Interviews

All of a sudden, I've been contacted by colleges about interviews. Naturally, I agreed to do them, because to refuse would not look very good. During the last few days, I have tried to think about what I might say and practice answering questions. I don't mean to say that I was particularly nervous, but I wanted to make sure things went smoothly.

My first interview was for the University of Chicago. I was supposed to meet a young Asian man with dark-rimmed glasses at a Peet's Coffee in Brookline. It was crowded inside, and I didn't want to just stand there amid all of those people. So I waited outside in the cold for a few minutes until a man who fit the description appeared and made eye-contact with me. We introduced ourselves, decided that Peet's was too crowded, so was a nearby Starbucks, and we ended up in a Finagle-A-Bagel. After he got a drink, we sat down and the interview began. It turned out to be a lot more like a conversation than a traditional interview. We discussed the University of Chicago, why we liked it, he told me some things about it and I said some things about myself. He kept appologizing for rambling too much--I think he was more nervous than I was. In the end he said it was his first interview.

Close to the end, he asked me about my application essay. I had done the one about zooming into something--like the Powers of Ten movie. I told him that I wrote about the Mandelbrot Set, about zooming into its intricate details, and more figuratively about how zooming out is like seeing how the complex design comes from the simple rule, how sometimes we are faced with the complex design and have to figure out the simple rule, and philosophical things like that. He seemed interested, but indicated that he did not know what the Mandelbrot Set was. So I ended up telling him about the Mandelbrot Set and advising him to try a zooming program on the Internet. In all, the interview turned out to be relaxing and fun.

But tomorrow is Harvard. That is something to be more nervous about.

Incidentally, I thought I ought to add this amusing story: I received an e-mail from Columbia that said:

ARC Members,
Over the next few days you should see interview requests appearing in your inboxes. As you know, the website and system have changed this year, and I am hopeful that there will be a minimum number of glitches. A few notes...

I then received an e-mail that said the following:

If you received an email from me an hour ago addressed to ARC Members, don't worry. It was just the result of a system glitch or, more likely, user error. The email was intended for alumni, not for high school students. You don't need to do anything.

Amusing, isn't it?

-Philip