<p>If you've ever been to an interview, can you tell me what you talked about?</p>
<p>Just relax, be casual and be yourself. Interviews are the easiest part of admission.</p>
<p>Get a book on job interviewing and practice answering those questions. Colleges are going to ask much of the same thing -- "tell me about yourself", "what do you consider your strengths", "tell me about a problem you had with a friend and how you solved it", etc. These are all pretty standard; just substitute "enroll here" for "work here" and the work-specific ones translate too. Practice first in front of a mirror, then have a parent or friend play the role of interviewer.</p>
<p>One of the most important times, BTW, is when they turn to you and ask if you have any questions. I guarantee you'll be asked this, and its not just to fill time. Its your turn to show you've done your homework and can ask cogent questions that show you know about the particulars of the school and have read the material available in the viewbook, on the web, etc. and have considered yourself as a student there and what questions would arise.</p>
<p>"If you've ever been to an interview, can you tell me what you talked about?"</p>
<p>Everything and anything! I did six interviews this spring, and I talked about different things in each interview, but the general trends were as follows: </p>
<p>(keep in mind that I have a rather unusual background, American living abroad, lived EVERYWHERE, so my questions tended to focus more on international issues than I think those of others would have) </p>
<p>Topics that came up (in rough order of frequency)</p>
<ol>
<li>School
Be prepared to talk about your school. The classes that are offered, the student body, the faculty, subjects you like/dislike. I was asked to talk about academic strengths/weaknesses at a few schools. You will probably be given the oppertunity to discuss any weaknesses that may pop up on your application. If there are any, I recomend you talk about them. I had a poor freshman year, I told that to the adcoms that asked and I got to explain why I think it went badly, what I'd do differently if I could do it again, and lessons I've taken away from it. </li>
<li>Extra-curriculars.
What you do/why you do it. Depending on the extra curriculars, these questions can go on for a long time. Be prepared to discuss why your extracurriculars have deepend your interest in a particular subject, or how a subject has deepend your interest in an extracurricular. Different adcoms will like to talk about different activities. One LOVED it that I did Model UN and we chatted about international relations and the importance of early exposure for half the interview. Another wanted to talk to me about my creative writing and newspaper experience. </li>
<li>International Conficts, Current Events
I talked about Iraq A LOT. Many interviewers seemed curious about the impact the war is having on British politics. I talked about world poverty in an interview, because it linked into volunteer work I'd done in India, we talked about the caste system and its implications on the Indian economy. Make sure you read a newspaper before you go in (hopefully you read one at home anyway) because I was asked about the magazines and newspapers I read at home. I was lucky on this one, because none of the adcoms had read the Daily Mirror or knew that the Sun was a tabloid. </li>
<li>College
What you're looking for in a college. Why you're interested in their college. What can they offer you no-one else can ... I have a feeling that I got off easy in this category. I've heard horror stories from friends where colleges have expected them to list what courses they would take first semester if they got in. I had none of that. Most schools were content to just hear why I didn't want to go a British University.</li>
</ol>
<p>D was asked several times to list 5 adjectives that describe her, then the interviewer picked one and asked her how it applied.</p>
<p>Good adjectives might be: curious, persistent, creative, flexible, adventurous......</p>
<p>I had two interviews, one with Penn and another with Columbia. The one with Columbia was with an extremely dry engineer who just stared at me and waited for me to talk without any questions. That lasted for 30 minutes until he started to ask questions. The interview was 90 min long. The Penn one was amazing. It really consisted of my telling the interviewer why I wanted to go to Penn, what I knew about their program, why I am who I am and why I want to go down my career path. And we talked for about 20 min about her experience there. She gave me tips, etc. </p>
<p>I found both of them pretty easy. Again, like above, be prepared to talk about yourself a lot. Also make sure you're familiar with the stuff you listed on your application. In a list of activities I had political campaigning as like number 9 out of 10+ activities and the Columbia guy brought it up. He also asked who would remember me from my high school and why. Just be prepared to talk yourself up basically, but in a realistic way.</p>
<p>Good Luck</p>
<p>Matt</p>
<p>For questions such as, Why <insert college="" here="">, how do you reply? Do you talkin about the academic program, the college being a good fit for you,etc? If so, how do you articulate why its a good fit for you,etc? </insert></p>
<p>I'm confused and nervous the interview. Not sure I can come up with answers to such questions at the spur of the moment ( that too, in a high pressure environment )</p>
<p>The best way to 'come up with answers' is to be totally, unfailingly honest. If you try to search for the 'perfect' answer, you will only sound inarticulate and nervous. Remember, there is not one answer. Some answers are better than others, but most will do. </p>
<p>When I was asked: Why <insert college="">? I always started with the basics and worked my way inwards. Example:
1. I would start by talking about why I wanted to go to school in the US vs. the UK. I would talk about the narrow focus required at UK schools, which would lead nicely into #2 ...
2. I want to go a liberal arts college because of: focus on wholistic education. I would talk how I viewed a strong core curriculum as paramount to a well-rounded education and I liked the intimate size of LACs ... this led to: WHY THIS COLLEGE
3. I would talk about THEIR CORE and why it was right for me. Then, I talked class size, class debates etc, classes that I'd seen on the syllabus that struck me as being particularily interesting.
4. I would start 'outwards' again, and talk about general student body traits/campus life that I was looking for. I would tailor this to the school. Ie: if the school had no frats/an honour code/high diversity, and I liked that, I would say: I'm looking for a school where there is little or no Greek life, where the campus is safe and professors/students trust each other and there are people from a multitude of backgrounds.
5. Then you say: This is another reason why I'm so interested in <insert college="" name=""> because not only does it cater for my academic needs, but the ambience is also exactly what I'm looking for.
6. Then for 'brownie points' talk about what you can do for the college and how you'd fit on their campus. It's possible that the adcom will ask you this if you don't specifiy, but, if you're like me and you could talk the hind leg off a donkey, then go ahead and address it without being asked. Talk about the clubs you'd join, the help you'd give to other students etc. Then you can round your answer off nicely by saying that you understand that a college match goes both ways and that you recognize that what you can bring to the school is equally important as what it can give to you.</insert></insert></p>