Episode 16: College Interviews: What to Expect and How to Prepare

Oct 2

Episode Description:

College interviews have a way of turning an otherwise perfectly reasonable high school senior into a nervous wreck.

What are they going to ask? What should you wear? How much should you prepare? Does the interview actually matter? And what happens if you stumble over an answer?

In Episode 16 of Drop In, Lisa and Josh are back together to take some of the mystery, and hopefully a whole lot of the panic, out of the college interview.

First, an important reminder: for the vast majority of colleges, an interview is not going to make or break your application. But that does not mean you should walk in completely unprepared.

Lisa and Josh break down the different kinds of college interviews, including evaluative interviews, informational interviews, alumni interviews, admissions interviews, student-led interviews, third-party interviews, Zoom conversations, and recorded video responses. Before stressing about “the interview,” students need to figure out what kind of interview they are actually having and how that particular college uses it.

They also explain one of their favorite admissions research tools: the Common Data Set. In Section C7, families can see how an individual college categorizes interviews alongside factors such as grades, course rigor, essays, recommendations, and testing. For many colleges, interviews are listed as “considered” or “not considered,” which can help families put the stress where the actual weight is.

There are exceptions. Lisa and Josh discuss schools such as Georgetown and MIT, where interviews play a more meaningful role, and why their general advice is simple: if a selective college offers you an interview and you can reasonably do it, take the interview.

Then they get practical.

Students do not need to memorize perfect answers. Instead, think through three or four real stories you can talk about naturally: something you worked hard on, a time something did not go as planned, something you genuinely care about, a time you led, or an experience that helped shape you.

You should also be ready for some version of questions like:

Tell me about yourself. Why are you interested in our school? What do you like to do outside of class? What are you thinking about studying? Tell me about a challenge.

And when the interviewer asks, “Do you have any questions for me?” please do not say, “No, I’m good.”

Ask questions that the person sitting across from you can answer better than Google can. What surprised them about the college? What did they love? What do they wish they had known before freshman year? What kind of student thrives there? And one of Lisa’s favorites: What type of student do you see not doing well at this school?

Because remember, you are interviewing the college too.

If you would rather read than listen, our companion guide, College Interviews: How to Walk In Ready Instead of Terrified, walks through the same questions, preparation strategies, and interview advice in written form.

For families already deep in senior-year applications, you can also learn more about Decision Drop’s college counseling for seniors, including help with college lists, essays, applications, interviews, and final college decisions.

And if your kiddo would feel better walking into that interview with Lisa and Josh in their corner, connect with Decision Drop. We would love to help.

In this episode:

How to use the Common Data Set to see whether interviews matter
Why most college interviews will not make or break an application
Evaluative versus informational interviews
Alumni, admissions, student-led, and third-party interviews
Georgetown, MIT, and colleges where interviews may carry more weight
Common college interview questions
How to answer “Why this college?”
How to prepare without memorizing answers
Smart questions students should ask interviewers
What to wear to a college interview
How to prepare for a virtual college interview
Why parents should stay out of the interview
Why students should remember they are interviewing the college too.

🎙️ Also available on: Apple Podcasts | Amazon Music | iHeart

Chapters

00:00 – College Interviews: Why Everyone Panics
04:07 – Evaluative vs. Informational Interviews & Who Interviews You
08:06 – Do College Interviews Actually Matter? Check the Common Data Set
12:43 – Georgetown, MIT & Colleges Where Interviews Matter More
16:46 – How to Prepare for a College Interview Without Over-Rehearsing
20:40 – What to Wear, Virtual Interview Tips & What Parents Should NOT Do
23:10 – Hot Take or Hard Truth: Stop Trying to Win the Interview
25:43 – Drop the Mic: You Are Interviewing the College Too
28:24 – Next Week: College Admissions Myths & Application Mistakes

Read the Full Episode 16 Transcript

Josh (00:21)
Every week we drop the noise.

Lisa (00:23)
Drop the stress.

Josh (00:24)
And drop some knowledge.

