Secret to Interview Success (Part II)

Note: This is a continuation of an earlier post. If you haven't done so already, make sure to read Part I.

So you've figured out what makes you an interesting candidate. Maybe you're a dedicated musician and have written and performed your own music for the past few years. Maybe you're a computer guru and have written your own iPhone applets. Or you're the dedicated athlete. Or you simply have a unique life story--you lived abroad, you've worked to help support your family, whatever.

Now what?

Now it's time to craft that into a message and package that you're going to deliver in your interview.

Remember--whether it's an alumni interviewer or someone on the admissions staff, they're walking into your interview with a simple question: "Why you?" Tell them!

Be ready with two things prior to your interview:

a) Have an elevator pitch. In two or three sentences, in 15 seconds or less, why are you a uniquely qualified candidate for admissions? This is one of the most difficult things to do--can you distill everything about you into a quick statement that will make your interviewer go "oh, yeah, that makes sense"?

Developing your pitch forces you to cut through the clutter. Sure you're in 15 clubs, play two sports and rescue kittens from trees on alternating Wednesdays. You and 100 other applicants. But who are you, really, and why are you different? What really sums you up and sets you apart? (and as importantly: are you self-aware enough to know what makes you unique?)

Some examples from past students I've interviewed:

"From early in high school, I've always wanted to take on leadership roles so I could feel like I've left my mark. I've been active in student government for four years now and currently am student body president. As president, I've been able to revamp how student clubs are funded, which I think will provide a solid base for student activities long after I graduate."

"My family moved here from Ghana when I was young, but every year we go back to see my family. Seeing the differences between opportunities in the two countries has really made me want to take advantage of every opportunity that I can, both academically and outside of the classroom. I hope to study medicine eventually, so that I can return to Africa and help provide some of the basic services that people take for granted."

"I've always loved sports--both watching and participating. I currently play two varsity sports, which has taught me a lot about leadership, team work, and balancing a schedule--but the most surprising thing I've learned is the importance of mentoring younger players. I'm currently thinking about going into teaching so I can turn my love of mentoring and teaching into a career."

Although styles vary--and you should make your statement your own, since it needs to be genuine to be effective--one common format is "background generalization-->specific detail-->future goal".

For instance, say you're into drama and the theater. Your statement might be something like:
"When I first started acting in junior high I got hooked on being able to express myself through a character [background]. My theater experience got me interested in other forms of artistic expression, so I've pursued music and painting as well [details]. I hope to explore other ways of self-expression in college, perhaps through the school's writing program. [future goal]"

Again, what's the point of having a pitch ready? Your interviewer needs to walk away being able to summarize you--instead of letting them do it, do it for them. You know yourself better!

b) Just three things. Now that you have your elevator pitch down, what three things would you like your interviewer to walk away with? (If your elevator pitch is genuine, it and your three points will be related).

These are the three things that you want to make sure your interviewer knows. What are the three things about you that you want your interviewer to remember and walk away knowing about you?

They can be anything--what you're best at academically (or why), activities that are important to you, what matters most to you--anything. But knowing what you want your interviewer to walk away from the interview knowing will make the interview go easier, since you'll know beforehand what you want to talk about.

Plus your interviewer is looking for these points--again, remember that whoever is interviewing you will need to summarize what they learned in your interview. What do you want them to walk away with?

Now that you know what you want to talk about, it's just a matter of getting it into your interview. More on that in a future post ------CJ

Top 5 Questions NOT To Ask (Part I)

Back in May I wrote about how you should always be ready in your interview with a couple of questions about the school--it's par for the course to be given a couple of minutes to ask about the school at the end of your interview (see the original post).

I had a couple of people ask about the worst applicant questions I've ever gotten, so I thought I'd share.

For any future applicants--its probably best not to ask the following.

