It’s common for highly-selective colleges to invite applicants to interview. Students typically begin to receive interview requests a few weeks after the application deadline, but don’t worry if you don’t get contacted about an interview right away — interviews can continue up through February.
Typically, these interviews are administered by alumni from that college who lives in your area.
In most cases, the interviewer won’t know anything about you besides your name and your contact information. The interview is like a blank slate — a chance for you to present your narrative and introduce yourself to a totally new audience.
For colleges that do evaluative alumni interviews, the interview report will help the admissions committee to form a more complete picture of you as a candidate. If an AO is trying to build a case for you that you are a certain type of student, they can use comments in the interview report to support their case to the rest of the admissions committee. If your application doesn’t give a clear and consistent picture, an interview report might help to pull everything into focus.
50 Common Questions Asked in College Admissions Interviews
Want detailed advice on how to prepare for college admissions interview? Read more about college interviews here [link], or grab this free guide that I’ve prepared based on what helps my students.
Fortunately, there are no trick questions in college admissions interviews. Alumni interviews are more like a free-flowing conversation that’s designed to explore more about your interests and activities.
That said, it’s helpful to think through some of your answers to common questions ahead of time. Here are some of the most common questions that interviewers might use to prompt stories about your life.
Introducing yourself and your character
Tell me about yourself
What three words would you use to describe yourself?
How would other people in your life describe you? How would your friends describe you?
Who are you in your friend group?
What do you think goes unnoticed about you?
What is your favorite personality trait? What do you like the most about your character?
What character traits make you a good fit for the campus culture at _______ college?
What’s important to you?
What is your background and your family like? What is your home life like? What do your parents do? (This is so the interviewer can get context for your life, not for the purposes of judging you! Honestly, being FGLI is more likely to help you.)
If you had a free day with no academic or work obligations, what would you do?
What do you like to do for fun?
If you could get paid to do any job that you want, what would it be?
What made you smile today?
What are you looking forward to the most this week?
Your interest in that college, your prospective major, and your future plans
Why _______ college? What classes, programs, and activities on campus are exciting to you?
What sparked your interest in _______ college?
If you visited campus already, what was your favorite aspect?
How do you feel about moving away from home?
Why are you interested in _______ major?
What plans do you have for your future? What do you see yourself doing in ten years from now?
What problem in the world would you fix and why?
Your academic and extracurricular experiences
What is your favorite class in high school? What is your favorite subject?
What has been your most challenging class in high school? How did you deal with these challenges?
For what class would you not mind having a substitute teacher for the rest of the year?
If you could change one thing about your school, what would it be?
What are some extracurricular activities that you participate in?
What are some non-academic extracurriculars that you participate in?
Is there something you are so excited about that it keeps you up at night?
If you could learn anything, what would you learn? If you could take any class, what would it be?
Stories about communities, conversations, conflict, perseverance, and success
What was your most challenging experience?
Think about a time that you had a difficult conversation. What was the conversation about, and what did you do? What was the result?
Have you ever encountered conflict when working with a group? How did you resolve it?
What ethical dilemna have you encountered?
What’s your biggest accomplishment? What’s something that you’re proud of?
Other interests and influences on your life
Who has encouraged or inspired you?
Whom do you most admire?
What book or movie has resonated with you? What non-academic book are you currently reading (or read most recently) outside of school?
What was the last show you watched? What movie or show would you recommend to everyone?