Lisa (00:25)
Welcome to the Drop In, the College Admissions podcast by Decision Drop. If you want to learn more about our services or have Josh and me help your family through this process, please head over to decisiondrop.com and check us out. And please don't forget to like and subscribe.

Josh (00:40)
I'm Josh.

Lisa (00:41)
I'm Lisa. Let's go!

Josh (00:45)
Again, really good balance there, Lisa. The last few episodes you have gotten close to the camera, but not uncomfortably close. So that's good. Growth.

Lisa (00:52)
So that's three in a row that I've done well.

Josh (00:54)
That's three in a row. So congrats to you.

Lisa (00:56)
Three in a row. Okay, thank you. Thank you.

Josh (00:59)
All right, Lisa, episode 16.

Lisa (01:01)
Mm-hmm.

Josh (01:02)
It's just you and me today. So I know for the past few weeks we've had several awesome guests, but we're bringing it back old school, just you and I. And today we're gonna be talking about one particular part of the application process that can make an otherwise perfectly reasonable senior completely panic. The college interview.

Lisa (01:21)
The interview, Joshua. Man, it actually gives me a little like heart palpitations. Cause honestly, I think this might be the most overstressed part of the entire college process. Think about it. A family gets an email and it says, We'd like to offer you an interview. And suddenly everyone in the house is like, what does this mean? What are they going to ask? Or what if I say something wrong?

Josh (01:48)
Exactly. Which is completely understandable because the word interview, it makes it sound like it's something that's really high stakes. It sounds like it's a job interview where there's a right answer and a wrong answer, difference between you getting the job or not. So we want to say this right up front, for the vast majority of colleges, an interview is not going to make or break your application.

Lisa (02:09)
It really isn't. And we're not just gonna sit here on this podcast and say, hey, relax, kiddo. It's gonna be fine. You know what we're actually gonna do? We're going to show you how it's actually going to be fine. There is public information out there that tells us how much individual colleges value interviews, and we're gonna walk you through that.

Josh (02:31)
Yeah, and we're also going to talk about what kind of interview you might actually have because they're not all the same.

Lisa (02:36)
Because you have alumni interview, admissions interview, a coffee shop, a Zoom, a student interviewer, informational, evaluative. There are a lot of versions that are out there, y'all.

Josh (02:47)
Yeah, and then we're also going to get practical. For example, what should you bring? What are your interviewers probably gonna ask? What should you ask? How do you prepare without memorizing 15 answers and sounding like ChatGPT in a blazer? Which actually, that sounds like a fire album. Anyway.

Lisa (03:00)
Exactly.

Josh (03:01)
That actually counts, like that sounds like a fire album. Anyway.

Lisa (03:05)
ChatGPT in a blazer?

Josh (03:07)
Hey, it's the twenty-first century, you know, the AI boom. So I'm assuming someone's probably gonna...

Lisa (03:10)
No.

Josh (03:11)
Someone's gonna do that.

Lisa (03:12)
I just wanted to make sure I was understanding what you were saying. So you're gonna work on that album so you can drop it later.

Josh (03:17)
Not me. Not me.

Lisa (03:19)
Sure. Sure. Right, y'all. Because listen, think about it this way. Kiddos, over preparing can absolutely work against you. So we do not want you to walk into that interview with a perfectly memorized three-minute answer to tell me about yourself. That is not conversations, y'all.

Josh (03:41)
Yeah, and that's really the goal today. To take the mystery out of it, to take the panic down a couple notches and to help you as a student to walk in ready to talk to another human being.

Lisa (03:50)
Which you already know how to do.

Josh (03:53)
Hopefully. So let's get into it.

Lisa (03:55)
I love it. All right. So let's start with the basics, Josh. So when a college says interview, what are they actually talking about? Because there isn't, like you said, really just one kind.

Josh (04:06)
Right. And so the first distinction families need to understand is evaluative versus informational.

Lisa (04:12)
Right, because this is important. So I think we need to slow down and explain this part.

Josh (04:18)
Right. So an evaluative interview actually becomes a part of your application. So the interviewer, they write something up, a report that can go into your file, and admissions may consider it when they review your application. An informational interview is different. This one is much more about you learning about the college. You as a student get to ask questions, talk to someone connected to the school, and get a feel for the place.

