Preparing for the College Interview:
An Insider’s View
by Keith Berman, M.Ed., M.S.Ed.
The college interview does “not
really count”
A great misconception among the
college-bound is that the college interview is not an important
part of selective college admissions. In fact, I heard the phrase “this doesn’t
really count anyway” during one of the hundreds
of college interviews I have given at Harvard and Yale.
In actuality, admissions offices
create sophisticated scoring rubrics for interviews. They
generally measure the same two things: personality (how engaging you are) and intellectual
ability (how well you can explain your ideas). While
there is nothing in particular that can earn or lose you points,
the following sections on preparation, presentation, and pointers
will help you express yourself to admissions officers effectively.
Preparation
Have an answer to the prompt, “tell
me a little bit about yourself”
Also consider related “little bits” about your “family,” “town,” “school,” and “favorite
activity/subject.” You are going to be asked about
who you are, what you do and like. It is very uncomfortable
when I hear back, “I don’t really do that much,” or “I’m
not sure I have a favorite,” and this hurts both scores. If
you have a ‘tie’ between two or three activities,
say so, and choose on to talk about.
Do some research: know why you are there, and have questions
ready
Kate Timlin of the Georgetown Admissions
Office says “you
can best prepare for an interview by asking yourself why
do I want to do here? If you have no reason to give,
that reflects on who you are.” There are really
no great answers to the question “why do you want to
go to Yale,” but there are bad answers. Among
my least favorite answers are “my mom wants me to go,” “it
is a good school,” and “because it is so old.” Prepare
5-10 minutes of questions that go beyond information on the
website.
Presentation
No self-deprecation, even if it is in jest
It is very tough to appreciate a
student who speaks negatively of themselves. It instead creates
an uncomfortable distance between you and the interviewer
(e.g. “I really stink
at hockey, but I am on the team anyway”). If you
spend the entire time talking about your flaws the Admissions
Officer will have nothing else to write about you.
Sit up straight, make eye contact, and dress nicely
When a student enters the interview
with a Coke in hand, untied sneakers, and a baseball cap,
it is, on occasion, an attempt to make an iconoclastic statement
about who they are. I
would recommend using what you say to reflect your
opinions and personality.
Pointers
No lying: do not guess what we want to hear
There is nothing worse than having
someone say that they love to write for the school newspaper,
only to find out one question later that they haven’t written a single article for
it, or that they love history, but don’t know the Axis
from the Allies. The most common bad answer is saying
that “student government” is your favorite activity,
but not being able to give a single example of something meaningful
your student government does (“y’know, the prom
and stuff”).
Generally, avoid talking about the following people:
Your favorite teacher – Statements like “I
like History best because I like Mr. Johnson; if he taught
woodshop, I would like that class best instead” reflect
that you do not critically think about your academic life
Your boyfriend/girlfriend – when someone asks
about you, and you talk about your significant other, it often
sounds as if what you do with him/her defines who you are. This
is not an uncomfortable thing to colleges, who want to know
what you have to offer.
Substantiate your opinions well
An interview is often made or broken
based on how you defend an idea. Informing the interviewer that you like a particular
politician because “he is always on TV” may be
honest, but it is not a well-reasoned position. Conversely,
explaining that you like to study Ancient Greek because “it
is a different way of thinking – the logic in the syntax,
the variety of semantic meanings for each form, and the lack
of prescribed word order” is more compelling.
Keith Berman, M.Ed., M.S.Ed., is the President of Options
for College (www.optionsforcollege.com), an independent college
counseling service, and a doctoral candidate at Harvard Graduate
School of Education.
