interviewer would be someone who has read my entire application package including my essays (I wrote 3 for Penn), and so I was totally prepared to engage in a discussion related to what I wrote in my essays and resume with my interviewer.</p>
<p>I was very surprised (!) when I found out my interviewer barely knew a thing about me. My advice for future students being interviewed is be prepared that the interviewer may know a great deal about you from your application package, but also be prepared that there’s that chance where the interviewer won’t know a thing about you and it’s a completely fresh start in a way.</p>
<p>Whatever it is, be ready and flexible so that you can make the most of your interview and put it towards your advantage.</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>Also, keep in mind that not all good applicants are interviewed- it should not stress you if you are not contacted. I am M&T, Ben Franklin Scholars, and Joseph Wharton Scholars, and Penn didn’t contact me at all until April 1st.</p>
<p>My mom has been worried lately because other schools have been contacting me with letters and basically more information about what they have to provide, and it’s definitely exciting and all, but we’ve barely heard from Penn.</p>
<p>It’s funny how I feel like Penn has its own culture in the admissions process.
That is,
- may not contact you does not need you’re not a good candidate and it probably does NOT mean you are NOT one of their top candidates,
- their interviewers may know very little about you and they may not have read your application, so it’s a brand new start with them!,
- they may contact waitlistees as late as a few days AFTER classes have began.</p>
<p>Am I wrong? Anything else to add?</p>
<p>I feel like… one side of me sees these ways that Penn works as a bit frustrating because there seems to be some degree of uncertainty and mystery there, but my other side feels like this way makes it even more exciting.</p>
<p>I’m a super nervous waitlisted candidate~</p>
<p>My UPenn interviewer seemed to have the most precompiled list of questions compared to other interviews (HPM, Cornell, Duke)</p>
<p>Some questions I remember:
If you could invite 3 people to dinner, who and why?
What is something you want to change about your school?</p>
<p>Mmm I didn’t really feel a lot of pressure though… there was one I kind of stumbled on and we just moved on; she didn’t jot down “applicant failed to answer question satisfactorily” or anything.</p>
<p>Also my interviewer told me that Penn told them to ask more questions about the applicant’s prospective area of interest because they felt the application didn’t allow that area to be elaborated enough on. So there were a few about that; nothing fancy though, just straightforward.</p>
<p>From the past 4-5 years, I know most people from my kids’ high school did not get accepted if they have any interview from the colleges. Most people got accepted if they did not get the interviews from the schools that accepted them.</p>
<p>It seems to me the alumni interviews are only for
- school marketing
- for boreline applicants.</p>
<p>So it seems like if you do not get an interview is a good sign.</p>