Preparing for the College Admissions Interview

I remember my Georgetown interview like it was yesterday. In attempt to replicate the image of the picturesque Georgetown student, I put on the one clunky argyle sweater that I managed to dig out from the back of my closet and put on the most Blair Waldorf-like headband that I owned. With my black and white flowered clipboard in hand (which contained an unnecessary amount of extra copies of my resume), I wandered into the cafe in my yuppy little town where we had agreed to meet. I had anxiety bursting out of my itchy sweater as I awkwardly eyed up the multiple tables, making guesses as to whom the man was that I was supposed to meet with.

After seeing a preppy man sitting alone in business-like attire who looked to be the most Georgetown-esque in the entire cafe, I went up to the table and uncomfortably asked if he was the man whom I had intended to meet with. Luckily acting on the stereotypes ingrained in my mind led me to the right person this time, and we started working our way into a conversation. After about an hour of attempting to portray the most ‘interesting’ possible version of myself, the interview finally wrapped up. I didn’t think it could have gone any better. We had what I thought to be a really engaging conversation, and I left feeling great about my chances of getting into Georgetown. While I thought my interview went quite well, luck didn’t exactly go my way with this one. In the midst of getting into multiple Ivy League schools, I got a big fat rejection letter from Georgetown. So apparently, my childhood dreams of attending Georgetown were crushed, and even worse, I briefly sported a hideous argyle sweater all for nothing.

Now being on the flip side of things interviewing multiple candidates each year for Princeton admissions, I always experience momentary flashbacks of all of the interviews that I had gone through for the 17 schools that I had applied to and the nerves that came along with them. As I sit waiting for candidates to come to chat with me, I always wish that I could somehow share with them the perspective that I have today. Given it’s the peak of college admissions season, I wanted to shed some light on the process for students preparing for interviews. While not all schools and alumni interviewers approach the interview process in the same way, here is some advice that I have based upon my personal approach and experience interviewing for Princeton admissions thus far.

The first thing to remember when going into a college admissions alumni interview is that it is meant to be a casual conversation. The admissions office should already have your resume, test scores, essay, etc. on file. The purpose of the alumni interview portion of the application process is to both provide an opportunity for you to talk to someone who has gone through the undergraduate curriculum at the school, and to provide an opportunity to demonstrate the various aspects of yourself that go beyond what can be articulated on paper. In many ways, the alumni interviews are subjective. While I cannot speak to exactly how the admissions office factors the alumni interview reports into their admissions decisions, I would assume that the interview is only one of various parts of the application. So while you should sufficiently prepare yourself for your interview at each school, just focus on being yourself. This is your opportunity to express who you really are, and it is simply a chance to have a conversation with someone who has gone through the process and experienced undergraduate life at the specific college.

Before going into the interview, I suggest doing some extensive research on the particular school. For research based universities, it might be helpful to look into some particular professors that you might be interested in doing independent research with, to think about what major you are potentially interested in, to brainstorm some specific sub-topics or research areas of interest in the field, and to see what research is being conducted in that area at the university. It may also be helpful to do some research on the extracurricular and community-based aspects of the school to start thinking about how you might be interested in getting involved in the university community. Finally, you should think of some genuine questions that you have about the school or about the process generally. If this school is genuinely at the top of your list, it shouldn’t be hard to think about things that you are actually curious about. Use this time to get some answers to the questions that you genuinely have. After all, four years of your life is a pretty long time, so you want to make sure that you are choosing a good fit for you as well.

Beyond doing research about the school, it is also important to practice telling your story. What is your personal elevator pitch? If you had thirty seconds in an elevator with someone whom you had wanted to meet your entire life, how would you craft your personal narrative to show them who you are? Don’t just walk the interviewer through a verbal bullet-pointed list of your multiple accomplishments. Show them who you are as a person. Give them access to your personal story and life experiences.

When you are communicating with your interviewer to schedule the interview itself, it is also important that you communicate effectively and professionally. Be sure that if you are communicating via email, your email is well-crafted and there are no spelling or grammatical errors. I would also suggest doing some brief research on your interviewer through LinkedIN or a quick google search to learn more about his or her background and professional experiences.

While all interviewers have their own styles and ask a series of different questions, here are some questions that I typically try to work into my conversations with candidates.

1. Tell me about yourself.

2. Why are you interested in Princeton? Is Princeton your first choice?

3. How would you contribute to the Princeton community? In what ways would you give back both during and after your time at Princeton?

4. What do you think makes someone a good leader?

5. How would you define success?

6. What are you most nervous about going into college?

7. What is your favorite class in school?

8. What major do you think you might be interested in pursuing? Are there any professors whom you are particularly excited to work with?

9. Can you tell me about a project that you worked on from start to finish? Walk me through your thought process from the initial brainstorming phase to how you went about executing the process and producing the final product.

10. Tell me about something you’re most afraid of. How have you gone about trying to overcome that fear thus far in your life?

11. Can you tell me about the most memorable or best teacher you’ve ever had? What was it about his or her teaching style that created an effective learning environment?

12. When you work on a group project, what role do you typically play? How do you balance ensuring that the entire project is of high quality while giving everyone in the group a chance to take part?

