<p>The best answer to this question I’ve ever heard:</p>
<p>I see myself celebrating the five-year anniversary of you asking me that question.</p>
<p>meh kind of long-winded and then why would the anniversary be celebrated and yeah</p>
<p>
Still totally disagree. </p>
<p>I interviewed about 100 applicants and about 10 had “it” and it came through on this question and other questions. Among the applicant pool there are applicants who are not living boring lives and checking off boxes they think schools want to see. I did not say they had definite plan … I said they had a great answer to the question. </p>
<p>These kids all had something about which they were very excited and the natural and honest answer to this question will come back to their interest/passion. The incredible shy and introverted math/science geek who came alive when talking about chemistry and how he wanted to do something that involved chemistry … the social activist who knew they wanted to do social support work in a 3rd world country when they graduated although they had no idea about where or what cause … etc. Could they have been faking … I guess so … but I’d bet big bucks they were not faking … to me all the top applicants lit up when we hit the right topic (even if they had been flat until then). For me the top applicants were pretty obvious and had NO problem answering question like this … that internal drive in a direction is one of things that sets them apart.</p>
<p>There are two possible errors while interviewing. I doubt many of these folks were faking interest that was not real. That said the other error may have occured … kids who had a lot to offer who did not show that to me at the interview.</p>
<p>PS - Of the 10 applicants I thought had “it” 9 of 10 got in … and the one who didn’t I knew was at risk because of really low SATs … given the school had about a 25% acceptance rate when I was interviewing what I saw in interviews came through in their overall application package.</p>
<p>all I’m saying is instead of asking “where do you see yourself 5 years from now”</p>
<p>ask “what are you passionate about” “what do you want to achieve in college” “what made you develop these interests?”</p>
<p>this is much more open ended, and allows the students more opportunity to open up. Saying that students fake answers is a stretch, but there are students who have had the resources to be developed and coached beyond their years, while others aren’t so fortunate. They knew what to say before you even asked the questions. On the other hand, most of these kids probably never had an interview before, and they are sure to stumble if you ask them a loaded question that requires a lot of experience, as well as self-reflection. those wily ones who can think on their feet might be able to come up with something clever, but I doubt it would be the same answer after they chew on the question for a while.</p>
<p>I will end up either</p>
<p>A: living in my parents’ house with no job
B: slaving away for a graduate degree at a crappy school
C: working at Micky D’s
D: Living in a box</p>
<p>My future doesn’t look too bright. Oh, well…</p>
<p>I think that “HR” person might have just wanted to give you guys a bad time, since the whole thread so far has been discussing how they dislike that question. </p>
<p>While having some sense of goals is a very positive thing, if I was interviewing someone and they gave rather vivid details of where exactly they’d be in 5 years, I’d be pretty worried about their expectations and how they’d react if things stopped going to plan.</p>
<p>This thread reminds me of a news story where a girl said in her Valedictorian speech that people always ask her what she wanted to do with her life giving the response “How the hell do I know?” The school tried to hold her diploma until she apologized…</p>
<p>[Oklahoma</a> Valedictorian Denied Diploma After Using ‘Hell’ in Her Speech - ABC News](<a href=“Oklahoma Valedictorian Denied Diploma After Using 'Hell' in Her Speech - ABC News”>Oklahoma Valedictorian Denied Diploma After Using 'Hell' in Her Speech - ABC News)</p>
<p>lol, classic Oklahoma.</p>
<p>Not that I was applying to an Oklahoma college before, but…</p>
<p>i can’t even see myself a semester from now ):</p>
<p>Philovitist: um, yeah. It’s a joke. That’s what you say if you’re damn sure you don’t want the job haha</p>
<p>
Ok … to try to be more helpful. IMO to answer this question well you do not have to answer this question incredibly precisely … you just need to describe whatever direction you feel you are headed at whatever level of focus you can.</p>
<p>Whenever someone says they have no idea how to answer the question I think they are getting stuck because they do not know an exact answer … and are not acknowledging what they do know … which is often knowing what they do not want to do.</p>
<p>You have no idea of what you want to do … really … in 5 years you can see yourself on the road to being … a doctor, an engineer, a poet, a beach bum, a priest, an actor, an American Idol contestant, a stay at home parent, a teacher, working for the geek squad, working on wall street, or volunteering in a 3rd world country? Every direction in life is still open? You have no areas of interest or areas you know of no interest? Really?</p>
<p>At 18 I was interested in Math, Engineering, Physics, Computer Science, or Architecture … and I really had no idea where in that world I fit … but I knew I wanted to leverage my analytical talents … I just wanted to follow a path to figure how to use those skills. That was far from a precise answer but it was an answer that described my strengths and interest in general terms.</p>
<p>A mirror.
At the very least, I can say with quite a large degree of certainty that in 5 years, I will be able to see myself in a mirror.</p>
<p>I still see myself in graduate school in the next four years but I can never be certain where I’ll be but I like the mystery of it.</p>
<p>Try it when someone asks where you see yourself in 15 years. I had some teacher ask me this the first day of HIGH SCHOOL. I was a freshman, I didn’t even know what I was doing next week, let alone in 15 years.</p>
<p>Well, I am in community college, right now, so I hopefully will have an associate’s degree, by then. I may even have a bachelor’s degree, by then. I will be 26, next year, so I won’t be insured through my mother’s job, so I will have to have my own health insurance. I hope to always be able to afford health insurance. I’ll be 30, in five years–dirty thirties! A new decade, a new segment of my life. God is in control.</p>
<p>Regards,
BettyfromCA</p>