Advice on College Interviews

If it is a normal and typical expectation for the college you are applying to have their applicants participate in interviews, then you should do what is normal and customary.

If the interviews are optional and there is a mix of non-participants who get admitted, I would probably skip it if you are not well prepared.

Like anything else on your college admissions file, how you perform is relative to how your peers perform. If students who interview well get admitted and those who don't get rejected, you'll know whether where you stand prior to attending.

You should proceed according to how well you feel about taking about yourself for 30-60 minutes to a perfect stranger who will take notes and report back to the college.

Some people are more impressive in person than on paper, so decide for yourself if it is worth the time and effort to put your best foot forward.

Good luck.

I believe you should 100% go for it. Don't get so worried, they're just asking you questions so just be yourself and answer them honestly. Of course, if they ask you a question and your honest answer could hurt your possible admission, just "edit your response" a bit to make yourself sound better. Don't lie completely or you might get caught and it will definitely ruin your chances. For example, if they ask you what extracurriculars you participated in high school and are interested in college; you can mention all the activities you did in high school but if you aren't interested in college activities, don't say that. Just say you are interested in similar activities. This way you can elaborate as they must be similar to the high school ec's but if you mention something completely new and they ask you more specific questions, you won't be able to answer. So play it safe but be as honest as you can. They're just people just like you. They want to get to know you, not an imagined version. A week will be more than enough for you to prepare because you should already know yourself and should just spend that week learning about anything they may ask that you don't know about. If you do mess up, it will definitely hurt your chances, but depending on how bad you messed, you might not be at a complete loss. But as long as you're honest, it'll be hard to mess up. Just don't say more than they ask; otherwise, you could accidentally say something that could offend them or reveal something about yourself that they don't like. Keep it simple and only respond to their questions and be respectful. If you don't do it, you really do hurt your chances because this is an opportunity to make yourself stand out among all the other applicants and if you decide not to do it, your just like every other applicant and maybe even below the others that did do interviews.

But, I would like to wish you luck and hope you do well in your interview! All the best!