Lisa (04:41)
And this is where a lot of families are sometimes surprised because a lot of alumni interviewers learn much more information than students think they do. So let's take Harvard. Their alumni interviews are really there to give students another human connection to the school and let the school learn a little bit more about them as a student. So their own guidance is basically telling you that this one conversation is almost never going to be the one thing that makes or breaks your application.

Josh (05:11)
Right. Which brings us to who actually interviews you because that varies too. So there are basically three big buckets.

Lisa (05:18)
So bucket number one, the alumni. And this is probably the version that most families picture. So somebody who's graduated from the college, usually lives somewhere in your area, they volunteer to meet the applicant and they love their school enough to do this because they're giving up an evening or a weekend afternoon to really talk about it.

Josh (05:39)
Yeah, and these interviews are usually pretty casual. These are the ones that typically happen either on Zoom, virtually, if that's easier for the interviewer and the applicant, or in a coffee shop or a bookstore.

Lisa (05:52)
Right, exactly. So this is not someone sitting behind a giant, you know, mahogany desk with your transcript in front of them.

Josh (05:58)
Right. And so then bucket number two is the on-campus interview. So some colleges let you schedule one when you visit. That could be with an admissions officer or sometimes it's a current student who's been trained how to do those kinds of interviews. Those are more likely to be evaluative because there's a more direct connection to the admissions office.

Lisa (06:16)
And then there's bucket three. So that's a student-led or third-party interview. Some colleges, they use current students. I even had a student this week that actually had an 8 p.m. interview on Monday night with a student, which actually makes sense because think about it, y'all. If they're using a current student, they probably have to go to class first. So this is the time that the students can really sit down and have a Zoom interview with your kiddo.

Lisa (06:43)
Others, they may use a service like InitialView or something similar. So that's where an interview gets recorded and then shared with the colleges. So you actually see that a little bit more often with our international applicants.

Josh (06:56)
Yeah. And then there's another thing families sometimes throw into the interview bucket, which is the video response. And so this has been pretty popular over the last couple years. So things like Glimpse, you know, maybe there's like a quick why us video or another recorded question built into the application. That's not the same thing as technically sitting down for an interview, but it still feels similar enough for families to group those things together.

Lisa (07:21)
And here's a little piece about the Why Us video or these one-minute, two-minute videos we're seeing. Y'all, this is just another piece of the application where they can get to know you. So they do not want to know what someone was talking about on TikTok that got them into that school, right? That's what got them in, or that's what a school got to learn about them. They want to learn something about you. So I would really sit down and brainstorm some ideas. What makes you YOU and how are you going to be comfortable enough on that one or two minute video talking about you?

Lisa (07:55)
There are a bunch of different versions of different interviews you can do. So here is what everybody actually wants to know, Josh. Does the interview matter?

Josh (08:05)
Yeah, and luckily we don't have to guess because one of our favorite nerdy admissions documents will tell us the answer.

Lisa (08:12)
True. The Common Data Set, y'all. And if you have listened to us for any length of time, you have heard us talk about this multiple times.

Josh (08:21)
Yes, we love the Common Data Set. More than two normal people probably should.

Lisa (08:25)
It's so useful, Josh. So yes, we do love it more than probably two people should.

Josh (08:32)
It is, and almost no families know that it exists, right? So colleges publish these and you can usually find one by searching the name of the college plus Common Data Set.

Lisa (08:43)
And then if you scroll down to Section C7, that is where it gets really helpful for this conversation that we're having today. Because that section, it lists the different things colleges look for in admissions. So grades, rigor, essays, recommendations, test scores, interviews, and the schools will tell you how each one matters to them. Is it very important? Considered or not considered?

Josh (09:08)
Right. And when you start looking at interview ratings, you'll notice something pretty quickly. So for the overwhelming majority of colleges, interviews will land in the considered or not considered categories. Not very important, not important, considered.

