If you are going on any college visits this spring, you might want to schedule interviews with admissions counselors. One of the most common questions we receive from high school seniors is how to prepare for a college admissions interview. In counseling hundreds of young people, we have found that you should prepare to talk about the following five areas during your interview.

• Be prepared with a written list of questions that you would like to have answered. You may want to ask about the college’s population, the faculty, the graduates, graduates’ career placement, strengths of majors, future improvement plans, the interviewer’s workplace experience, etc.

• Be prepared to discuss why you are considering the college and request validation or confirmation of your perceptions.

• Be prepared to discuss your future career and scholastic aspirations, even after you receive your undergraduate degree. A common question is, “Where do you see yourself five (or ten) years from now?”

• Be prepared to discuss the experiences that you feel have shaped you and your passions to this point in your life and specifically how they have impacted you. You might be asked to describe a time when you faced and overcame a fear, for example.

• Be prepared to discuss (in detail) why YOU will be an asset to the college community and what you hope to accomplish while attending there.

It is extremely important to ensure that each of these areas are discussed at length. Even if the interviewer does not raise these subject, you should volunteer your thoughts on each.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 22nd, 2011 and is filed under Admissions.