You Got the Interview Invite. Now What?
An email lands in your inbox: "We'd like to schedule your alumni interview." Your stomach drops a little, even though this should feel exciting. Most seniors have never sat across from an adult stranger and been asked to explain themselves in twenty minutes. That's normal. Colleges use interviews to learn who you are beyond your transcript, not to trip you up. Treat it like a conversation you're genuinely curious to have, and the nerves start working for you instead of against you.
Know What Kind of Interview You're Walking Into
Two questions determine how you should prepare: does this interview affect your admission decision, and who's conducting it? Answer both before you do anything else.
Evaluative interviews feed directly into your application file. The interviewer writes a report that admissions officers read alongside your essays and grades. Informational interviews exist purely to answer your questions and give you a feel for the school; they carry no weight in the decision. Schools should tell you which type you're getting when they schedule it, but if they don't, ask directly. It's a fair question.
Who runs the interview matters too:
- Alumni interviews happen off-campus (or over video) with a graduate volunteering their time. Usually more relaxed in tone, but can still be evaluative.
- On-campus interviews with admissions staff are more common at smaller colleges and sometimes carry more weight, since that interviewer may sit in the room during committee decisions.
Interview policies vary enormously between schools: some require them, some offer them only if you request one, and many don't interview at all. Colleges weigh interviews differently within a broader, holistic review process, so check each school's admissions page rather than assuming (NACAC). If you're juggling this alongside test deadlines and essay drafts, our senior-year timeline can help you see where interview scheduling fits into the rest of your fall.
What Interviewers Actually Ask (and Why)
Most college interviews circle around five kinds of questions, and each one tests a different skill, not your resume.
- "Tell me about yourself." Not an invitation to recite your activities list. The interviewer wants to see what you choose to lead with.
- "Why are you interested in this school?" The fit question. Vague answers ("great academics, beautiful campus") signal you haven't done real research.
- "What do you do outside of class?" They're checking whether your application matches the person in front of them.
- "Tell me about a time something didn't go well." This measures self-awareness and how you talk about setbacks, not whether you've ever failed at anything.
- "What questions do you have for me?" Always coming. Never skip preparing for it.
None of these have a single correct answer. What interviewers remember is whether you sounded like yourself and could talk specifically instead of generically. BigFuture's interview guidance echoes this: interviewers are gauging communication and genuine interest, not testing trivia about the school (College Board BigFuture).
Turning "Why Us" Into a Real Answer (and Questions Worth Asking Back)
A strong "why this school" answer names two or three specifics you can't find at just any college and ties them to something you'd actually do there. Generic praise reads as copy-paste, even when it's sincere.
Before your interview, pull up the department page for your intended major and find one course, one professor's research, or one specific program you couldn't get anywhere else. Then connect it to your own story: "I want to study coastal ecology, and Professor X's fieldwork program is the reason I applied here" lands far better than "I love the campus vibe."
The questions you ask back matter just as much as your answers. Skip anything answerable by a five-minute search, ranking, dining hall menu, or class size. Ask instead:
- "What surprised you most about this school after you arrived, and does it still hold true?"
- "How do students in [your intended major] usually find research or internship opportunities?"
- "What's something you wish you'd known before your first sem
Sources
- National Association for College Admission Counseling · NACAC
- BigFuture College Planning · College Board BigFuture