Lisa (09:21)
And considered is doing a lot of work there, y'all. It means yes, they may look at it, but it is nowhere near the weight of your transcript, your course rigor, your essays, and all of those pieces that actually tell a bigger story of who you are as a student.

Josh (09:39)
Right. And that usually leads to the next parent question. So if these interviews don't carry that much weight, why are colleges doing them?

Lisa (09:47)
That's fair. That's a fair question, Josh.

Josh (09:49)
Yeah. And so part of that is it gives the applicant a human connection to the college. And the other part, especially with alumni interviews, is that it keeps alumni involved with the institution. So graduates love their schools, they volunteer, they get to talk with prospective students. It helps keep them connected as well.

Lisa (10:05)
Right. And I love that. But that also means that sometimes the student is treating this 30-minute conversation like they're appearing before the Supreme Court, which I don't love.

Josh (10:16)
Right. And in the meantime, the interviewer is mostly just excited to tell them, you know, where they used to get pizza late at night on campus.

Lisa (10:23)
Exactly. So for a lot of colleges, the anxiety level is way higher than the actual stakes.

Josh (10:29)
Right. But we also don't want to go too far in the other direction and tell you the interviews never matter, because there are schools where the interviews do carry more weight.

Lisa (10:38)
And then there's something else families should really understand in this part. Even when an interview does not carry huge weight, a really bad interview can sometimes hurt you more than one amazing one helps you.

Josh (10:51)
Yeah, and that's a really important distinction. You know, so I used to do alumni interviews for my alma mater, Washington University in St. Louis. So when I moved here to Houston, I was actually, for a time, chair of the alumni interviewing committee here in the city.

Lisa (11:05)
What? Look at you. Look at you. Proud of you.

Josh (11:09)
Sometimes I'd get these questions from kids about how much weight did the interview carry. And I did tell them that we would write a report, but I told them that, well, the interview is really meant to help you. It's not meant to harm you. The only way that it could harm you is if you walked in there, slapped the interviewer in the face, and said, I'm only here because my mom forced me to come here. I was like, yeah, that probably hurt. So, an extreme example. And I'm not recommending that any student do that. So I just want to make sure that important distinction is there. But that is an example of how an interview can certainly hurt your application. Don't do that.

Lisa (11:41)
I could see that would be a big red flag.

Josh (11:44)
Just a tiny, tiny bit.

Josh (11:51)
But again, we really want to make those important distinctions because a phenomenal interview probably isn't taking a borderline application and suddenly turning it into an admit. But as I mentioned, if a student is rude, like that extreme example that I just pointed out, completely checked out, clearly knows nothing about the school or acts like they would rather be anywhere else, that's where those little tiny red flags that we talked about are sometimes a glaring, gigantic, Texas-sized red flag.

Lisa (12:17)
Correct. Which means the goal is not to walk in there thinking, I have to absolutely crush this. No. Be nice. Be interested. Be you. Have a conversation. That's it.

Josh (12:28)
Yeah, and since it is playoffs for baseball right now, so it's a good time for a good old baseball analogy. You're not trying to hit a home run. You're definitely trying not to throw your bat into the stands, however. So again, just try to get on base.

Lisa (12:42)
Yep, that's perfect, Josh. Just try to get on base. I think it's good if we talk about the places where interviews do matter more because there are some.

Josh (12:53)
Yeah, and we can start with one big example, Georgetown.

Lisa (12:55)
Georgetown, y'all. You know, Georgetown is always the standout in every way possible in this world we call college admissions. Because if you think about this, they're the only school in the top 10 that essentially requires an alumni interview for every first-year applicant. This is a real part of the process, y'all. They run it through their alumni admissions program with thousands of trained alumni volunteers across hundreds of regional committees around the world.

Josh (13:27)
Yeah, and the actual mechanics of how this works are important because families often assume that they need to go online and schedule something themselves. At Georgetown, you don't. So once your application is submitted, Georgetown assigns you to a local alumni interviewer and that person then reaches out to you.

Lisa (13:44)
So that means kiddos, check your email and the spam folder because it's usually where an alumni will use their personal email address. So sometimes it could go to spam. It may not show up from an official Georgetown.edu account with trumpets in the background and butterflies happening.

