It's college application and alumni interview season. RantWoman has been interviewing applicants to Princeton for several years. RantWoman is glad to be able to contribute to Princeton in this way especially since RantWoman is unlikely to be able to endow a professorship or even a drinking fountain in say the math library. The following opinions are RantWoman's alone. They do not necessarily reflect the views of either other alumni interviewers or of Princeton. Also RantWoman has been away from campus for several years and lots has changed so there is a good chance RantWoman will refer applicants to some office at Princeton for answers to some kinds of questions.
Applicants to Princeton might or might not find this blog post. RantWoman would also like to introduce the concept of open book exams. Many classes particularly in STEM fields have open book exams. These tend to be similar to weekly problem set homework: Exams are distributed. People have a week to return them. If one is attentive to homework throughout the term, open book exams, while rigorous, are not catastrophic. RantWoman STRONGLY advises against trying to learn a whole semester's material during the interval of the exam, but this is not about a whole semester. In this case, think of this post as kind of an open book exam, a roadmap of interviewing with RantWoman.
Understand, when RantWoman was applying to colleges, the odds of admission for applicants were about 1 in 8. Now the odds are about 1 in 20 or 1 in 25, Better odds than the lottery for sure, but interview goals include just having a good conversation, identifying things a particular applicant will contribute to the Princeton community, and giving applicants the opportunity to ask questions. RantWoman always enjoys hearing about different school programs and never minds chances to speak of her own experiences. RantWoman doesn't explicitly ask but does tend to pay attention to what applicants say related to topics RantWoman found difficult for herself.
The questions
Based on suggestions upstream, every year, RantWoman writes a set of questions that she will use for all applicants she interviews; within that framework RantWoman often asks detailed followup questions but RantWoman does not always ask all the follow up questions that come to mind out of a sense of fairness to everyone. RantWoman will not ask about applications to other schools or opine about other schools' programs. However, SOMETIMES, unless an applicant mentions specific faculty or programs that support a particular interest, RantWoman may form the opinion that perhaps there are programs at another institution that might better match a student's interest. RantWoman never writes this on her interview report but sometimes asks carefully worded followup questions inviting the applicant to think about this.
Here now is an outline of questions RantWoman is likely to ask.
The elevator speech question.
This is partly tell me about yourself, your school, your community. Hot tip you are applying to go to college 3000 miles from home. Most of the people you meet are going to have no clue about local geography. RantWoman for instance spent a lot of time assuring people that MT is not near IA. Sometimes RantWoman herself doesn't even have a clue about key geography. What will be your elevator speech when introducing yourself?
What made you decide to apply to Princeton?
Do your homework, not only about academics. Not everyone has a clear idea of what they want to study. Students may change their minds several times before picking a major. RantWoman exactly understands all of this. However, yes, please, tell RantWoman if a particular program or aspect of Princeton lines up with goals and interests but don't limit yourself to academics. If a particular faith tradition, ethnic identity, or other attribute such as sexual orientation or gender identity is important to you, RantWoman loves to hear that an applicant has already checked out campus, alumni, and local area resources.
Other questions
RantWoman always asks applicants to talk about someone they admire and why
General reflection question: RantWoman wants to know about something of interest to the applicant and about whatever dimension of this interest seem important to the applicant.
Timely reflection question: this year it's about the #pandemic. RantWoman is not sure exactly what the question will be.
Roommates
The people organizing alumni interviews seem desperately interested in whether RantWoman thinks applicants will be good roommates. RantWoman has no idea what to do with this concern. RantWoman shared a room with Little Sister for most of our childhood and just made it work. What makes roommate situation s work or not work can be a complex question. Michelle Obama in her book Becoming writes of two roommate situations. Both sound difficult for very different reasons. One splendidly illustrated other people's bigotry. The other clearly involved much admiration in spite of realities RantWoman would find difficult.
Reflecting on RantWoman's own freshman year, it is probably just as well that the person who interviewed RantWoman did not ask "are you likely to plaster your walls with posters that might make your roommate's parents uncomfortable?" RantWoman's roommate's parents were too gracious to say anything. RantWoman for her part survived two different roommates who struggled writing papers about Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment as well as two different roommates who liked to get dressed listening to and singing along with the soundtrack from Rocky Horror Picture Show. In the latter case, RantWoman actually found the no headphones option more bearable.
In other words, RantWoman is still scratching her head about whether even to try to come up with a roommate relevant interview question. One thing to take away though: it's college. Challenging the expectations of those in authority is sometimes exactly on point.
Looking Forward
RantWoman always asks some variant of "what are you looking forward to as senior year winds down? or "What do you think will be the biggest change as you go off to college?" RantWoman is not sure what the question will be this year.
Reality check
If you tell RantWoman you plan to triple major in mathematics, women's history and biology, RantWoman is probably going to make some sort of "be reasonable" suggestion. You are not required to instantly leap at anyone's suggestion, but if RantWoman offers a "be reasonable" suggestion, it is best not to give RantWoman the impression you are blowing her off.
RantWoman's favorite question:
"Do you have any questions for me?"
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