Ivy league interview??? Or any college?

Answered

There are 2 types of interviews you may or may not encounter in your college admissions process. 1.) The actual regional college recruiting officer from the school who travels to cities and schools to meet with prospective cohorts and 2.) Alumni interviewers who are volunteers that meet prospective students at Starbucks or hotel lobbies.

My advice is germane regardless of whom you encounter.

The best advice I can give you is to be genuine, use your own voice and talk about things that matter to you. There are no best or correct answers to meeting recruiting officers from colleges or alumni.

The worst thing you can do is have nothing interesting to say or talk about what a great student you are. If you are a "box checker" or someone that is a workaholic that has no time to enjoy life and the simple pleasures of reading books you enjoy, listening to music, trying a new baking recipe, or exploring a new interest, and are only concerned about being better than your peers with grades, test scores, ECs, essays, etc, they will feel sorry for you and you will not be someone they wish to advocate for.

But if you use your 15 minutes to talk about your passions and your quirky interests or how you are wearing the bracelet your 10-year-old brother made for you and how you will miss your family get-togethers if you go away to college because they treat dinner time is like a Presidential debate, they will remember you. They will not remember you if you say "Hi, I have a 4.3 WGPA and a 1450 SAT score and am the team captain of the tennis team and have been in DECA for 3 years and play the cello... BORRRRRRRRRRING...then you are just a number, nothing memorable.

Have something interesting to say to your college visitors or alumni. Do some research on current events and make sure you know what's going on at their schools. If you are meeting someone from William and Mary or Virginia tech, do the following.

I caught up on W&M news and learned in 5 minutes that their college ranking went up with the US News ranking at #38 primarily because of increased alumni giving. Also, I learned that W&M matriculated the first class of POSSE foundation cohorts so that means they are increasing their support for DEI issues and helping low-income marginalized HS students. And that they set up a special memorial for 9.11 at their Art Museum. There are probably another 3 for 4 important news stories as well.

The same goes for V.Tech. Maybe you can mention how they feel about losing Nikki Giovanni to Prarie A&M. Etc. etc.

If you take no risks on yourself, you will not be memorable.

Sometimes you don't know who you are meeting until the day of therefore use that information wisely. Google search them and find out what they did at ABC college back in 1980 when they graduated. They will appreciate taking the time to find out more about them. Ask them questions about how they feel about certain campus issues in 2021 relative to when they went to school. They will obviously have something to say.

Good luck.