Without further adieu, all aboard the fail train:

• How far is campus from the airport? Really. Really? You've got a chance to ask one--maybe two--questions about your dream school, and you want me to Mapquest directions for you? Don't ask hyper-specific questions (particularly stupid ones) that could best be answered on your own, online, in about a minute. (By the way--I have no idea. My internal GPS functionality is broken. Sorry.) Ding.
• Can I live off campus first year? (Related: How easy is it to travel home on weekends?) This is a borderline-legit question--some people would rather live off campus. That's fine. The implication though is that you'd just as soon avoid the rest of your class. Painting yourself as a detached loner probably isn't the impression you want to make. (Ditto for wanting to travel home at every possible opportunity.) Light ding.
• How easy is it to transfer after a year? No, really--someone asked me that once. Even if I am from your safety school, how stupid are you to telegraph that? Resounding ding.
• I applied to [state school X], but I really don't want to go there. Do you think [school X] sucks? Of course I do--I didn't go there. But comeon, talking badly about another school is tacky, and asking someone to do so is even tackier. Ding. (BTW, a more acceptable way to ask would be: "How would you compare your experience to what you would have gotten from other schools?")
• Doesn't your school have a problem with X [alcohol abuse, drug abuse, crime, etc]? Way to go on the offensive, ace. It's a legitimate question, just cleverly asked in the most accusatory way possible. Instead, try "What is your school doing to [control underage drinking/handle on-campus crime, etc]?" Light ding.

Plus your bonus question:

• Is it true that your school is all Asians? Wow...where to start on this one. First, class demographics can be found on a school's website in about 23 seconds. More importantly, even if that were true, the implication of your question is that that's a bad thing? Racist bastard. Resounding ding.

Remember to have a couple of questions ready that you want to ask--just don't be dumb. If you want some tips on asking questions that will make you stand out, see my earlier post. Good luck ---CJ

News: Talk About Just Being a Number....

Hate to interrupt your summer fun, but at the risk of making this a news-heavy week, there's a couple other news stories that are worth a quick look.

First, from the New York Times, is an article on the latest fad on the college fair circuit--bar code scanners! Now, instead of being an actual "human being" at the fair--which would require shaking hands with admissions personnel and filling out forms with your address and all--you can just swipe your bar code in front of your intended alma mater's scanner. No messy human interaction required!

From the article:

“I thought that at first, in terms of what it might look like,” [Andrew Meyers, Admissions Director at Michigan-based Hope College] said. “You’d expect students to be indiscriminate. But they really weren’t.”

So if you were at the fair, kudos for not signing up on every random school's mailing list. Although I'd have to image that the temptation to scan yourself everywhere is pretty powerful.

Check it out here.

Second, another college admissions consultant has a top-things-to-do-instead-of-having-fun-this-summer list up. Nothing earth shattering here (test prep... really? Thank god for experts!), but I'm pimping her list because I like #4.

Check it out.

That's all for now.... now get back to having fun! ----CJ

News: Virtual Tours, More on the "Clout List"

Sorry for making this college-tour week at STMAY, but this is too good to pass up:

According to The Wichita Eagle, a Florida company called YOUniversityTV (You! Like Youtube! Get it?!) has put visits of more than 400 colleges across the country online. So if taking the campus tour of campus isn't high enough on marketing gloss for your tastes, now you can see cheesy packaged videos--without leaving the couch!

From the article:

Because the average student visits three colleges before making a decision, co-founder Angelo Kotzamanis said the Web site gives students direction in their college searches.

"We give them a good flavor of the universities so that they aren't spending their time and money to visit those universities," he said.

And that's totally fair--if you've already read a school's website, the various reviews and rankings, talked to friends and teachers and generally researched a school, watching their cheeseball videos doesn't hurt.

Catch the full story here.

If you've got the stomach, you can try it for yourself here. If you can ignore the cheesiness and welcome-to-Mayberry earnestness of it all, you've got to be impressed by their breadth of schools. And heck, maybe it'll save you a trip.

In other news... if you've been following the University of Illinois clout-list scandal (covered here), the state's newly appointed Admissions Review Commission is scheduled to hold their first meeting today. Full article.