Josh (14:04)
You know, how does Georgetown do that? I'd like to have my emails make those kind of triumphal announcements. Anyway, we'll work on that offline. When they do reach out, students, please answer promptly. That's really important. Be polite, be flexible. We know that we have busy schedules, you guys are involved in all kinds of activities. Some of you may have after-school responsibilities, but try to be as flexible as possible because that interaction is part of the impression that you're making with the interviewer.

Lisa (14:32)
And if you don't get an interview because there isn't someone available where you live, that is not some secret message from Georgetown that they do not like your application. Just keep in mind that could happen and it does happen.

Josh (14:46)
And so then there's MIT, right? So MIT is one of the relatively few schools that actually marks the interview as important on the Common Data Sets that we mentioned earlier. So their alumni interviewers are called educational counselors, and they have a large network of them all around the world.

Lisa (15:02)
So if MIT offers you an interview, take the interview, y'all.

Josh (15:07)
Yes, please do. And MIT has talked publicly about applicants who complete interviews being admitted at higher rates than applicants who don't. But everybody needs to be careful with that statistic.

Lisa (15:18)
Right, because that does not mean doing this one interview will magically triple your chances.

Josh (15:23)
Exactly, Lisa. So there's a lot of self-selection there. Students who follow through with the interview also tend to be organized, engaged, responsive applicants. So don't interpret the correlation as the interview itself causing their admission.

Lisa (15:37)
Right. The takeaway is much simpler, y'all. If they give you a chance to interview, don't throw that opportunity away.

Josh (15:44)
Right. And so then you've got schools like Yale, Princeton, Duke, Rice, Tufts, Dartmouth, places where interviews may be optional or strongly encouraged. So our general advice is pretty simple. If a selective college offers you an interview and you can reasonably do it, say yes.

Lisa (16:01)
Right. You do not need to sit there trying to figure out, well technically they say it's optional. No, if you can do it, do it. Show up, be ready, and have a good conversation.

Josh (16:14)
Yeah, and because every college handles interviews differently, here is probably the easiest homework assignment we will ever give you. Go to the admissions website, type interview into the search bar.

Lisa (16:24)
Y'all, that will take five minutes. That page will tell you whether they will offer one, whether they don't, whether you need to request it, whether they assign it to you, and usually what kind of interview it truly is.

Josh (16:35)
Yeah. And Lisa, what if there's not an option to interview?

Lisa (16:39)
Great! That's one less thing that you have to worry about. So just cross that off your list and move on with your life.

Josh (16:45)
Yes, exactly. All right. Now we get to the part students actually care about. You've got the interview. How do you prepare without turning yourself into an overrehearsed nervous wreck?

Lisa (16:54)
And here's the thing that I think Josh and I want you to take from this episode to remember. This is just a conversation. It's not a test, especially with the alumni interview. Cause that is usually someone who loves their school and is probably hoping, like Josh said, just give them one more reason to brag about their college for 30 minutes. They are not trying to trick you.

Josh (17:17)
Well, exactly. And once students know the kinds of questions they're probably gonna hear, a lot of the anxiety that they're having about it usually disappears. So these are not gonna be wild questions.

Lisa (17:27)
Right, so you're probably gonna get some version of tell me about yourself or why are you interested in this school or what do you like to do outside of school? What class or project have you really enjoyed? What are you thinking about studying in college? Tell me about a challenge. Basic, normal questions. And they want to get to know about you. That's the whole thing.

Josh (17:49)
Exactly. And here's the good news. And I tell students this all the time that I work with when we're sitting down and they're asking me questions about, hey, how's the interview gonna go or what do I do here? You are the expert on you. There are no wrong answers, right? Just talk about yourself.

Lisa (18:03)
Hopefully you're the expert on you. I mean that's the goal, right?

Josh (18:07)
Exactly. That hopefully is the goal. You don't need to memorize answers word for word. What you do wanna have is to have thought about some of these things before someone asks you.

