Bright college days
Oct. 14th, 2001 09:37 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rivkaAn admissions counselor for Reed College contacted me the other day. Would I be kind enough to interview a couple of prospective students in my area, and tell them about Reed? Their normal mid-Atlantic states rep had to cancel her trip to Maryland because of health problems, and... and...
Sure, I said. Why not? And so I've been trading e-mail with a nervous, carefully polite high school senior from the Eastern Shore, setting up an appointment at a Borders cafe. After which I'll write a letter to Reed, telling them what I think about his suitability for admission.
I worked for the admissions office my senior year, and I interviewed a lot of high school seniors then. (And juniors. And junior college students. And homeschooled kids.) My first year at Iowa I think I interviewed two kids there. I've done the admissions thing fairly recently myself, of course - the whole round of internship interviews in the winter of '99. But those were much more like high-pressure half-day job interviews. In college admissions, all you have to do is convince the interviewer that you're an interesting person. You don't have to have firm career goals and a therapeutic orientation.
I'm out of practice at this. I remember that a big part of the interview is talking about Reed - what it's like to be a student there, what the possibilities are, how this kid would fit into the picture. I remember the convention that you don't mention other colleges by name, although you can do generic comparisons - I had a whole spiel about why you might choose Reed over Large State University. I remember fielding questions from parents about drugs, and nose piercings, and why the tuition was so high.
I remember that I used to have a good repertoire of questions to ask. I think my routine opener was "So, what got you interested in Reed?", but I don't remember what I used to ask next. Hey, LiveJournal world: what would you ask a nervous 17 year old to help them reveal their inner coolness? What would you want to be asked, that would let your coolness unfold?
Sure, I said. Why not? And so I've been trading e-mail with a nervous, carefully polite high school senior from the Eastern Shore, setting up an appointment at a Borders cafe. After which I'll write a letter to Reed, telling them what I think about his suitability for admission.
I worked for the admissions office my senior year, and I interviewed a lot of high school seniors then. (And juniors. And junior college students. And homeschooled kids.) My first year at Iowa I think I interviewed two kids there. I've done the admissions thing fairly recently myself, of course - the whole round of internship interviews in the winter of '99. But those were much more like high-pressure half-day job interviews. In college admissions, all you have to do is convince the interviewer that you're an interesting person. You don't have to have firm career goals and a therapeutic orientation.
I'm out of practice at this. I remember that a big part of the interview is talking about Reed - what it's like to be a student there, what the possibilities are, how this kid would fit into the picture. I remember the convention that you don't mention other colleges by name, although you can do generic comparisons - I had a whole spiel about why you might choose Reed over Large State University. I remember fielding questions from parents about drugs, and nose piercings, and why the tuition was so high.
I remember that I used to have a good repertoire of questions to ask. I think my routine opener was "So, what got you interested in Reed?", but I don't remember what I used to ask next. Hey, LiveJournal world: what would you ask a nervous 17 year old to help them reveal their inner coolness? What would you want to be asked, that would let your coolness unfold?
no subject
Date: 2001-10-14 08:00 pm (UTC)"Why are you particularly interested in *school*" always struck me as a good one. If the answer doesn't really fit with the school's current plans, then that's a good thing to know.
(For Andover, the fact I was very interested in their music and Classics programs were a big bonus. At Wellesley, the fact that they had a broadly defined core requirement program, and a good solid base in a number of departments, and civilised living conditions were big plusses for me. The fact I'd researched the schools enough to be able to say that was also a big plus.)
Being asked about what interested me was another good one - whatever the question was, it wasn't asked in a "What do you want to major in" sort of way, but in a "What interests you." sort of way. It can be a hard question to answer, but the answer can be sort of revealing.
One other one that worked was asking about specific courses that were a bit off the beaten track (the history, music theory, and Ancient Greek I got asked about, for example.) If you don't have access to transcripts, usually asking what someone's taken in the current year and the previous year might do something - at most schools, anything outside the standard history-english-math-science sort of basic stuff might well be something someone's particularly interested in.
Outside-of-school interests are also a good one.