Finally, if you want proof that the apocalypse is here (or that people have just lost their minds), check out what not to wear to your admissions interview. That's right--it was a college-admissions-interview fashion show. Hosted by a $15,000-per-year (per student!) consultant (note to self: become a consultant)

Thankfully, your breath of fresh air:

[Kenyon College Dean of Admissions Jennifer] Delahunty’s review was emphatic and succinct: “I looked at the photos and burst out laughing,” she wrote in an e-mail message. “This whole concept is insanity!"

Now if someone would just design fashions for us interviewers.... ---CJ

More on Campus Visits...

In case you missed it, The Daily Beast has an entertaining piece up on the college tour ritual.

My favorite quote:

We wanted to present the happy side of campus, nothing controversial at all, and nothing off the script. You learned nothing remotely interesting on our tours.” — a former admissions officer at Northeastern liberal arts college

Surprise! The campus tour is a marketing event for the school!

Nothing new or ground breaking in the article--and nothing we haven't already covered here--but it's an entertaining read. Full article here ----CJ

Top 5 Questions You Need to Be Ready For

Sure each interview is unique--different schools want to know different things, different interviewers have different styles, etc--but some questions are so common, you'd be crazy not to be ready for them.

Here's some you're almost guaranteed to get... more later:

• What's your favorite subject/class/academic area and why? (Related: What's been your best class/teacher/project/academic experience and why?) The important part is the "why"--why was someone an inspiring teacher, or what is it about vector calculus that gets your blood pumping? Your interviewer is trying to learn about how you think and what you value; the answer, by the way, "English... I dunno, it's just fun (or "because I'm good at it")" is only marginally better than "science, because our teacher lets us sleep in the back".
• What activities outside the classroom are the most important to you and why? (Related: What are you most passionate about?) Again, the "why" is what's critical; your interviewer is trying to learn more about what you value and what you may bring to campus if you're accepted. Be ready to talk about what you like and why it's so important to you--if you're passionate about dance, is it because you lead your troupe? Is it because it's a vehicle for expression? Or because it's good exercise? (Failed answer: "I love playing guitar because chicks dig it")
• What are you currently reading, and why would (or wouldn't) you recommend it? (Related: Favorite movies, favorite sports, etc). Books are always a great area to ask about, since what someone's reading tells you a lot about their interests (people who love current events books are very different than those who like obscure German fiction). Also, smart people tend to read. Failed answer: "We're reading Huck Finn in English. It's OK so far."
• Have you had an opportunity to take on a leadership role in your school, and if so, what has it taught you? Schools like to think that they admit the next generation's leaders; make sure you're a leader too. Team captain works, elected school office works, club president... anything that shows you can take responsibility. You typically get bonus points if it's something you started up (shows leadership and initiative, and what school isn't looking for that?) Just make sure your supposed "leadership" is plausible. Make sure you can talk about something the experience taught you too (even if it's the ability to balance multiple commitments---which is what 90% of people say) Failed answer: "I was assistant treasurer of the math team sophomore year, but I had to give it up because it was taking up too much time."
• Why do you want to attend my school? I'm always shocked at how many people flub this softball--you're applying to my school, surely there's a reason, right? Choosing which schools to apply to is probably the most important decision in your life to date. What you're being asked is to explain your thought process--how did you make this decision--and to explain what's valuable to you. Bonus: It's also a chance to sell yourself. For example: "I really love mathematics and science, and so I think I want to pursue engineering. I'm not 100% certain of that though, so I don't want to be limited strictly to an engineering school. That's why I decided to focus on schools like yours that combine strong engineering programs with world-class liberal arts programs, so that if my interests change as I explore new areas, I've got the flexibility to do so." Failed answer: "My parents went there", closely followed by "I saw it ranked highly on the Princeton Review's list of top party schools"
  

------CJ

Road Trip! Visiting Campus

Is there anything more predictable than the pre-senior-year college-campus road trip?

If you're like most rising seniors, you've probably already talked your parents (or a friend) into a marathon campus visit--typically as many schools in as few days as you can squeeze in. The classic itinerary is the New England loop--maybe starting with Harvard in Boston, looping through New Haven to pick up Yale, then into the countryside to visit Dartmouth... at which point you realize that, as long as you're in Boston, you might as well hit Boston College, MIT and Boston University, and heck, Amherst is just up the road a little, and as long as you're in Massachusetts, New York is nearby, and you can see Cornell, and....