Lisa (18:18)
And that's truly the sweet spot. We tell kiddos all the time, have three or four real stories somewhere back in your brain that you can relate to or think about. Something that you've worked really hard on, a time you led, a time that you did something that didn't go the way you thought it was gonna go, and you had to figure out a way for it to get better. Something that you genuinely love doing. You are not memorizing a speech here, kiddo. You are just making sure your brain has visited multiple stories before the interview day.

Josh (18:50)
Yes. And the one question where you do need to do a little homework, that question is why our school?

Lisa (18:56)
And y'all, please do not say because it's a really good school.

Josh (19:00)
Yeah, because that's not new information for them.

Lisa (19:03)
No, they're aware of that. And truly, can we be honest for a second? What is a really good school? That can mean a lot of different things to a lot of different people.

Josh (19:12)
Exactly. And so we recommend that students find two or three things that are actually specific to that particular college. Maybe it's a program, a class, a professor who's doing some really cool or interesting research, a college tradition, some opportunity that fits how you like to learn. You don't need a 10-minute love letter. You just need to show that you know which school you're interviewing for.

Lisa (19:33)
And then here's the part that kiddos always forget. At some point, they are going to say, So, do you have any questions for me? And here's the secret. You have to have questions for them. You can't just say, No, right?

Josh (19:47)
Yeah, we recommend that you never say, No, I'm good.

Lisa (19:51)
No, please, please don't. And especially with an alumni, ask the question only they could answer. Think about it this way. What surprised you when you got there? Or what did you love most about said college? What do you wish you had known before freshman year? What do you miss about it now? Or here's my favorite. What type of student do you see NOT doing well if they come to this school? Those are the questions that are so much better than asking something that you could have Googled, like Josh said, in nine seconds.

Josh (20:22)
Yeah, exactly. And again, another piece of advice that I give to students with whom I work when they're talking about interview is listen, people love talking about themselves.

Lisa (20:30)
Mm-hmm.

Josh (20:31)
So have them talk about their own experiences. That's when the conversation usually gets much more natural and it's easy flowing, et cetera.

Lisa (20:39)
True. Okay, so we've given them questions. So let's talk about logistics. So if it's in person, get there early. Not like 45 minutes early. We don't want to make it look like you're lurking. Just 10 minutes. That's the perfect sweet spot.

Josh (20:51)
Yeah, and you know, I'm gonna be the old school, you know, dress appropriately, right?

Josh (20:56)
So you don't need to have a suit on or...

Lisa (20:59)
Yeah.

Josh (20:59)
You know, a formal dress or anything like that.

Lisa (21:01)
Right. Don't look like you just rolled out of bed, put on whatever was on your floor and went to the interview. But do not show up looking like you're running for Congress either. Again, find that sweet spot, like Josh said.

Josh (21:12)
Exactly. And maybe don't come straight from the gym. I know we like to multitask and get a lot of stuff done, but think neat, put together, meeting an adult for the first time.

Lisa (21:22)
Okay, so that's in person. Now, if it's virtual, here are some things. Test your camera. Test your audio. Look at your lighting. Is it decent lighting? Find somewhere quiet. And please figure out all of this before your interview starts.

Josh (21:35)
Yeah, and another big one, and admittedly, sometimes I struggle with this as well. Look at the camera. So not your own face on the screen, because sometimes you're like, what's going on there? So make sure you're looking actually at the camera. Silence your phone. Make sure that you have your notifications silenced there. Have some water nearby. You can sometimes get a dry throat. So these are basic things, but basic things become very important when you're already nervous.

Lisa (21:59)
And also you can have notes, maybe a few notes nearby that will help you calm yourself or make you feel settled. Just don't spend the interview staring down at your answers. It's very important.

Josh (22:10)
Yeah. And once the interview is over, send a short thank you email, two or three sentences, thanking them for their time, mention something you enjoyed talking about, and that's it.

Lisa (22:20)
Right. Easy peasy. Kind, gracious, be you. And parents, this part is for you. Did you like that? I even like got closer to the camera.

Josh (22:30)
Mm-hmm.

