As students go through the often nerve-wracking experience of applying to college, they occasionally overlook the admissions interview. These interviews can sometimes be the tipping point between an acceptance or a rejection, so it is important to put your best foot forward.
Since admissions interviews are generally 30 minutes or less, students do not have a lot of time to convey who they are or why they are a great choice for that school. Here are five traits to prioritize so you can stand out during admissions interviews.
1. Confidence: Your admissions portfolio should highlight your strengths, but you should also confidently discuss them during your interview. Remember that being too humble can actually be a disadvantage.
If you are strong in a particular academic subject, consider discussing the enjoyable challenge of tackling increasingly difficult schoolwork. If your strengths lie in an extracurricular activity like athletics or the arts, highlight how your training has helped to set you apart, as well as how you hope to apply that training to your college classes.
For instance, a student who enjoyed his time on a soccer team may discuss how that involvement contributed to his people skills and will help him add to meaningful group discussions in English or history classes.
2. Passion: You can show passion for the school itself, for a potential major within the school, or both. What is most important is that you convey your enthusiasm for a specific aspect of the college. One simple technique for demonstrating passion is to draw a parallel between a favorite pastime and how you will continue to pursue it while on campus. Is there a club or organization that you can join? How will your passion enrich your potential college’s campus?
For example, a student with interests in creative writing and journalism might choose to highlight his or her passion for words by inquiring about the prospective school’s student newspaper. Researching its name, publishing schedule and recent article topics can serve to reinforce the student’s desire to attend this specific college.
[Find out how to ace alumni interviews.]
3. Work ethic: No school wishes to admit students who clearly do not enjoy hard work, so make it a point to communicate to your interviewer just how strong your work ethic is. For instance, you can mention either your most challenging class, or the most demanding task that you have had to complete as an athlete, artist, debater or student government representative.
Walk your interviewer through the steps you took to successfully address this task. If you did not achieve complete success in your endeavor, discuss how hard you worked, without giving up, to achieve whatever success you did have.
4. Initiative: Colleges wish to admit self-starters — students who can do more than simply memorize and reproduce information, and who will instead show initiative by taking a leadership role in classes ; campus issues , perhaps through student government or volunteer opportunities ; and extracurriculars.
If you have any high school leadership experience, discuss that in your interview. Talk not only about the organization that you led, but also about the actions that you took to leave that group stronger than when you joined it.
[Avoid making these common college admissions interview mistakes.]
5. Intellectual curiosity: Another attribute of a self-starter is intellectual curiosity. Make sure you mention any summer courses you may have taken, especially those in subject areas that are not generally offered at your high school, and discuss any independent projects you undertook that led you far afield from what the rest of your class was studying. College is a time to explore and indulge your intellectual curiosity, so demonstrate to your interviewer that you have a healthy dose of it.
Although admissions interviews can be stressful, the most important thing to remember is that interviewers will likely only remember several key items about each interviewee. Given the brief amount of time allotted to most interviews, it is important to use this opportunity wisely, and to prepare your key points in advance.
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Show These 5 Traits During College Admissions Interviews originally appeared on usnews.com
