My First College Interview
 

tomorrow i am doing an overnight stay and an interview with Harvey Mudd College, this is among my first choices. i'm going to be lead around by a student there and go to classes with them, not sure if they are gonna report anything about me but i will assume they will to be safe. any suggestions about how i should approach this kind of math/science school to most improve my shot at being admited? any help would be appreciated since this could really help me.

things to take into consideration about me
-i go to a private highschool in LA
-im taking 2 math and 2 science course
-one each of the math and science courses are college level
-i wont be taking calculus during HS(long story) so i will be taking it over the summer since they require it
-i spent last summer at a summer college program at stanford and the year before that worked in a lab for a month
-i am a successful 2/4nl player, don't know if this is something to bring up

thanks for any help

p.s. i plan to major in engineering, 40% of people there major in it

Re: My First College Interview
 

There are better engineering colleges.

Also, only 29% of the population is female.

Re: My First College Interview
 

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There are better engineering colleges.

Also, only 29% of the population is female.

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for the first part: yeah, but i know i cannot get into stanford/berkeley engineering, and i really like the way their curriculum works
and second part: but it is less than 100ft away from scripps, an all girls school

Re: My First College Interview
 

I would consider how much money Mudd allocates towards their labs/research.

I would also recommend looking at senior design projects to see what you'll be doing senior year, and how it will help you in industry.

Re: My First College Interview
 

Only 25% of women attending scripps are actually women.

Re: My First College Interview
 

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I would consider how much money Mudd allocates towards their labs/research.

I would also recommend looking at senior design projects to see what you'll be doing senior year, and how it will help you in industry.

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the way it works is they have a "clinic" program, where companies like microsoft, boeing, etc. pay harvey mudd some amount to have students solve problems they have

Re: My First College Interview
 

I just scanned their site. It seems that you receive a general engineering degree, not a speciality in mechanical/chemical/civil/aerospace?

I also saw their "design projects" or clinic as they call it. From what I could gather, they don't compete against other colleges, which is lame.

Re: My First College Interview
 

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I just scanned their site. It seems that you receive a general engineering degree, not a speciality in mechanical/chemical/civil/aerospace?

I also saw their "design projects" or clinic as they call it. From what I could gather, they don't compete against other colleges, which is lame.

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the way their engineering degree works is to prepare for real world and let you work in any field of engineering, also 40-50% of graduating class goes directly to PhD anyway

Re: My First College Interview
 

also, the intention of this thread isn't to ask whether or not i should apply, i already know my college list which i can post if necessary. i'll worry about where i go when i know where i've been accepted, the intent of this is to more know what i should do to make this interview and future ones go as well as possible

Re: My First College Interview
 

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the way their engineering degree works is to prepare for real world and let you work in any field of engineering, also 40-50% of graduating class goes directly to PhD anyway

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What percentage of students participate in co-ops, which allow you to receive experience in industry?

I'm providing you with good questions to ask the university that others won't.

Re: My First College Interview
 

Well, I wouldn't worry about the class/overnight thing. I doubt they have students analyze every student who comes to stay the night.

As for the interview, try to have a personality and provide honest,sincere repsonses to the questions. Don't provide answers that you think they want to hear.

Re: My First College Interview
 

alright, but one thing im really wondering about is if saying im a successful poker player is a good thing or bad thing, and if so should i say how much i've won if not asked. obviously this somewhat depends on how i feel the interviewer will react, but wondering if this is a good/bad thing in general.

pretty much every school im applying to that isn't a UC is pretty much math/science or engineering specific so i can assume the people interviewing will at least somewhat get the mathematical aspect

Re: My First College Interview
 

It depends on the questions you are asked.

I wouldn't force it out, and I definitely wouldn't tell them how much you make/lose.

Re: My First College Interview
 

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It depends on the questions you are asked.

I wouldn't force it out, and I definitely wouldn't tell them how much you make/lose.

