Hey there.
It’s Dr. Bernstein, the president and founder of Get Yourself Into College, and today I’m
taking you behind the scenes—right into actual Yale alumni interviewer reports in
order to make it easier for you to effectively prepare for your interviews with alum from
almost any college.
So stay tuned.
Okay, so I want us to look at two alumni interviewer reports—one on a student named Hans and
one on a student named Theresa—because the insights in these reports will help you learn
how to avoid earning two very common but very negative evaluations.
Yale tells us that the report on Hans “offers the kind of insight that helps the admissions
committee distinguish among candidates with similar academic credentials but different
levels of maturity.”
It’s SO important to understand that there are going to be thousands of applicants who
are technically speaking quite similar to you—in terms of the rigorousness of their
classes, their academic performance, their standardized test scores, and even extracurricular
activities.
If you want to get from say the 30% of the students who are in the “range” for the
school into the 10% and under of the accepted students, you need to demonstrate what Yale
refers to as “maturity.”
So. . .let’s look at how Hans didn’t demonstrate his maturity.
Hans’ interviewer reports that “the biggest challenge” in the interview was getting
“Hans to elaborate on his thinking” because he “sees no need to explain”—it seems
that “everything is quickly clear in his own mind.”
The interviewer concludes that Hans will eventually “develop the ability to elaborate and give
more complete explanations, but he’s not there yet.”
OUCH.
Yale’s alumni interviews are evaluative.
An observation like this one is going to hurt Hans.
Now let’s take a quick look at Theresa’s report.
Yale points out that Theresa’s report is an example of a “common assessment for a
large number of our applicants who are perfectly admissible, but are unlikely to stand out
in the pool.”
The interviewer notes the following: “I asked
her why she wanted to be a doctor, and I first got her `funny’ answer: `I’m good at science,
and I’m Asian, after all.
. .’ I then got the real answer: she enjoys science and math as disciplines and her mother
was a nurse in their former country, and she has a very positive view of helping people
for a profession.”
This is another one that’s going to hurt.
Of course, basically everyone who wants to become a doctor wants to help other people.
They also tend to enjoy science.
That’s a good foundation.
But you really need to be able to provide alumni interviewers and admissions committees
with vivid, specific anecdotes that help them understand why you are interested in science
and medicine.
To stand out, Theresa would have needed to do things like talk about specific forms of
medicine or particular illnesses that fascinate her.
She would have needed to shed more light on what it means to help others.
Of course, what would really make her stand out is for her to have described how she has
taken action on her interests by working on independent research projects and through
volunteering.
I want you to head over to my blog—you can just Google “Get Yourself Into College”
and “Yale alumni interviewer reports”—to get much more detailed insights and tips on
Yale alumni interviews—I talk about the “Why us?”
question and share what alumni interviewers say in their reports and provide more extended
commentary on them.
But before I let you go, I want to circle back to the issue of being intellectually
mature because it’s something that really matters in the college admissions process.
In this context, an intellectually mature student is someone who has the ability to
reflect on his or her interests, experiences, and goals and can express these reflections
in conversation and in writing.
That’s exactly what Hans’ and Theresa’s interviewers were hungering for—the interviewer
wanted to understand how Hans thinks—the interviewer wanted to know why Theresa was
interested in medicine.
But Hans can’t yet seem to explain, and Theresa only offers a superficial response.
Don’t let all your hard work in high school go to waste!
Give yourself time to learn how to create anecdotes that help alumni interviewers and
admissions committees understand what matters to you and why!
If you need help learning this art, head over to my website and schedule a consultation
with me!
And don’t forget to go check out my full article on Yale alumni interviewer reports!
So that’s it for now.
Take care.
Bye!