# How \*not\* to handle your college interview... **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 3, 2009, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-not-to-handle-your-college-interview/488165 "2009-03-03T17:17:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2009, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-not-to-handle-your-college-interview/488165/61 "2009-03-04T16:38:11Z")
> [@Calatin](#): > > NAfter interviewing some talented kids who show genuine excitement at the thought of matriculating at Princeton, it just makes it hard to write a glowing evaluation for a kid for whom it was just another application they had to complete. Sorry, that’s actually what I was trying to ask. How do kids show that they are excited, specifically, about Princeton? (I mean in a way that makes it clear they’re not just excited about getting into a good school in general or something like that.) -FrL- ---
**Author:** ![BellRungBookShut-CandleSnuffed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bcef8e/32.png) [@BellRungBookShut-CandleSnuffed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BellRungBookShut-CandleSnuffed)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2009, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-not-to-handle-your-college-interview/488165/62 "2009-03-04T17:10:30Z")
> [@Frylock](#): > > Sorry, that’s actually what I was trying to ask. How do kids show that they are excited, specifically, about Princeton? (I mean in a way that makes it clear they’re not just excited about getting into a good school in general or something like that.) > > -FrL- Not to speak for **Calatin** , but there should be some definite things that attract you to a particular school. If you haven’t or can’t visit campus, then you should at least have looked online at some of the programs. You can say that you’re interested in either this field or this field, and some of the courses that were offered in those disciplines (I think schools generally post course catalogs online) sound like something you’d be very interested in. My school didn’t have gen ed requirements, was very liberal, and was very activist, all of which attracted me to it. I couldn’t have named any professors, but I knew which departments the school was famous for (not that they were the departments I was interested in). Did you have any particular reason for going to the school you went to? I mean, I would probably have been happy at a few different schools, but I knew at least a couple reasons why I wanted to go where I did. ---
**Author:** ![even\_sven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dfb087/32.png) [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2009, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-not-to-handle-your-college-interview/488165/63 "2009-03-04T17:29:52Z")
> [@Frylock](#): > > What kinds of things do these kids say about why they want specifically to go to Princeton? I guess they refer to particular faculty members or something? When applied to my university, I had all kinds of good reasons why I wanted to go there. I had compared film programs at other schools and determined my school had a very hands-on approach coupled with a strong theoretical background that appealed to me. It seemed like their students had better access to quality equipment than they would at many of the other schools I looked at. I thought my school’s educational philosophy and grading policy (no grades!) was a good match for my learning style. I liked the school had policies that promoted a “community” atmosphere rather than a commuter-college feeling. I thought the campus was beautiful and the town was peasant. If I could come up with all that, surely they could come up with something better than “Well, it’s Princeton.” If you can’t at least BS your way through a question like that, you really aren’t ready for the amount of BSing you’ll have to do as a student. The main reason why students drop out of college is that it was not a good match for them. And a student who isn’t excited about where they are is not going to contribute much to the campus community. ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2009, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-not-to-handle-your-college-interview/488165/64 "2009-03-04T18:15:42Z")
> [@BellRungBookShut-CandleSnuffed](#): > > Did you have any particular reason for going to the school you went to? I mean, I would probably have been happy at a few different schools, but I knew at least a couple reasons why I wanted to go where I did. That’s part of the reason for my ignorance here–I didn’t really have any reasons for wanting to go to the school I’m at, at least, not reasons that the admissions committee would have found relevant. There was a different school I wanted to go to, specifically because of certain things about the faculty there, and I was accepted there. But I ended up going elsewhere for family reasons. Other than “I want to work with professor X” or “Your X department is strong in Y and I want to do work concerning Y,” I can not think of a reason to prefer one school over another that an admissions committee should care about. -FrL- ---
**Author:** ![not\_alice](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/not_alice/32/7283_2.png) [@not\_alice](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/not_alice)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2009, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-not-to-handle-your-college-interview/488165/65 "2009-03-04T18:29:51Z")
> [@Frylock](#): > > Other than “I want to work with professor X” or “Your X department is strong in Y and I want to do work concerning Y,” I can not think of a reason to prefer one school over another that an admissions committee should care about. > > -FrL- Usually reasons that lean towards recognizing the value of that particular education in achieving your own goals are flattering, or at least identifying good life choices if you don’t have any yet. I can contribute to (extra-curriculur activity of your choice) would be a good path to go down. I like the philosophy the school has in nurturing its students while here and afterwards is something to think about too. Although not all schools do this, most do. My school, a top level school, takes a kind of perverse pride in NOT nurturning much, and that was attractive to me, although not the only reason I had to answer this question. It was alarge factor to me that students were only required to live in a dorm one year, then could live off campus. Decades later, that is no longer the case - their are new, modern dorms for all I think, and I wonder how that would have affected my decision (and my life!) had I needed to weigh that factor against the other factors. I also wonder if there is a change in the independence of the students in the student body now compared to then - I am sure they are no less excellent academically and hopefully better even, but this is a personal factor that defines the kids I remember as people, not as students. So that is something that schools are looking to match up to a preferred mix too. ---