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okay, but mainly the question im worried about is extracurricular activity. i do stuff outside of school that i can talk about but poker has taken up a bit of time that is hard to otherwise explain, so not sure if this is something to bring up. if i do bring it up i dont want it to sound like im a degen, but dont want to sound like im bragging about money, so im not sure how far i should go with it etc.

Re: My First College Interview
 

Well, If you're still in high school, that means you've been playing while you're under 18, which is illegal.

I'm not so sure how admitting to illegal activity would go over in an interview.

Re: My First College Interview
 

yeah, thats my concern, but on the other hand i can potentially spin it to show that i am responsible with money, have a real world math skill, can deal with stress, etc. not sure if this outweighs potential bad

Re: My First College Interview
 

well, that's something you're going to have to decide for yourself, but I would imagine it's not going to go over well.

Surely, you've done some community service, club, sport that you could talk about. Even if it's not a big part of your life, you can make it sound like it is.

Basically, they're going to sit you down, and then tell you to tell them about yourself. Then they'll ask you some questions that force you to analyze a situation and tell how you'd handle it. That's pretty much how all interviews go.

Re: My First College Interview
 

alright, ill think about that, thanks for all the help, hopefully i'll get into a few schools i want to go to so i can have to problem of choosing one [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

Re: My First College Interview
 

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alright, but one thing im really wondering about is if saying im a successful poker player is a good thing or bad thing, and if so should i say how much i've won if not asked. obviously this somewhat depends on how i feel the interviewer will react, but wondering if this is a good/bad thing in general.

pretty much every school im applying to that isn't a UC is pretty much math/science or engineering specific so i can assume the people interviewing will at least somewhat get the mathematical aspect

[/ QUOTE ]

dont talk about poker. srsly.

Re: My First College Interview
 

don't mention poker imo.

these interviews aren't going to have nearly as much of an effect on whether or not you get in as you think you would. all the interviews i did were basically some administrative person sucking your nuts to convince you to goto their school. granted, these were schools i was well qualified for, but the point of a lot of these are for them to brag about their school. colleges need you to apply/attend their university.

try not to come across as a weirdo/cocky/arrogant and you should do fine

Re: My First College Interview
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
alright, but one thing im really wondering about is if saying im a successful poker player is a good thing or bad thing, and if so should i say how much i've won if not asked. obviously this somewhat depends on how i feel the interviewer will react, but wondering if this is a good/bad thing in general.

pretty much every school im applying to that isn't a UC is pretty much math/science or engineering specific so i can assume the people interviewing will at least somewhat get the mathematical aspect

[/ QUOTE ]

dont talk about poker. srsly.

[/ QUOTE ]

Re: My First College Interview
 

im back, i didnt talk about poker, but i read in their summer magazine thing an article about joe pelton, the guy who won WPT legends of poker a few years ago, gradutated there

Re: My First College Interview
 

You mention spinning a response about playing poker. What is most impostant in an interview is to let the admisisions people see you as a person who will mesh with their college community.

The interview should reveal your interests, your values, and your passion. I'm not sure what kind of poker activity you are involved. It could be playing poker after school with your grandfather. What is important is that if you talk about poker you do so to reveal something about you.

If you are enrolling as a math major, you might talk about how you love the game of poker and then explain how you determine the probability of a winning hand. If they ask you a question about how mature you are, then you might say that you have handled money responsibily--not necessarily saying how you made that money, and then give examples of how you have invested or budgeted that money.

You can give the appropriate emphasis to talking about poker in your interview; afterall, it's not about your playing poker but what poker reveals about you.

Re: My First College Interview
 

yeah, i elected not to just because the interviewer was a senior, so probably 22y/o black woman who i just didnt get the sense would see past the degen aspect. i can explain all that but my worry is that in an interview as in many other conversations, people think, "wait, you play poker, my uncle/brother/cousin lost all his money in poker, how can you take money from people?" or those kinds of things and just tune out anything else. also the fact that it is illegal for me to be playing poker. i really dont know how it would look on the extracurricular list. i've been playing seriously since the beginning of last summer and have moved up quite a bit, im just not sure if "i play only poker ilegally" is gonna be the first thing that comes to mind though