VIDEO
Hi.
It’s Dr. Bernstein, the founder and director of Get Yourself Into College, and in this
video I’m going to give you an example of how you can gracefully and effectively answer
one of the worst questions that’s often asked at the very beginning of alumni interviews.
It’s a really simple question.
In fact, it’s not even really a question.
It’s the old “So tell me about yourself” opener that often gets things off to a wobbly,
anxiety-ridden start, especially because your all of a sudden forced to narrow things down
and can’t think straight because you’re stressed and nervous.
For now, though, I just want to give a little “before and after” makeover of a student
who decided she wanted to talk about her desire to attend a college that has small class sizes.
Obviously, you might have a very different part of yourself that you want to share, but
if you listen to her anecdote, you can get some good ideas for how you might go about
developing your own.
So, let me give you the before scene:
The interviewers says, “Hi.
It’s nice to meet you.
I’m a 1999 alum of x college.
So to get things started why don’t you tell me a little bit about yourself?”
The student was originally just going to say, “Well, I’m really interested in x school
because it’s known for small, intimate classes, and I tend to be a bit reserved, so this kind
of environment is good for me.”
The problem with this answer is that the student doesn’t set up enough context or reveal
enough about herself.
It could inspire the interviewer to offer up a follow-up question like, “Why do you
do better in smaller classes?,” so her answer could spark more of a discussion, which I
always think is a good thing.
It’s always nice when you can away from the grilling of an interview and transform
into a genuine conversation.
However, the student should really be able to offer up more specific and vivid descriptions
that help the interviewer understand her better.
So here’s the made-over version of her response:
I go to a school where many of the students are very vocal and outgoing, and it used to
make me think there was something wrong with me because I’m quieter and more introverted.
I really started to see this part of myself as flawed, but then I happened to hear Susan
Cain’s TED Talk about her book Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World that Can’t
Stop Talking, and she really helped me see that I can make valuable contributions in
my own way.
I’ll probably never be the person who jumps first into big class discussions, but I like
sharing my ideas in our small-group discussions and with my teachers during one-on-one meetings.
I know that college is going to challenge me in some ways, but one of the reasons I’m
so attracted to X school is because I know there are a lot of smaller classes and one-on-one
mentoring that’s really suited to me and my style of learning.
Once I’m in what Cain calls my “zone of stimulation” that’s right for me, I become
much more outgoing.
When I came for my on-campus visit, I sat in on a philosophy class.
I’m planning on majoring in biology because I want to get into scientific research, but
I really liked how the professor gave the students time to work in small groups to discuss
specific passages and then had the class as whole talk about their findings.
I’d thrive in this kind of situation.
It was really exciting.
What did you really like about the small classes at x?
Now that’s an impressive response.
Want to get into my mind—the mind of a college English professor who’s served on an admissions
committee—to learn how to narrow down your answer, understand what makes this response
so powerfully effective, and use similar strategies to create your own anecdotes?
Then, head on over to the blog on my website: www.jenniferbbernstein.com, and
make sure to sign up to get access to two free sessions from within my online program.
That’s it for now. . .see you soon!