**Author:** ![Kolga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e56c9b/32.png) [@Kolga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kolga)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2009, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-not-to-handle-your-college-interview/488165/66 "2009-03-04T18:36:26Z")
> [@even\_sven](#): > > If I could come up with all that, surely they could come up with something better than “Well, it’s Princeton.” Honestly, my first (not only) response when asked “why this college” in my alumnus interview actually WAS “Well, it’s Harvard.” I mean, I had some other statements about the quality of the programs, the well-known and internationally-respected professors, etc., but I’m from a town of 3000 people in the backwards mountains of S.C., and my senior honors English teacher pronounced Don Juan as “Don Jewan.” Why WOULDN’T I want to go to Harvard because it’s Harvard? Having been successful at gaining admission, I wonder if the interviewer was kind of expecting that response. ---
**Author:** ![Motorgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e36b37/32.png) [@Motorgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Motorgirl)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2009, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-not-to-handle-your-college-interview/488165/67 "2009-03-04T18:37:50Z")
Up until a couple of years ago I conducted alumni interviews for Cornell. I can’t recall any truly odd interviews, but I do recall one applicant who mentioned that one of her reasons for choosing Cornell was to be closer to her parents, who were moving from Boston to Stony Brook, NY. I had to break it to her that Ithaca is farther from Stony Brook than Boston is - driving time from Ithaca is between 5.5 and 6 hours, without major traffic delays; driving time from Boston is around 4, without traffic delays. It might be even less if you take one of the ferries from New London. She was shocked. ---
**Author:** ![accidentalyuppie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@accidentalyuppie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/accidentalyuppie)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2009, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-not-to-handle-your-college-interview/488165/68 "2009-03-04T18:39:38Z")
If i have an important meeting, especially if it’s in a location I’m not familar with, I get there early…depending on how uncertain I am about how long it will take to find the place and get parking…may be as much as two hours early, more typically an hour or so. Then I park and find the location of the meeting. Then I go somewhere else-----ideally a place where I can sit and nurse a soda or coffee…then I take some deep breaths to recover from the trip and review the upcoming meeting, sometimes I have paperwork to review and at other times I just run through possible questions and comments in my head. Then I show up five minutes early, and more importantly, I’m not frazzled from getting lost and looking for parking…I’m relaxed and totally prepared for the meeting. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2009, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-not-to-handle-your-college-interview/488165/69 "2009-03-04T18:40:22Z")
> [@Kolga](#): > > my senior honors English teacher pronounced Don Juan as “Don Jewan.” If the teacher was referring to Byron’s poem, that’s actually the correct pronunciation. ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2009, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-not-to-handle-your-college-interview/488165/70 "2009-03-04T18:42:30Z")
> [@Frylock](#): > > Other than “I want to work with professor X” or “Your X department is strong in Y and I want to do work concerning Y,” I can not think of a reason to prefer one school over another that an admissions committee should care about. Among others: - size of the school - has an active alumni network - nationally recognized - has an active \_\_\_\_\_\_\_ student organization - has/doesn’t have a greek system - geographic location - is know for being more/less academically rigorous ---
**Author:** ![Eureka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/74df32/32.png) [@Eureka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eureka)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2009, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-not-to-handle-your-college-interview/488165/71 "2009-03-04T18:54:37Z")
> [@Munch](#): > > Among others: > > - size of the school > - has an active alumni network > - nationally recognized > - has an active \_\_\_\_\_\_\_ student organization > - has/doesn’t have a greek system > - geographic location > - is know for being more/less academically rigorous **Frylock** , At some level, knowing these sorts of things and mentioning them in the interview doesn’t neccessarily show an admissions committee that you belong at Little College vs. Teensy College or BIG State University vs. Big Univsersity vs. Neighboring State University. But if you can mention some of them to the interviewer it shows that you have some clue about the college. Some interest. Maybe you would be perfectly happy at any school which would accept you, but most people do have an idea (or their parents do) about what kind of a school suits them. Both my parents attended small schools, so it was important to them that my brother and I had opportunities to attend small schools. And even a fairly generic paeon of praise to the virtues of small schools/large schools/party schools or whatever will probably sound good to the interviewer–as long as it isn’t so generic they start wondering if you are just lucky that you didn’t decide to talk about the virtues of something that this particular college soesn’t have. ---
