<p>I just had my alumni interview today and without bad-mouthing a man who took time away from his family to interview me, I barely got a word in edge-wise. I left my resume for him to refer to but I feel if he writes a write-up about me, he'll have nothing to say outside of what's explicitly stated on it. </p>
<p>I'm not really afraid of this hurting my chances of getting into Princeton from what I hear about these interviews.</p>
<p>I was wondering though if maybe this kind of thing is common there? I went to an information session and it was one of the more homogenous information sessions I had been to and it seemed a little dry in terms of personality, which is what was reinforced by my interview today.</p>
<p>So I was just wondering is this representative of the community of Princeton for anyone who has been? Or could it just be a bad experience? Also, my interviewer graduated in the 90's so could it also have to do with time? What do you think?</p>
<p>Yikes, sorry that you had a bad interview experience! FWIW, my interview was AWFUL.</p>
<p>I really like Princeton overall in terms of personalities. Of course you’ll find people with all sorts of weird quirks, like you would in any large group of people. Personally my favorite thing to do here is talk to people, and there are tons of interesting people who will also be interested in you. Maybe if you get in and you go to Preview weekend, you can spend some time hanging out with random students to get an impression of the current student body? / or if you play sports or have a friend at Pton, you can do the same.</p>
<p>Also, I don’t think I ever went to an info session with “personality” lol…I feel like they’re kinda boring by default.</p>
<p>Thanks. That helped comfort me a bit, except maybe the part about your interview also being awful. Sounds like pattern.</p>
<p>Well, I think I’ve been to some pretty good ones. Usually the presenters share anecdotes from when they were there or show some quirky things students on campus do, but neither of those happened at the Princeton info session. I could’ve also just been disenchanted with the environment that was there. It was pretty disconcerting.</p>
<p>My interviewer spent about 70% of the time talking. I think these meetings are meant to be information sessions as much as they are interviews. Even though he didn’t learn very much about me, he still told me at the end that he would write a good review and that he hopes I will get in. Maybe your interviewer wasn’t explicit, but it’s still possible he got a very good impression based on the little you did say. If you seemed attentive and engaged when he talked about Princeton, it could be a very positive sign as well.</p>
<p>Yeah, as a student I can say that people generally have smart things to say, but let each other talk. Your interviewer was not very good - and I’m sorry that P’ton made a bad impression. I promise it’s not like that here. </p>
<p>Luckily for you, though, the interview is really only a way to appease alumni and make them feel like they are having an impact. Like they said above, it’s mainly to help the student learn more about Princeton than to decide whether the student will get in. I’m fairly close with one of the admissions officers, and I really doubt that he would trust the very varied judgement of alumni around the US. It just would be unfair to some people.</p>
<p>Contrary to your interview, I actually spent 70% of the time talking about myself and felt bad because my interviewer looked like she was scrambling to write everything down. She seemed to be a genuinely nice woman impassioned in her work and studies (associate dean at a nearby university).</p>
<p>I could factor in that she went to Pton as a graduate student, which probably attests to the fact that she didn’t have much to say about the school itself except “It has the best undergraduate experience and you’ll love it so much,” but I did ask her what she did for her career and research thesis and such.</p>
<p>When I visited campus last summer I really liked my Orange Key Tour guide, who I would say was equally down-to-earth and sociable as, say Stanford’s tour guide, but I don’t think that these one-time experiences are really that comparable on a larger scale. While maybe a university’s method of hiring/training their info session/tour guides could be taken into consideration, I think it all depends on the day/how compatible you are with the actual person (which shows diversity?).</p>
<p>For example, I had a really intimate and fascinating info session at CMC but the tour guide was downright awful. I think it’s really a hit-or-miss with interviewers and info sessions. Nevertheless, I will be attending Pton come fall and wish you the best of luck, as I hope to be surrounded by people concerned with matters such as these :)</p>
<p>another SCEA admit here–I’ll agree with what thehumanist said previously and add that I spent a full weekend crashing on a current student’s floor for the Arts and Humanities Symposium this September prior to applying, and everyone I met was incredibly friendly and excited to meet the “pre-pre-froshes” (and a few times random students passed on the sidewalk, smiled, and shouted something to the effect of “come to Princeton! We’d love to have you here!”) In addition, as soon as I got my acceptance and informed them of it, my host, my interviewer, a student from my high school who graduated last year and went on to Princeton whom I’d (maybe?) passed in the hallway before, a professor whom I’d met and emailed with after the Symposium, and the admissions rep from my region (who’d arranged the Symposium) all messaged/emailed/called me within a few days (a few hours for some) to congratulate me. It was humbling, amazing, and surreal. So that’s been my experience with Princeton and the reason I’m really (really, really, really) hoping to be able to attend come fall!</p>