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Campus Visits & Interviews

INTERVIEWS Campus Visits & Interviews Overview Planning your interviews Preparing for your interviews Interview manners and etiquette Interview Do's Interview Don'ts The most common interview mistakes Strategy for admissions interviews Opening questions - Admission interviews Opening-ended questions - Admissions interviews Final questions and impressions - Admissions interviews Additional possible questions - Admissions interviews Strategy and questions for Professor interviews Final impressions - Professor interviews

Interview Don'ts

Things NOT to do:

Be late to the interview (you’ll appear irresponsible and disorganized) and don’t be too early (you could inconvenience the interviewer).

Be rude to the receptionist or other school staff.  They could be part of the interview team and you just don’t know it.

Forget the interviewer’s name.

Chew gum or wear lots of perfume or cologne.

Slouch in your chair, sit up straight.

Offer negative information about yourself.

Ask questions covered by brochures or the school catalog.  (Aren’t you smart enough to read school publications to figure this out?  Are you too lazy to read the brochures?)

Memorize a presentation – sound as natural as you can.

Be egotistical – instead, be confident, not boastful.

Lie – it will catch up to you.

Bring a parent to the actual interview itself.  Parents will most likely go with you to meet the college admission officer (after all, you and your parents are on-campus together for a campus visit and guided tour) but the actual interview will be conducted in a separate room.  You must go alone to the actual, one-on-one interview with the admission officer.

Tell the college that they aren’t your top choice.

Turn down an interview if you’re contacted by the college to see if you’re interested in conducting an interview.

Subjects of discussion you should NOT bring up:

Eating and sleeping disorders you may have.

Radical or potentially offensive personal, religious, political beliefs.

Ambitions or dreams of accomplishments that are unrealistic (like climbing Mt. Everest during Spring Break or the solving world hunger problem).  You’ll look foolish if you make these types of statements – they may be great ideas, but making such statements during the interview will not help you.

Your enjoyment of alcohol or drugs.

Sexual history and experiences.

Any illegal acts you may have been involved in.

Examples of or discussion of your family’s dysfunctional behavior.