**Author:** ![Lionne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Lionne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lionne)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2009, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-not-to-handle-your-college-interview/488165/72 "2009-03-04T19:09:16Z")
So your last name starts with a W, is one syllable, common English word, and is spelled differently than it sounds. Wright? White? Wheel? ---
**Author:** ![accidentalyuppie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@accidentalyuppie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/accidentalyuppie)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2009, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-not-to-handle-your-college-interview/488165/73 "2009-03-04T19:50:01Z")
> [@Lionne](#): > > So your last name starts with a W, is one syllable, common English word, and is spelled differently than it sounds. > Wright? White? > Wheel? I was thinking White or Watts ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2009, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-not-to-handle-your-college-interview/488165/74 "2009-03-04T20:17:14Z")
> [@Kolga](#): > > and my senior honors English teacher pronounced Don Juan as “Don Jewan.” [hijack]Isn’t that how Byron himself would have pronounced it?[/hijack] ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2009, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-not-to-handle-your-college-interview/488165/75 "2009-03-04T20:22:27Z")
> [@accidentalyuppie](#): > > I was thinking White or Watts Whales/Wales? ---
**Author:** ![Calatin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/439d5e/32.png) [@Calatin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Calatin)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2009, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-not-to-handle-your-college-interview/488165/76 "2009-03-04T20:36:47Z")
> [@Lionne](#): > > So your last name starts with a W, is one syllable, common English word, and is spelled differently than it sounds. No, the last letter of my first name is the same as my middle initial. That is where the “W” comes into play. My last name does not start with W. ---
**Author:** ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2009, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-not-to-handle-your-college-interview/488165/77 "2009-03-04T20:45:38Z")
> [@Munch](#): > > - is know for being more/less academically rigorous But if you wanted to go to a college because it wasn’t very rigorous academically, or because it was a party school, you would never want to tell anyone connected with admissions that. It might make you look like someone who wants to slack off, which is not the impression you want to make on the admissions committee even if it happens to be true. I’m not sure I’d want to say that not having a lot of required core courses was a reason I wanted to go to a college, either, and that (and the lack of a phys ed requirement) actually _was_ a large part of the reason why I chose Maryland. It would have made me look like I wasn’t interested in becoming a well-rounded person, and that’s not something colleges seem to look for. ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2009, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-not-to-handle-your-college-interview/488165/78 "2009-03-04T21:10:24Z")
> [@Anne\_Neville](#): > > But if you wanted to go to a college because it wasn’t very rigorous academically, or because it was a party school, you would never want to tell anyone connected with admissions that. It might make you look like someone who wants to slack off, which is not the impression you want to make on the admissions committee even if it happens to be true. > > I’m not sure I’d want to say that not having a lot of required core courses was a reason I wanted to go to a college, either, and that (and the lack of a phys ed requirement) actually _was_ a large part of the reason why I chose Maryland. It would have made me look like I wasn’t interested in becoming a well-rounded person, and that’s not something colleges seem to look for. Well, that was more of a reason to attend a particular school, not something to bring up in an interview. I doubt many party schools with less rigorous courses are requiring/recommending an interview. ---
**Author:** ![Moirai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/96bed5/32.png) [@Moirai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moirai)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2009, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-not-to-handle-your-college-interview/488165/79 "2009-03-04T21:15:25Z")
> [@Athena](#): > > My first name is a common one, but it’s spelled in a slightly less common way than normal. Not my idea, my parents named me that. I tried to explain to my SIL that she was dooming my niece to a lifetime of misspellings when she named her daughter “Katharine” instead of “Katherine” but she was determined… ---
**Author:** ![not\_alice](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/not_alice/32/7283_2.png) [@not\_alice](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/not_alice)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2009, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-not-to-handle-your-college-interview/488165/80 "2009-03-04T21:18:44Z")
> [@accidentalyuppie](#): > > I was thinking White or Watts How about Wentz (= whence)? or Weil/Wyle (=while) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-not-to-handle-your-college-interview/488165.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-not-to-handle-your-college-interview/488165.md?page=5)