Sage advice on college-entrance interviews
Print Edition
I run my fingers through my hair for the I-don’t-know-how-many-th time, crossing and uncrossing my legs as I stumble on such a simple question: “When did Stalin come to power?”
The various dates emerged in my mind, each fighting to be announced to the professors sitting across from me. I remember the year of the Moncada Barracks attack, the Russo-Japanese war, the signing of the Treaty of Shimonoseki, of Lenin’s death, of Hitler’s rise to power … regretfully, none corresponded to Stalin.
As the silence dragged on in the room, I finally summed up the courage to respond abruptly yet truthfully.
“Um …I don’t know.”
I felt miserable, defeated. I was convinced that no admissions office would admit me, let alone Cambridge. I imagined the rejection email sitting in my inbox and my heart sank.
But the reality was I got accepted. After the traditional teary breakdown, I curled up on my chair and contemplated what it was after all that captured the attention of the admissions office.
As soon-to-be high school graduates, we are going through one of the most important, excruciating, defining phases of our lives. The next years of our lives are held in the hands of the admissions office. We write and rewrite, draft and redraft our application essays, aiming for perfection; we sacrifice time spent with friends and family to go through mock interviews; any spare time that remains is devoted to maintaining our grades in school, resulting in a constant lack of sleep. So much time and energy is put into capturing the attention of the admissions office that we forget one crucial fact: We are merely high school students.
It is all right for us to make mistakes. It is acceptable for us to have gaps in our knowledge, but the danger lies in portraying yourself as a know-it-all. Especially in an interview, seek help and use it wisely. Interviewers are human too; they don’t expect you to know everything regarding your intended major.
Make mistakes, seek help and reorganize your thoughts. What’s worse than an applicant who has limited knowledge is an applicant who does not respond well to guidance. At the end of the day, you are applying to be taught, not to be a professor.
Accept the fact that you are imperfect with all your faults, but with all your areas of strength, too; only then will you be able to stride into an interview without that fear of making mistakes and so do yourself justice.
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