(By the way, for the really lazy, there are actual companies that just do college campus visits. Because the best way to visit a college is via tour bus with other high school students who lack the initiative to visit on their own...)

Before you join the mass migrations this summer though, is it even worth it? If so, should you focus on only a few, or visit as many as possible? And, if you're going to commit to visiting, what should you focus on seeing or looking for? And, perhaps most importantly, does it make sense to try for an on-campus interview?

Should you visit?
The most basic question is whether visiting campus is even worth it. After all, once you've done two campus tours, you'll realize they're all the same--the student body is always "highly engaged", the faculty is always "accessible and on the cutting edge", student life is always "a good balance between academics and social life", and if you've seen one immaculately manicured quad, you've seen them all.

So should you even bother visiting?

In my experience, yes. There's something about setting foot on a campus that you can't get from a website, a glossy brochure or by talking to alumni. Every school has its own unique culture and vibe--and only by seeing it first hand can you get a sense for what a place is like.

Don't go overboard. By this point, maybe you have a list of 30-40 schools that you're interested in, from having seen their websites, material and from talking to friends, teachers and family. If a school isn't even on that list, it's probably not worth going out of your way to visit it. Likewise, if you're serious about a school, but it's cost and time prohibitive to visit, decide whether seeing it in person will really change your perspective.

One caveat: When you're applying next fall (and particularly when you're interviewing), having visited a campus will give you a perspective on it that you can't get elsewhere. It will also make seen as a more serious applicant. I always ask students I'm interviewing whether they've visited campus or not--and although not having visited is not a reason for automatic rejection, if someone tells me that my school is their dream school, which they've wanted to attend since they were six, they lose all credibility if they haven't even visited.

(A final note on whether you should visit or not... if you're applying to a school that's in your backyard--if you could visit it over a weekend--you should visit, for at least three reasons: First, not visiting will make you seem like a less-serious applicant ("You want to go here, you live two hours away, and yet you haven't even visited? Really?").

Second, visiting will give you a better feel for the school, which will help as you fill out your application.

Third... come on, it's your college experience we're talking about! If you're applying there, you should at least see if it's somewhere you'd like to live for the next four years. Particularly if it's easy to visit.)

How many campuses should you visit?
This is more up to you and how much time and money you want to spend visiting campuses. I think you should visit any campus you know you want to apply to. You should probably visit any campus you're strongly considering applying to. And maybe visit the ones you're 50/50 on, if they're easy to add to the schedule.

But again, don't go overboard--if you visit 50 schools in New England, chances are that they'll all become one big blur of ivy-covered buildings and picket fences, defeating the goal of visiting in the first place.

What should you do/look for on your tours?
There's a surprising number of tour checklists on the web--some of them useful. (Sallie Mae's is surprisingly good... another with decent questions to ask is here.)

My advice? First, know what you're visiting for--it's probably to get a feel for what it'd be like to be a student there (and whether you'd want to go there or not), but maybe it's more specific--you want to see whether their research facilities are world class, or you want to meet some faculty or students in the department you're most interested in. If you know what you want to get from your visit, it's much easier to plan accordingly (and leave with useful information).

Assuming it's a general visit--"do I like this place, do I want to go here?", then I'd recommend:

• Take the tour. They're scripted, cheesy and somewhat interchangeable between campuses, but they're good starting points. Also, what they tour focuses on (athletics, school history, proximity to downtown, etc) will tell you a lot about what the school values and how it sees itself
• Sit in on classes. Sometimes the admissions department can arrange for you to sit in on a lecture; if so, do it. If not, chat up a random student and ask if you could go with him/her to their next class (student tour guides are a great resource for this). Some schools even offer extended visits, where you get paired up with a current student and get to sit in on their classes, go with them to parties, etc. If you've got the time for it, there's no better way to get a feel for a school.
  
