College Interviews

[masuerte]

Sister's got an interview to Harvard. I told her to just try to be comfortable with talking to them to the point of getting into a conversation instead of just strictly treating the experience like an interrigation. She's already rather interesting, read a bit about feminism and is aware of issues without turning militant over them, had enough exctracurriculars that're relevant to her, surrounded by a variety of people who're both intelligent and humorous, great music taste that fits her personality instead of letting it blindly shape her... etc. etc. etc.

I'm sure the interviewee will find her fascinating but she has a kind of hesitancy with communicating with adults that might keep her from conveying her full personality... maybe. I'm wondering what kinds of litte things to look out for that she could know about ahead of time so that she'll be in a confident, thoughtful and talkative mood during the interview.

[jeepster]

i've interviewed at three of five of the schools i'm applying to. honestly, its all about just being honest to yourself and conveying that honesty to them. i'm usually very charming with adults so i tried to let it come easily when i had them. so all your sister should do is try to be herself and show them that she is a person of worth, engage with them, be attentive, ask questions, make sure you know your facts and info. i didn't apply to any harvards, but i think i came across very well because i tried to just show who i am in each of my interviews.

[nairb49]

whats this for? masters, phd, md?

or do you interview in the states for undergrad.... which seems weird....?

[jeepster]

whats this for? masters, phd, md?

or do you interview in the states for undergrad.... which seems weird....?

i assumed it was for undergrad. many schools do undergrad interviews, probably the majority of them. its a pretty common practice here in the states.

[azn8oi]

It's common for ivy-leagues or some exclusive private schools to interview.

[fndmybetterhalf]

my biggest advice for her would be obviously to stick out. tell her to come up with an idea or concept that she can develop and talk freely about at the interview. For example, more than likely they will ask her what she wants to study....

you say she's into feminism reads and such, tell her to develop an idea or research area/study that she could possibly work on in school and share it with the interviewer.

i have a friend who went to MIT cuz during his interview he talked about the concept of changing wireless connections without it effecting download (ie, if i changed from one wireless network to another, there is no pause in my download). He did'nt know the technical talks around it, but he developed the concept enough to talk about it enough to impress them and stick out.

or as a COM major, I talked about how i wanted to study social interactions on online communities and how they influence society to behave differently in real life, etc,e tc etc.

just a cool fun research idea you can develop to show that you are capable of thinking.

[xcoldricex]

you should have questions for the interviewer. it shows you're actually interested in the school as long as they're not stupid questions that you could've looked up yourself.

and as an undergrad it's perfectly fine to not know what you want to do - i think it's better to have an open mind but with some sort of direction and guiding interests... it's rather off putting (to me at least) when someone tells me they want to be a neurosurgeon and they're only a junior in high school.

poly probably can drop a bunch of tips.

[fndmybetterhalf]

oh and keep in mind, the interviewers are usually students themselves, or recent graduate alumni's.

[alterion]

depends, it is probably different in the states, in the UK i was interviewed in relation to my subject but i dunno how it works in the state. IF it is a subject interview then i would say prepare but don;t sweat it too much because once you start your degree you'll realise there was no way you could have known enough to awnser the questions the interviewee was asking properly, but that it was more about getting you to think around the issues

[Guest youkinorn]

If I would have had to do this, it would have been hard for me to not talk about how much I tend to dislike institutions of higher education. Although, depending on the interviewer, this could have actually made for interesting conversation.

I guess it's good my school didn't require an interview.

[fndmybetterhalf]

depends, it is probably different in the states, in the UK i was interviewed in relation to my subject but i dunno how it works in the state. IF it is a subject interview then i would say prepare but don;t sweat it too much because once you start your degree you'll realise there was no way you could have known enough to awnser the questions the interviewee was asking properly, but that it was more about getting you to think around the issues

whether its in relation to your subject of study or not, its always good to show that you're capable of doing critical thinking. dont have to be so specific but just to give the interviewer a general idea of your interests and such...

worse thing to do at the interview is to be bland and give them typical answers.

[ILLuminate]

you should have questions for the interviewer. it shows you're actually interested in the school as long as their not stupid questions that you could've looked up yourself.

and as an undergrad it's perfectly fine to not know what you want to do - i think it's better to have an open mind but with some sort of direction and guiding interests... it's rather off putting (to me at least) when someone tells me they want to be a neurosurgeon and they're only a junior in high school.

poly probably can drop a bunch of tips.

^this is pretty good advice... not much more 2 say

[6MT]

think one thing also help is that bring out a certain point that would interest people, some thing that could spark a bright discussion.

but none the less, i wish her all the best, they are so many people are dying to get into that school.

a brighter day awaits.

[xcoldricex]

she didn't apply to any liberal arts schools? i'm biased but... harvard really ain't all that... especially for undergrad.

[masuerte]

She did for NYU but her sarah lawrence application bombed out (late).