13. What is your ideal learning style? How do you feel you learn best?

14. How would your friends describe you?

15. What questions do you have for me?

I typically start the interview by telling the candidate a little bit about myself, and then I spend the majority of the time allowing them to talk about their stories. I typically let the conversation evolve naturally, and I try to work some of these questions in where I see fit. Then I typically leave about ten to fifteen minutes at the end of the interview for the candidate to ask me questions about the school or the application process generally. When the interview is finished, I suggest thanking the interviewer for their time and sending a follow-up email a few hours after you leave the interview.

Going through the interview process for multiple schools can be quite draining. Yet, with a little preparation, you can use the interview portion of the application to your advantage to showcase the aspects of yourself that cannot be articulated on paper.  Don’t worry so much about trying to prove yourself.  Just focus on letting your interviewer see the most authentic version of yourself.

Going Beyond the Rankings: Why Princeton is Really the Best of the Best

Yet again, Princeton came out on top of the 2015 U.S. News National Universities Rankings.  But when you are one of the smartest students in the world, admitted to a handful of the best schools this country has to offer, is it really reasonable to trust a ranking that was based upon an abstract formula to make a life-changing decision?  As much as I appreciate the fact that I can pat myself on the back in knowing that I went to the ‘best’ school in the country, I would have to argue that a list is simply not enough.  So as it comes time each year for overambitious seniors all around the world to start competing for the limited number of spots at the top universities, there are various things to take into consideration when choosing the best college for you – because your decision is not only going to affect the next four years of your life, but the rest of your life.  So while I might come across as biased given that I opted for the orange and black myself, I am going to take you beyond the rankings and give you a few reasons why Princeton is really the best of the best.

1.     Proximity to New York City – Through being located close to New York City, the accessibility that the school provides plays a huge role in giving students the best possible opportunity to set themselves up for career success.  During my time at Princeton, I took multiple internships in New York, and I was able to manage a Princeton course load, a Princeton athletic team, and commuting back and forth into the city a few times per week to gain a variety of different job experiences.  This diverse array of career experience gave me insight into multiple different types of industries, and having this level of experience behind me put me in a great position when seeking out job opportunities.

2.     Big Picture Thinking – In so many ways, the challenging and diverse academic experience really teaches you to ‘think big.’ During my first few classes at Princeton, I was initially getting a bit frustrated because in some ways I didn’t feel that everything I was learning was entirely practical in the sense that I couldn’t quite determine how I would be able to use what I was learning in my everyday life.  But after spending four years taking part in the various academic challenges that Princeton provided, I now see how valuable a more theoretical teaching style really is.  Through learning to think about problems at a high level and engage in more abstract problem-solving challenges, I don’t feel limited to only understanding how to solve certain problems that are directly relevant to my coursework.   Now I feel entirely equipped to push myself above and beyond in the workplace and confident that I have the toolkit necessary to work through the vast array of challenges that I may face in the years to come.

3.     Teaching-Centric Professors – The majority of the professors that I had during my time at Princeton were extremely focused on their students.  While many other schools that I was considering had very talented and experienced professors, it seemed that various professors were heavily prioritizing their research and that teaching was somewhat secondary.  Though my professors at Princeton were undoubtedly pursuing research of their own, I almost always felt that they were more than willing to go above and beyond what was required of them to help me in any way that they could.  From having dinners with me outside of class to discuss outside topics of interest, to sitting with me hours on end to help me with linear algebra during office hours, the professors were always there to help me further my education and to challenge me along the way.  Many of the professors that I had during my time at Princeton are people who I know will be advisors and mentors to me for the rest of my life, and I feel that at a less teaching-centric school, I may not have had the opportunity to form the types of relationships that I did at Princeton.

4.     Tradition – Through every class that I took at Princeton, every football game I cheered at, or P-Rade that I attended, I felt like I was a part of something much larger than myself.  When you are walking up to Nassau Hall to submit a Dean’s Date paper, sitting in the courtyard of East Pyne, or eating lunch in Prospect Garden, the level of tradition and history that you are becoming a part of is simply amazing. Year after year, Princeton has continued to develop as a top University, and with that growth comes a level of history that is unlike any other.  Many of the professors and mentors that I had at Princeton had gone to Princeton as students themselves, and through the traditions that we shared, I felt like they really understood the challenges that I was facing, and thus were all the more receptive to helping me to make the most of my experience.

5.     Community – Both during my time at Princeton and as a part of the alumni community, the sense of community that Princeton tigers create is simply unmatched.  There is no doubt that Princeton is challenging in more ways than one.  During my four years at the school, I was pushed to mental, physical, and emotional limits unlike ever before in my life; but as I pulled all-nighters cramming papers for my freshman writing seminar, or buried myself in Firestone for weeks on end when thesis time came around, I knew that I wasn’t in it alone.  Almost every single person that I met at Princeton was passionate about their work.  In addition to the support that I received from my professors, my peers were some of my best resources.  I learned so much from working with the students around me, as the school really does attract the best of the best.  Though spending four years at Princeton is far from a walk in the park, when you finally walk out of Fitzrandolph Gate after turning in your senior thesis, you are walking out with a community of people who have been by your side the whole way through, and walking into an even larger community of tigers who will always have your back.

While some of these attributes are likely apparent at other top universities, I can only speak from my own experience.  Going into Princeton, these were all things that I wish I knew; but instead, I came to discover them for myself over four of the most challenging, yet rewarding years of my life thus far.  While U.S. News may provide a black and white ranking, a Princeton experience is so much more than a number on a page.  So as you are applying to the top universities, if you are given the opportunity to wear the orange and black, my advice to you would be to wear it proudly – because Princeton really is the best of the best.