I had an interview with a college admissions officer earlier this week and I was nervous so I have been doing some research on preparing for interviews. I am going to share tips for interviewing (note – these are suggestions and interviews can be successful with or without them). 
- Dress professionally yet comfortably. If you are too worried about what you are wearing, then you will not be able to focus on the interview itself.
- Think beforehand about why you want to attend that school specifically. What programs or opportunities stick out to you?
- Think about why you need that school and why that school needs you…it goes both ways!
- Prepare questions for the interviewer:
- What advice would you give to me as an incoming freshman?
- Were there any campus traditions that stood out to you and how did they contribute to campus unity?
- What relationships are there between the undergraduate and graduate schools?
- What stood out to you when you were looking at colleges?
- Remember to keep an eye on time. You don’t want to act like you don’t have anything to say, but you also don’t want to talk for too long because that gets annoying.
- Know yourself! I know that I tend to ramble and I should have paid better attention to the clock because I talked for longer than I should have. I just need to have a better understanding of the time and how much talking is too much.
I know that there are things I could improve on before my next interview but it is important to understand that interviews are to enhance your application by letting the interviewer know more about you that can’t be expressed on paper.