Thinking about **Frylock’s **experience brought to mind this crazy image of a bunch of philosophy profs trying to determine how to decide which applicants to select. Based on the few I’ve known, things could get really strange. On what basis does it matter whom we select? How do you know our school is the right school for you? No, I mean how do you know, in the epistemological sense? And the applicants could no doubt generate a really wild bunch of application essays.
It would pretty much be a requirement to show up to the interview unkempt, right? With a nervous tic and muttering to yourself? 
I wish. I’ve had a few kids who have panicked when they realize they’ve said something that might make me think their character was anything less than “Pope-like.” Not that they are telling tales of snorting cocaine off the ass of a cheap whore, but I had one applicant desperately assure me that they don’t usually use “that kind of language” when they once said “Hell.” I had to laugh. Sad thing is, the kid wasn’t accepted, and I fear that he’ll always wonder if it was because he dropped the “H-Bomb” during out conversation.
Sometimes, being relatively young, it’s hard to relate to the kids because I try to remain personable while still maintaining the demeanor of someone in a position of authority. Usually, when we get to the inevitable “[W]hat was Princeton like for you?”, I find myself (unsuccessfully) censoring some of my stories, because these kids are only 18. I’d hate for the students to go back to their parents and tell them how their interviewer regaled them with tales of debauchery. I do find it helpful to let the kids know that their is a “social life” on campus, because of certain stereotypes.
I mean, dammit, Batman went to our school! Granted, he dropped out, but still…
Hmm…I can post my own interview sob-story from the other side of the table.
My parents were not helicopter parents…I chose my colleges, applied and set out on the interview process all by myself. For one, I had a similar situation to the OP’s (different school, but same regional alumni do the interviewing type of set up). At the time, my family was in the Philly region. We lived farther out in the country than my interviewer, who lived closer to the city itself.
I was 17, and probably had had my car for about two-three months. I got directions and set out for this guy’s home. Of note, this was in the days before cell phones. All was well, until I panicked in a merging situation (I was a shy driver at best) and missed my exit. So, I took the next exit, thinking I could turn around and try again.
So…I exited onto the Schuylkill expressway. Into pretty heavy traffic going much, much faster than I had driven before. (We lived in a pretty rural area and I had only driven to school and back in the past). I tried the exit thing again to get off that road…and then I was lost. I ended up somewhere in the Manayunk region and it was mostly residental. Oy. I think I tried to call to let my interviewer know, but I just remember being largely panicked and scared. I also came damn close to running out of gas. Not a great experience.
I did, by the way, leave way, way early. I think I was only 15 minutes late overall. But it was a long time ago and the details have become a blur. This situation was later rivaled by another college interview in which my interviewer actually watched me parallel park, also unnerving at the time.
Nowadays, I’ve spent my share of time as the interviewer and on the admissions committees - I’ve contemplated opening one of those “Ask the…” threads for medical school admissions. Really, the biggest thing that I’ve seen sink an applicant is being rude to the administrative assistants. One guy I interviewed with was rude to the secretary of the next interviewer - it’s the custom at my school to escort the applicants between interviews - and it immediately changed my opinion of the guy. Similarly, the administrative staff in the admissions office often attends the committee meetings at my school when we vote on applicants for admissions. They rarely comment on applicants, but if they do, it’s pretty much a guarantee that whoever they didn’t like will not be admitted. It doesn’t happen often though - most people seem to have more common sense than that.