On any other day, senior Jake Drutchas would have associated the city of Ann Arbor with only one other thing: the University of Michigan. But this time, it went along with something else: an alumni interview with Brown University.
For some Seaholm seniors, college dreams extend beyond Michigan’s borders, and along with applying to the out-of-state schools come the “recommended but not mandatory” college interviews.
Interviews can be held by a number of different people. For Drutchas, alumni conducted the interviews for both Brown and Harvard, but for senior Mack Howell, this was not the case.
“I applied to the Naval Academy, the Army Academy at West Point and the Coast Guard Academy,” Howell said. “And each of those had their own interview with a delegate from the area.”
The three schools required additional interviews on top of the initial three.
“In order to get into all of those, you have to have a Congressional nomination,” Howell said. “So I interviewed with Gary Peters, Carl Levin and Debbie Stabenow.”
Regardless of which school a student might be interviewing for, Drutchas said an applicant is likely to be asked a pretty standard set of questions.
“You have the basic questions like, ‘tell me about yourself,’ ‘why are you good for this school,’ ‘why is this school good for you,’ and ‘what drew you to this school,’” Drutchas said.
In an email to The Highlander Senior Assistant Director of Admissions at Dartmouth College Caroline S. Kerr said that certain topics like academic interests, extra-curricular pursuits, leadership experiences, personal strengths and plans for the future are all things that could come up in the discussion.
“It is, in part, evaluative, in that the alum will be trying to learn more about you, your academic and extracurricular interests, as well as who you are as a person,” Kerr said. “And they will share a summary of the conversation and their thoughts with us, which we will add to your application materials.”
Kerr said the other part of the interview is informative, where the applicant has the opportunity to ask their own questions about the college and the college experience.
According to Seaholm parent and Princeton University alum and interviewer Rick Spina, there is no “one thing” that guarantees an applicant’s acceptance.
“If there were, everyone would learn to say it,” Spina said.
However, Spina said that there are certain things that students should avoid.
“Things like, ‘I don’t know why I applied,’ or ‘my mom told me I’d like it,’ or ‘I am afraid to work too hard,’ are pretty bad,” Spina said.
Spina said that these are all things he has heard in interviews before,
“So is, ‘I only applied because I hear they have great parties,” Spina said.
Drutchas said that when attending interviews, he likes to walk in as prepared as possible.
“When I went into it, I knew the eight things I wanted to cover no matter how I got to them or how I could tie them together,” Drutchas said.
He advised students to think about what they wanted to say beforehand.
“Going into it, just brainstorm about who you are and what makes you unique,” Drutchas said.
Kerr also had advice for high school students looking to conduct a successful interview.
“Try to be as relaxed as possible,” Kerr said. “Think about it as a conversation and an opportunity to talk in greater detail about some things that appear on your application, as well as some things that might not have fit on your application.”
Spina recalled some of the more impactful instances that stood out to him in previous interviews.
“Usually it’s something they have done that’s impressive,” Spina said. “Might be a summer project, might be a scientific breakthrough, might be taking care of their little sister every day after school because their parents were sick.”
One of the =most memorable interviews was with a student who repeatedly tried out for his hockey team and was only met by failure.
“So [he] worked as team manager, but [the] coach let him wear skates and be on ice every day helping to run practices,” Spina said. “[It] made him decide he wanted to be a coach someday despite disappointment or embarrassment of not making [the] team.”
Spina emphasized the point that, for the most part, the interviewers are only there to help.
“Most times, the interviewers are on your side,” Spina said. “They usually like most candidates they see and cheerlead for you.”
