Questions to Ask When Interviewing at Liberal Arts Colleges
Written by | Nov. 1, 2021
What Should You Enquire During a College Interview?
Equally a college applicant, you may already know the feeling of relief when you striking submit. But look, y'all're non washed notwithstanding! Some of you will get a bulletin from a portal or an alum notifying you of the next pace in your college-fix journeying: the interview.
Whether they're in-person or virtual, interviews provoke angst in applicants. Even so any applicant volition tell you that the best mode to ace an interview is to prepare. Recently, I spoke to a student who was an interviewing novice until a month agone. At present, he's a pro.
What makes the difference? He told me, "Knowing what I would say for even the most bones question."
Withal information technology really does piece of work both ways. What happens when your interviewer stops after 20 or 30 minutes and asks what questions yous have? Before your interview, be certain to prepare a list of at to the lowest degree iii questions for your interviewer.
By coming prepared with questions, y'all can:
- Show your interviewer that you lot're thoughtful and prepared
- Avoid awkward silences during the interview
- Uncover information from which you lot may make a determination if offered a spot in the incoming class (unless you're an Early Decision candidate, of course)
The pupil I mentioned higher up told me, "Yous accept to have a really skilful question to enquire them... That makes or breaks the whole interview." So he asked the Skidmore (it was actually another college) interviewer, "How would you define a Skidmore graduate?"
Equally an alumni interviewer, I was ever impressed when students came with insightful questions for me, for example, how Brown served me later on college. If you have an alumni interview, that's an like shooting fish in a barrel inquire. It could exist that your interviewer is a student intern, in which case you might enquire whether they're pleased with the conclusion to attend that college and how they feel it'due south benefitted them and so far. Inquire them well-nigh some of their favorite on-campus traditions.
Just sometimes y'all'll be interviewing with an admissions officer who did non graduate from that establishment. That person is looking to answer, "Do nosotros want [your proper noun] in our college customs?"
If yous have an interview coming upward, of grade you lot should expect at the website. (A current applicant told me, "I researched the higher'due south website, tried to think about possible questions that I would be asked and practiced my responses.") But why enquire about something the college already addresses, such as how big the establishment is, what majors are well-nigh pop and what extracurriculars are offered? Instead, look to ask something unlike to brandish characteristics such every bit thoughtfulness or intellectual curiosity. For your employ, I've brainstormed a few on the list below.
six Clever Questions to Ask Your Interviewer 2021-22 (Merely for Readers of CC!)
- How is your higher partnering with area employers or nonprofits to make the learning experience more engaging?
- Where does your higher see itself in five or 10 years? Will information technology take more dual enrollment programs (for-credit programs with other institutions)?
- How are you lot expanding your curriculum in STEM? How will liberal arts skills be of import in the future?
- What do y'all hear from alumni about their networking possibilities?
- During the pandemic, virtual learning really took off. How do you think your college will use online learning in the hereafter? Does it plan to make lectures available to people around the world?
- How has the admissions process inverse since you lot went test-optional?
If you lot're stuck for practiced ideas—or you want to verify your understanding of the higher's goals—check out its social media, blogs and alumni publications.
Interviewing, like so many aspects of the college application process, is a life skill. Y'all now accept college interviews, and so later, internship interviews and job interviews. The more you do, the bigger your experience base of operations, which means your confidence will amend. Sure, the interviewer gets that yous're only 17 or 18, simply there's no alibi for not being prepared.
Do'south and Don'ts of College Interviews
From my students who have interviewed this fall come two wacky questions they actually had to reply:
- Who is your favorite cartoon grapheme?
- Are you a dog or a cat person?
Don't ask either question of your interviewer, please!
For more on college interviews, bank check on Nina Berler's website for her or bound into the conversations almost Higher Admissions on the CC Forums.
Source: https://www.collegeconfidential.com/articles/questions-to-ask-your-college-interviewer/
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