• Tour the dorms and other student facilities. Ditch your tour group and poke around campus yourself--what do the dorms look like? What does the cafeteria look like? The gym? Those are going to define your day-to-day happiness with your future school. Go take a look.
• Observe. Watch the current students. Are they happy and outgoing? Do people look stressed-out and sleep deprived? Are they all wearing their school's t-shirts, or t-shirts from school they'd rather be at? Can you see yourself being in their shoes a year from now? Would you want to be?
• Take notes. How is this school unique? What does it think sets it apart from its peer universities? (and do you agree or not?) Are there specific encounters or experiences you had while visiting that encapsulate why you want to go to that school (or that struck it from your list)? All of these are extremely valuable for your application process--and particularly during your interview. I had an interviewee once who explained that he hadn't been interested in my school until his parents made him visit. The ecology lecture he sat in on was engrossing, and mid-way through he looked around the lecture hall and realized that everyone there looked like people he'd be friends with--a little nerdy, super-smart, laid back and easy going, but curious and engaged in what's going on around them. He felt like he fit in. He was sold. And so was I--I rated him highly, and he got admitted.
• Finally, make sure you spend time wandering and absorbing the campus atmosphere. Every campus has a unique feel, which you may miss if you're on a highly scheduled visit. Give yourself enough downtime to get a feel for the place. And again, keep asking yourself--would I be happy here next year? No level of "prestige" or anything else is worth being miserable for four years.

Lastly, keep in mind that the easiest time for you to visit--summer--is also one of the worst times to go, since classes aren't in full session and most students are gone. Decide whether you'd rather wait until September, when students are back but you may also be in school, or just deal with a largely vacant campus.

Should you do an on-campus interview (if available)?
Many of the top schools don't offer them, so you don't have to worry about it. My general feel about on-campus interviews is that they're high risk/high reward. Whether you should try for one is up to you.

Pros:

• The person you're meeting with will likely be the person deciding whether you get in or not--there's no intermediate filter, so if you impress this interviewer, you're likely to be admitted. If you're a rock star, you can leap to the top of the pack.
• This interviewer will know more about the school than most alumni interviewers, so if you're already struggling deciding between colleges and specifics matter highly, you'll learn more than you would in most interviews.
• You can knock out a portion of the process in July and won't have to worry about it in the fall.

Cons:

• This will be a tough and discerning interviewer. While you might get an alumni interviewer who is just impressed that you showed up on time and can talk in complete sentences, feel guaranteed that the bar in this interview will be (much) higher.
• This is likely the first (or one of the very first) interviews you'll have done. Are you really ready to tackle one of the toughest you'll get first?
• The very best students typically interview on campus (some by invitation), so the immediate group of students that the interviewer is going to compare you to (consciously or not) is going to be very competitive.
• This will not be a stress-free, casual interview. Because the admissions officer is extremely busy, you'll likely be held to exactly 30 minutes (or, in some cases, 15) and that's it. Don't expect any chit-chat--your interviewer will ask you the critical questions he or she wants to know, give you a perfunctory chance to ask a question at the end, and then you're out the door.

If I sound down on the on-campus interview, it's because I think it's too risky for most students. Even the very best applicants need to get in the interview groove to excel at interviewing and chances are that you're not there yet in mid-July.

At schools where you have the option of interviewing with someone on-campus or an alumni, there's likely only a slight advantage to interviewing on campus--and that advantage only exists if you blow your interviewer away. What's the likelihood you're going to knock the socks off someone who's been professionally evaluating high school students for 20 years? If you think it's high, then go for it!



Have fun on your campus visits, and take advantage of the opportunity they provide to evaluate prospective schools first-hand. Be an informed consumer and look at each school with a critical eye. If you're like most students, after your visits there will be a handful of schools that rise to the top of your list--and knowing which schools you're most serious about will help you plan and prioritize during the rush of the fall application season.

But most of all, make sure you have fun--this may be the last great road trip you get to make with your folks before leaving home next year. Enjoy it! ----CJ

News: "Clout List" at U of I?

In case you missed it, the Chicago Tribune did a story over the weekend that took a look at the college admissions process and discovered (I know this is going to be a shock) that applicants with well-connected parents got preferential admissions treatment.

