I just noticed it's been 10 years since my 2+2 join date, so I figured I'll do an AMA to "celebrate".

Background - I attended a top tier US college which uses its vast alumni network to interview high school students from their geographic region, as opposed to having admissions officers do so. I've been doing this for nearly 20 years now, and in the process probably have interviewed something on the order of 150-200 kids.

Ask me whatever you've wanted to know, either based on your own experience going through the admission process or as a parent wondering about the process for your own kid(s).

Oh, and since I know someone will ask, let me get this out of the way right off the bat - no I've never been propositioned by a student saying they'd "scratch my back if I scratched theirs," nor have I been accused of anything inappropriate by a student. So yeah, sorry - no stories that could appear on Pornhub if reenacted.

But there definitely have been some interesting kids along the way, and some surprises in terms of who gets in and who doesn't.

What criteria do they want you to report back to them on? How much weighting is given to your evaluation?

I do this for Cornell. Is this just for information only or for your school is it weighted more? I'm basically told I can be a tiebreaker between two students, else my voice has no weight in the process.

They want the story behind the story. I'm supposed to do my best to find out who each student is as a person and the content of his/her character. Is he or she smart in ways that don't necessarily come across in tests or classwork? Is he or she someone who I can see being the type of young man/woman who'll make a positive impact not only while at school but in life as well.

I think the interview makes an impact for sure. It's not mandatory at my school to st for an interview, but those who do get admitted at twice the rate of those who don't. That being said, there was one student I interviewed who I thought was full of herself but who clearly was brilliant and would be able to put together a terrific application. I dinged her pretty hard, but she still got in. But on the other end of the spectrum, there have definitely been times when I think my strong recommendation helped a student get admitted who might not otherwise have passed muster.

Keep in mind - this is a very selective school. In some years they take none from my town, and we're ranked as one of the best 250 public high schools in America.

I alluded to this in my previous reply, but the interview definitely matters at my school and I've seen firsthand evidence of it getting in kids who probably would've otherwise not been given serious consideration. But as I also said, if a superstar bombs the interview, he or she probably will still get in.

My mother did this for Cornell in the 80's, and was in charge of the Northeast region or something. But I still did not get in.

A lot of top schools - though less so the ivies, or so I was led to believe - will actually take steps to ensure that legacies or others with family connections to the school are admitted at the same rate as normal applicants. I believe that is still the practice/philosophy at my school.

do you give preferential treatment to poker players?

I wish, but sometime I do ask them what they like to do for fun which doesn't involve their phones, technology, or sports. So far no one has said poker but I think that's probably due to them fearing it would be a strike against them in my mind, rather than a mark in the plus column. But given the type of kids my school attracts I suspect at least a few kids had dabbled in poker, especially in the pre-2011 time frame.

Do you have a set of questions you ask?

Interesting. If she was a psychologist, I may have used your bathroom (#1) in 1983.

damn, was gonna ask something related to pornhub

Ever get a mass shooter vibe from a kid that you interviewed?

For a while there were 50 of so questions that comprised about 80% of what I'd ask to each student, but I'd always try to think of a few on the fly based on how things were going. Nowadays I find that the kids are so bold as to share the exact questions I give them with each other, so I try harder to not repeat the same questions to two students in the same year.

Some staples include(d):

- knowing what you do now, what advice would you give to yourself if you could go back in time to when you were entering high school

- describe an example of a personal failure and what you learned from it

- what is something you have a true passion for, and when did you first realize you had that passion

- by what measure or measures will you gauge whether you have achieved success in life

- what scares you most about the world of today, and the future you see

Do students prepare for the interview?

I went to one of the top20 business schools in Europe and all I had to do was send a 2 page application form and a copy of my high school diploma in the mail. Never had to speak to anyone from administration. A short 11 years later, I got my masters degree in the mail. Again, nobody talked to me about that. Just opened the mail box one day, saw the letter and was like ‘hmmkay, that means free health care is over for now’.

Not specifically, but I could definitely tell some of these kids were under immense pressure and/.or were more unhappy than not. Far more often I'll see kids who I can tell didn't have the best time in high school, but who will most likely blossom and thrive in the college where they aren't judged so strictly by their peers.

I'm disgusted by the college business model, and wouldn't shill for the best school in my state by a country mile. Does it ever make you feel guilty, or are the parents so rich at your alma that it doesn't matter? Excluding Princeton and MIT of course.

Nowadays they definitely will seek out other kids who've already interviewed with me to get a sense of the questions I'll ask. But what I purposely do is talk to them by phone to schedule the interview and let them know I won't be asking any questions based on school subject matter and that the type of questions I ask you can't really prep for, but at the same time won't stump them either. I also say I'm a pretty easy grader and they can wear whatever they want, which puts them at ease. The first few years I had kids sitting there squirming in their church/temple outfits thinking it mattered, so now I just say they should wear what they want, and they appreciate that.

If I didn't have this call with them, I'm guessing they'd prep and fret about the interview a lot, which is not what I want at all both in terms of being a reasonable person and wanting them to be at ease enough to give me the best window into them as a person.

Indeed far too many parents, especially in my town, which is well off, view their child's college admission process as a referendum on them as parents. But the good news is at least 80% of kids who I interview would be a good fit at my school, which, it so happens, has been proven to have among the best ROIs in terms of near and long term career earnings for graduates. So that does help me sleep better at night in terms of feeding the machine.

Interesting. I remember three interviews I did in 1981. I met with two guys from Dartmouth, who were already drunk when I got there. I interviewed with a woman from Yale whose maiden name was King and was engaged to a guy whose last name was Hamlet. And I talked with a very bright woman from MIT (a robotics designer) who told me she felt as though every single person there was brighter than she was.

My eldest daughter is doing interviews now, albeit for different schools.

What are some typical answers to these questions?

I'd answer what I or my typical classmates would have said, but you'd think I was trolling.

How do you respond to claims that almost all interviews are worthless?

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/08/o...nterviews.html

why do you waste your time doing this?

Do you ever hear from parents?

This morning around 8AM, I saw hundreds of parents with their children walking around campus and looking at everything. Is that something you’re supposed to do as a parent?

I am not questioning your perception or interview skills, but isn't one alumni's feeling that an 18yo girl is "full of herself", a pretty random way to decide who might get to go to a particular college? (I know this one still got in.)

Is this the type of stuff the college is looking for? Did she seem stuck up? Just seems harsh and makes me wonder how many teenagers don't get into their first choice school because one alumni didn't like their attitude on an interview (which is a nerve-wracking experience, especially for an 18 year old!).

I do think some of those questions you listed that you frequently ask, are fantastic though.