Lisa (22:31)
Your kiddo does this without you. Do not sit in on the interview. Do not answer one question that they have across the room if it's virtual and you can hear it. Do not email the interviewer afterwards on your child's behalf. This is a part where your child needs to do it all.

Josh (22:51)
Exactly, because remember the school wants to meet the student, not the parent.

Lisa (22:56)
And your kiddo is more than ready for that. Think about it this way. Honestly, nine out of ten times they have come out of these interviews saying, Woo, that actually was kind of nice. And it wasn't as stressful as I thought it was.

Josh (23:09)
Yeah, because they usually are. Okay, we're gonna transition into Hot Take or Hard Truth. Lisa, you wanna start?

Lisa (23:14)
Okay. Here we go. Families, you spend way too much energy stressing over college interviews compared to how much the colleges actually weigh them. I have watched kiddos lose sleep over a 30-minute coffee conversation at a college that literally marks the interview as considered, right? Meanwhile, there are essays sitting at home that actually matter and they still need work. So put the worry of the weight where it should be. Prepare for the interview? Absolutely. But please stop treating it like the entire application rides on whether you give the perfect answer about your favorite book. Because it doesn't.

Josh (23:58)
Yeah, that was good. And mine is pretty simple and practical. Stop trying to win the interview.

Lisa (24:04)
Mm.

Josh (24:04)
I think students walk into these sometimes thinking they have 30 minutes to somehow convince the person that they're brilliant, interesting, accomplished, funny, thoughtful, and the perfect fit for that college. That can be pretty exhausting. And generally speaking, when you try that hard to impress somebody, you usually stop sounding like yourself. You don't need the perfect story. You don't need some profound answer about what you would be doing 10 years from now. And you definitely don't need to work your resume into every sentence. If they ask you what you'd like to do on a Saturday and your answer is hanging out with your friends and watching football, then just say that.

Lisa (24:38)
Right. Exactly. Thank you. Just say it.

Josh (24:41)
Yeah, not every answer has to become, and that's when I founded a nonprofit.

Lisa (24:45)
Oh my gosh, Josh, yes, I wish we could say that a hundred more times. It doesn't, y'all.

Josh (24:49)
Yes. So students remember, be warm, be interested, listen when the other person is talking, ask a good question, say thank you. And if you stumble over an answer or need a few seconds to think, that's what normal human beings do in conversations. So the goal is not for the interviewer to walk away thinking, Wow, what a perfectly polished 17-year-old. The goal is for them to walk away thinking, I really enjoyed talking to that kid.

Lisa (25:15)
Right. That's it, y'all. That's the whole goal. Because listen, nobody needs a five-year plan carved into stone at seventeen.

Josh (25:25)
Yeah, spoiler alert, most adults don't have one of those.

Lisa (25:27)
Right. We don't. So be kind, be present, be interested, and most importantly, be you.

Josh (25:35)
Bingo.

Lisa (25:36)
Woo. Okay, Josh, man. All right. That was a lot. Okay, how about Drop the Mic? Josh, go first.

Josh (25:42)
Alrighty, so here's what I want students to remember from this episode. You are interviewing the colleges too. I think sometimes that gets completely lost because students are so focused on making sure that the college or university or the interviewer likes them. But this is one more chance for you to figure out whether you like them. So you have an actual human being sitting across from you who went to this college. So use that. Ask what they loved about it. Ask what surprised them about their experiences. Ask what they would change. Ask what kind of student really thrives at that particular school. Ask what they wish someone had told them when they were 17 and trying to make this exact same decision. Because you can learn things in that 30-minute conversation that you will never find on an admissions website. And if you walk away having learned something meaningful about the school, then the interview did its job, regardless of what eventually happens with your application.

Josh (26:28)
So yes, prepare, please prepare. Take it seriously, show up ready and on time. But don't spend 30 minutes wondering if they like you or not. Spend most of that time asking yourself, do I like what I'm hearing about them? That's a part of this process too.

Lisa (26:52)
Yes, kiddos, it goes both ways.

Josh (26:55)
Yeah, exactly. Prepare enough that you can relax and then go have the conversation.

Lisa (27:00)
Man, that's a hard act to follow, Josh. Okay.

