College Interview Tips

College Interviews

College interviews are another chance for you to tell the admissions officers more about yourself. You will want to take the interview seriously, because it helps paint a better picture of you as a student.

The purpose of the interview is not to 'trick' or embarrass you. Interviews are simply another way for admissions officers to see the match between you and that particular school. Acing the interview is extremely important if you are eyeing for highly selective colleges.

It is one thing to accomplish all your college application requirements but it’s a whole different ball game when you have to face the admissions staff for your interview. In spite of being able to keep your cool, always remember that you also have to be mindful of your actions in from of the admissions officers, most importantly what you say to them.

Appreciate The Interview Process

Some people would like to break the pressure of having to go to an interview by not putting too much importance to it. Unfortunately, this will just work to their disadvantage because how you do on your interviews will contribute a lot if you get accepted in the college of your choice or not.

Practice For Your Interview

Make sure that before the interview date, you’ve at least practiced with someone on how to act appropriately while being interviewed. Practicing for your interview will make the experience less jarring and the more you get accustomed to the idea of being interviewed the less you’ll feel nervous about your actual college admissions interview.

You can ask either a family member or a friend to help you out with this. Hopefully it's someone who’s already been through the whole interview process so that he/she will be able to give you his/her insights on the things that you should and should not do.

Don't Cite Like a Robot

While it’s a good thing that you’re accustomed to the idea of being interviewed, make sure that you don’t end up memorizing your answers to the interviewer’s questions. The last thing that they would want to hear is a robot citing lines.

Also, there are various questions that might get asked so try to relax because the success of your interview relies more on your ability to think fast and express your thoughts clearly.

Try to get an idea of the kind of questions that admissions officers usually ask. A few questions that are common would be "Why do you want to come to this college?", "Tell me what you did last summer."

They may not ask you the exact same questions but at least you’ll get familiar with their style of questioning and in case your brain gets stumped by a particular question, relax and never ever panic. It is okay to become nervous, because it shows the interviewer that you care enough to be there.

The interviewer asked my friend in the end, "If you already know everything, why do you need to come to college?" It's not what you say; it's how you say it.

Don't Panic! RELAX...

Usually the interviewer will ask you some 'warm-up' questions just to put you at ease. The initial questions are designed to test how well you know the school and what your interests are.