What actually is surprising is that they didn't look at private schools, which have always given special consideration to alumni or the offspring of the rich and powerful. It was at the state's flagship public school, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Even worse, the students that were given preferential treatment were the children of Illinois lawmakers--the very people who control the university's budget.

So... if you're an Illinois taxpayer, you're paying for a university system that is giving admissions preference to lesser-qualified students solely because they were born to a state legislator. Oh, and by the way, you elected that legislator and are paying his or her salary.

Additional coverage here. -----CJ

Secret to Interview Success (Part I)

Spoiler Alert! This series of posts is the most important thing you should learn from reading this site. I'm going to give away the entire key to acing your interviews. Hang on--we're going to go into some detail, but master these tips and you'll be ahead of 90% of other applicants.

Each year, a top university will receive thousands of applicants. Harvard alone received more than 27,000 applications--more than the population of many small towns!

What's that mean for you if you want to get in? Easy--you need to somehow stand out from the pack. Nowhere is it more important to differentiate yourself than in your interview.

Every year I and interviewers like me get dozens of students, all of whom start to look identical after a while. Everyone's a good student. Everyone's involved with a couple of different extracurricular activities or sports. Everyone's (typically) exceedingly polite.

How do you stand out and impress your interviewer?

It starts with knowing what makes you unique. You really are different than the other thousands of applicants--you have different strengths, different experiences, different perspectives--all of which make you better qualified to be admitted than the next applicant.

The key is identifying what sets you apart and then conveying that in your interview (more on strategies to sell yourself in your interview in later posts). But the key starting point is knowing what makes you unique and attractive to school.

So, how do you figure out what sets you apart?

If you're a Nobel laureate, the answer is easy: you're a Nobel laureate. But you're just as unique--the only difference is that you're going to need to work harder to understand what sets you apart and to convey that.

The critical first step is giving yourself an honest appraisal. There are many ways to do this, but I think reviewing yourself in three categories is a good first step.

• First, look at yourself objectively, as you appear on paper. Maybe sit down with your resume/history and review yourself as a third-party observer would. What jumps out? Are you particularly strong at specific subjects, or are you a generalist? Have you won awards in a specific field or area? Are you deeply committed to one or two activities, or are you someone who dabbles in everything? Are you a student who works within existing organizations--running for class president, or editing your newspaper--or are you someone who works outside the system (starting up a new club, or launching your own publication)?
• Second, look beyond your resume. What really matters to you? What type of personality are you? Do you have core beliefs--religious, or otherwise--that take a central role in your life? What type of person do your friends think you are, and how would they describe you?
• Finally, look at yourself as someone on a path. Where do you want to be after you graduate from college? Where do you see yourself heading? Have your experiences so far put you on some type of track toward that goal?

Don't limit yourself to your own perspective either--ask friends and family. If they were to categorize you, how would they group you? What do they think matters to you? What about your background, personality, or personal story do they think is most compelling?

Make sure you write this down. Then give it a couple of days, come back, and reassess. Maybe your list, compiled from your perspective and that of your friends and family, looks something like:

• best at English classes
• inquisitive and curious
• loves writing, always written as a hobby and enjoys reading
• most active in the school newspaper
• accomplished flautist
• have worked with middle-school students for four years after school
  

Suddenly, a picture starts to emerge--potentially that of an aspiring journalist, someone who's curiosity leads her to want to get to the bottom of things and whose strength is in writing about them? Or maybe the thread that underlies these is a desire for creativity and self expression?

Your goal is to pare yourself down to the critical, key factors about yourself. Then, to try to understand how these pieces fit together. If you can tie the salient facts about you together into a simple story, suddenly the whole is worth more than the sum of its parts!

Suddenly also, you're now a coherent picture that you can paint for your interviewer when you meet. You're no longer just a series of random interests, classes and activities (like everyone else), you're a package that your interviewer can latch onto and appreciate. Also, having an understanding of how your profile fits together will give you context and structure when approaching your interview (more on that later)

And you've just set yourself apart from the mass of applicants. ---CJ