Josh (27:03)
Well, thank you.

Lisa (27:04)
Here is what I want every family to take away from this episode. The interview, it's just a conversation. It's not an interrogation. Somebody who cares about the college is sitting down because they want to learn a little bit more about your kiddo. And hopefully your kiddo can learn something more about the school, just like Josh said.

Lisa (27:04)
So before you panic, do your homework. Go to the admissions website. Find out whether the school even offers interviews. Find out what kind. Check that Common Data Set and how much that college really does consider that interview or anything else in the process. And if you are going to interview at a school where it matters more? Great. Now you know what to do. Think about a few stories that you might need to tell. Know why you're interested in that particular school. Maybe read over your Why College essay if they had one. That's another way to kind of re-familiarize yourself with why you like the school in the first place. Have a good couple of questions ready. Show up on time, be gracious, and then go there not trying to perform. Because kiddos, they are not looking for a perfectly polished version of you. But let them meet who you are. They're there to see that. So let them.

Josh (28:21)
Bingo. Let them.

Lisa (28:22)
What them?

Josh (28:23)
Alrighty, Lisa. So next week on Drop In, we're gonna be talking about the mistakes and the myths. We'll break down some of the most common mistakes families make during the college application process and some of the myths that just refuse to go away.

Lisa (28:37)
This is gonna be a fun one, I think. So does one B on your transcript ruin your chances? Do you need to take every single AP that your high school offers? Does your kiddo need some giant impressive passion project that they started at age 12? Because families hear this stuff all the time, and then you start panicking over things you absolutely do not need to be panicked about.

Josh (29:00)
Yeah, and we're also gonna get into the little things no one really explains too. So what actually belongs in that Additional Information section? What counts as an honor when the Common App asks you to list honors? What are the mistakes that actually matter versus the things families spend way too much time worrying about?

Lisa (29:15)
Right. And then we're gonna talk about your student portal. Because this is one thing that gets families worked up. You apply to the school, you get your portal, you log in, and then something says missing in bright red letters. And then suddenly everybody is ready to email that high school counselor, Why have you not sent my transcript? Like it happens all the time, Josh. If we had a dollar for every time that happened, we would be extremely rich by now.

Josh (29:42)
Yeah. And my advice to students is maybe give it a minute.

Lisa (29:45)
Please give it a minute. We are going to explain when you actually need to do something. Because sometimes kiddos, if your high school counselor sent it, it could actually be there. But it might take up to two weeks to show on your portal.

Lisa (30:00)
Colleges, they're just processing documents. And then we're also gonna give you a time that you can officially stop refreshing your portal. So you don't have to be doing it every eleven seconds.

Josh (30:09)
Exactly. So next week, what actually matters, what doesn't, and what everyone can stop panicking about.

Lisa (30:15)
I cannot wait. So remember, we are Decision Drop, making your college counseling journey collaborative, simple, and most importantly, yours. And if you would like Josh and me in your corner helping your family through this process from building lists to applications to making sure your kiddo walks into that interview actually ready, head over to decisiondrop.com and check us out. And please remember to like and subscribe.

Josh (30:43)
Thanks for dropping in, y'all. We'll see ya next week.

Lisa (30:45)
Bye.

Lisa Clay

Episode 16: College Interviews: What to Expect and How to Prepare

Episode Description:

In this episode:

Top Questions Answered in this Episode

Do college interviews matter for admission?

What is the difference between an evaluative and informational college interview?

What questions are asked in a college interview?

How should a student prepare for a college interview?

What questions should students ask during a college interview?

What should you wear to a college interview?

Should parents participate in a college interview?

Chapters

Episode 16: College Interviews: What to Expect and How to Prepare

Episode Description:

In this episode:

Top Questions Answered in this Episode

Do college interviews matter for admission?

What is the difference between an evaluative and informational college interview?

What questions are asked in a college interview?

How should a student prepare for a college interview?

What questions should students ask during a college interview?

What should you wear to a college interview?

Should parents participate in a college interview?

Chapters

Episode 15: FAFSA, CSS Profile, and Financial Aid Explained