Sooo.... Tell me about yourself

Welcome to the world of college admissions interviewing.

First, let's state the obvious: college admissions (particularly undergrad admissions at top-ranked universities) is a crapshoot. When Stanford has an admissions rate of 7.6%, do you really think there's any difference between the applicant in the 93rd percentile vs. the one in the 92nd?

But even if it is random, you can tilt the odds slightly more in your favor. Everyone you're competing with though is focused on the same areas you are --- test scores, high school grades and activities, etc.

How do you make yourself stand out?

Ace your admissions interview.

Think about it --- your grade in freshman PE is already set. If you don't have powerful alumni parents, you're not going to change that now. There's no chance you can re-run for class president at this point. But your admissions interview is still in your control. Maybe it only counts for a small portion of your overall application at a given university, but if it puts you ahead of only one or two other applicants that might be enough to push you over the top.

Besides, since you have to do it anyway (even if it's technically "optional", it never is...more on that later), you might as well do it right.

That's where I hope to help. I've been an admissions interviewer for about 15 years at a top-ranked university, during which time I've interviewed hundreds of students. I've interviewed a couple of rockstars, a handful of disasters, and HUGE numbers of earnest students who probably looked good--not great, but good--on paper, but who had no idea how to interview. Any of those students could have distinguished themselves from the crowd and possibly pushed themselves into the "admit" pile, if only they had a clue about how to interview.

By sharing some stories, advice and tips on how to interview successfully, I hope to give you the tools you'll need to set yourself apart to your future interviewers. Because while it's a random process, you owe it to yourself to tip it as much in your favor as possible.
----CJ