Interview Info
How to ace the college interview and other helpful tips and tricks
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Example of an interview invitation
So, you got an interview from an alumni or admissions officer from your dream school stating that they are “reaching out to offer you the opportunity to participate in an interview as a part of your application process” and you’re probably freaking out. Now what? Well, take a deep breath, and don’t worry because we’ve got you covered.
First things first, if you didn’t get an email like this, the first thing you should do is check your spam/junk mail, and continue checking throughout the entire application process because you don’t want to miss any important notifications. If you missed the interview email, email the interviewer back right away, but just know it might be too late, and in that case, email your Admissions Officer (whose contact info should be in your admissions portal) and explain the situation. Other than that, DON’T WORRY if you don’t receive an email like this!
These emails also come out in waves, so you may have just not received one yet. Some colleges don’t offer interviews, or only offer them for specific schools/majors. If an interview is not a requirement for a college, the college may also ask you to fill out a form on their website asking you if you’d like to participate. Moreover, there may just not be enough interviewers in your area. There are plenty of stories of people who got into prestigious universities without an interview, so not receiving an email does not impact your success of getting into a certain school.
After emailing your interviewer back, who will either be an alumnus or someone from the admissions office (make sure you know who’s interviewing you before you start any prep), and agreeing on a time and place that works for the both of you, here are a few things you should expect and the most important things you should know.
1) Dress business casual.
First impressions are EVERYTHING, so you should make sure you dress nicely but don’t overdo it. Also, do not wear college apparel (shirts, sweatshirts, hats, etc.) UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES!
2) If your interview is over Zoom, try to make your background look as nice as possible and make sure the room is decently lit.
If you have anything in the background you wouldn’t want an interviewer to see, move it. Try to also make your background as minimalistic as possible and yet again make sure that there is no other college merchandise for any school hanging on your wall/in the background, even if it's the one you're interviewing for.
3) Practice makes perfect.
Especially if it’s your first interview, it wouldn’t hurt to practice. There are plenty of questions online that a certain college may ask you, so you may want to have a friend, family member, or someone else ask you those questions, so you can practice your answers without sounding scripted during the interview. This will also help to minimize nerves as you have an expectation of what’s going to happen during the interview.
4) Definitely be prepared to answer the following questions: Tell me about yourself? Why [this school/your particular major]? Do you have any questions for me?
These questions are basically interview givens, so make you are able to answer all three. Especially to answer why this school, make sure you do your research and have reasons for attending that aren’t just the area or the community because you are probably able to find these at another school. Be specific in your answers, if there is a special program they have, certain clubs, or certain classes that you’re interested in, make sure you mention them here because it shows that you did your research and have a genuine interest in the school other than just location or prestige.
Make sure you also ask questions if prompted because it shows you have an interest in the school. These interviews, especially if they are with alumni, serve as a chance to learn more about the school from someone who once attended, and asking questions during your interview may provide you with information that you can't find on any college website.
My personal favorite questions to ask are:
1) What advice would you give to me as an incoming freshman?
2) Why did you decide to attend [school]?
3) Do you have any regrets about your time at [school]?
4) What was your experience at [school] like?
5) Your interview will typically last between 30 minutes to an hour.
Sometimes it might go over, sometimes it might go under, the best interview I personally had was 15 minutes long, but as long as you have all of your questions answered, and you sufficiently answered all of the questions the interviewer asked, you’ll be fine!
6) Make sure you’re making eye contact with your interviewer.
During the interview,you don't want to be staring to the side at any notes you may have.
7) It’s fine to think through a question before answering
Especially if that question is something that you would really need to think about.
It’s better to say something like: “that’s a tough question, let me think about it for a second,” rather than giving a half-baked response.
8) Make sure you clear any distractions in front of you and turn off your phone.
You don’t want to be checking your phone or fidgeting with anything on your desk in sight of the interviewer, because it may come across as though you’re not paying attention to them and being disrespectful of their time.
9) Make sure you follow up with a thank-you note to your interviewer.
In it, make sure you thank the interviewer for their time and any information they may have given you about the school. I also like to bring up something that was mentioned in the interview. For example, in my interview for Columbia, I had brought up the TV show Pose, and my interviewer suggested that I should check out a documentary called Paris Is Burning. I had already seen it, but in my thank you, I told her that I would check it out again.
Let this be known, you don’t have to write a note in this exact way, and there are plenty of templates online, but I like to call back to a specific thing that we talked about during the interview.
I normally email my interviewers this thank you an hour and a half to two hours after my interview, but all of the sites I read to prepare for my interviews suggested waiting longer.
10) All in all, just be yourself!
The interview is a great opportunity to showcase yourself and your personality aside from just the statistics and numbers that colleges see on your applications.
Good Luck! :)
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