Bev in B'ville Posted September 21, 2010 Share Posted September 21, 2010 Dd has her first college interview this weekend; it's with MIT. Any suggestions and/or recommendations are greatly appreciated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jane in NC Posted September 21, 2010 Share Posted September 21, 2010 No words of wisdom, just sending good vibes. Your daughter is impressive and I am confident that she will shine. Jane Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kathy in Richmond Posted September 21, 2010 Share Posted September 21, 2010 Just pm'd you Bev, before I saw this message on the boards. In case anyone else is interested, my kids both interviewed with MIT. What they found helpful: 1. Be prepared to be there a while. It lasted 1.5 - 2 hours for both of them! 2. Be able to articulate why you want to go to MIT (or school X) beyond "it's a cool place", "it's my dream", etc. Have specifics in mind about what you'd like to study there, clubs and activities you'd like to join, etc. Do your homework! Where do you see yourself in 5 or 10 years? How will MIT help get you there? 3. Besides answering how the school fits you, be able to speak about what you'd bring to the school. A great way to do this is to tell what drives you (what your passions are). Do you have activities that illustrate your leadership and involvement in your present community? MIT (or any school) likes kids who will contribute on campus. MIT's mission statement is "to advance knowledge and educate students in science, technology, and other areas of scholarship that will best serve the nation and the world in the 21st century." They value service a lot.:) 4. Be prepared to talk about what you do for fun. They're worried about kids stressing out there from the heavy loads, and they want to know that you have genuine (don't try to impress them by saying you solve differential equations for fun!!) ways to unwind. 5. Bring questions of your own about the school, especially those that can't be answered easily by looking at the school's web site. Interviewers usually love to talk about their own experiences at their alma maters, too. 6. My kids brought an activities & honors resume with them to the interview. This might not be true in all cases, but the MIT interviewer loved it. He told them it saved him from taking tons of notes (he had to prepare an involved report after the interview). Instead, he could concentrate on the conversation. 7. Finally, relax as much as you can! They're people, too, and they're friendly for the most part. My dd's advice is to be yourself. If they don't like you the way you are, you won't fit in well there anyway.:D Good luck to all interviewers this year! ~Kathy 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jane in NC Posted September 21, 2010 Share Posted September 21, 2010 3. Besides answering how the school fits you, be able to speak about what you'd bring to the school. A great way to do this is to tell what drives you (what your passions are). Do you have activities that illustrate your leadership and involvement in your present community? MIT (or any school) likes kids who will contribute on campus. MIT's mission statement is "to advance knowledge and educate students in science, technology, and other areas of scholarship that will best serve the nation and the world in the 21st century." They value service a lot.:) I want to underline point three in Kathy's post. One of my professor friends is a graduate of an Ivy School for which he interviews applicants. He has told me that this question, "What will you contribute to ______?" is the question that applicants do not know how to answer. They tend to see the school as an entity that gives to them, not one to which they also contribute. He rarely recommends an applicant because of their failure to answer this question. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FaithManor Posted September 21, 2010 Share Posted September 21, 2010 I agree, failure to think seriously about what one brings to the establishment will not impress a school like MIT. I am so grateful that I was prepared for this question before my college interviews....majoring in piano at a music school means you better really have an EXCELLENT answer to that question or you can see yourself out the back door! She shouldn't feel self-conscious about it. It's very much okay to stop and think about what you skills, interests, and qualities she possesses that she will contribute to the insitution. It's not bragging if articulated well and without ego. It becomes just a matter of fact. It also shows that she knows how to speak up for herself. She should also consider her major and the faculty she will encounter within her major. Research them, what are their accomplisments, have they done or published anything that she finds inspiring. Sometimes dropping that into the conversation earns some brownie points. Good colleges and universities want to know that you are there for the education itself and not just the name on your resume. They want as many inspired, motivate individuals as they can get. Knowing some of the history of the institution doesn't hurt either and having a clear plan of what she wants to do with her major is a definite must. Faith Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
distancia Posted September 21, 2010 Share Posted September 21, 2010 Best of luck to your daughter and I hope she enjoys Cambridge, it's fabulous in the fall! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kareni Posted September 22, 2010 Share Posted September 22, 2010 One question that threw my daughter in her first interview was "Why do you homeschool?" Of course, the question never came up in subsequent interviews when she was prepared for it! Also, have your daughter think about a question or two for her to ask the interviewer. Sometimes interviewers will end by asking, "Any questions?" It's good to have a question that is not something that the website can answer. Good wishes to your daughter for a successful interview. Regards, Kareni Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Halftime Hope Posted September 22, 2010 Share Posted September 22, 2010 but one of the things that dd noticed in her interviews was that the interviewers seemed to really enjoy the "uniquenesses", the unexpected surprises that made a candidate different from every other person. In one interview, she revealed several of those uniquenesses in an answer to the question what would you do for fun if you lived on campus. We had not coached her for that question, so her answer was not calculated in any way, but when she answered candidly, the interviewers were surprised b/c her answer didn't fit their preconception of her, and it was funny, and there was some rapport built between them all. The key there was that it was a moment of genuineness. She had similar experiences in two other interviews, in which something that was rather unique about her happened to be something that was a shared interest of the interviewer. Can your dd look back over her high school years and make mental notes of the different and/or unusual things she has done, subjects that interest her, character traits that she might bring to the student body? Having those in mind might be helpful. More than anything, tell her to be herself, and to enjoy the moment. If she can relax and remind herself that they have invited her to the interview b/c they are genuinely interested in her and they want to get to know her better, that might help. If they were looking to rule her out, they wouldn't have brought her in for an interview. Best wishes! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bev in B'ville Posted September 27, 2010 Author Share Posted September 27, 2010 Dd has her first college interview this weekend; it's with MIT. Any suggestions and/or recommendations are greatly appreciated. I think it went really well. Thank you all for your input and good wishes. He encouraged her to apply for early action and said he'd do his part to get his feedback in quickly. I hope that's a good sign. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kathy in Richmond Posted September 27, 2010 Share Posted September 27, 2010 Great news! :001_smile: It's wonderful to have the first interview over & done. Any others will be a breeze after this one. Wishing good luck & the best of results to your dd and all the other WTM applicants this year! ~Kathy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
creekland Posted September 27, 2010 Share Posted September 27, 2010 I think it went really well. Thank you all for your input and good wishes. He encouraged her to apply for early action and said he'd do his part to get his feedback in quickly. I hope that's a good sign. It sounds like a good sign! Glad it went well. :001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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