FAQ #4: During an interview, is there anything else I should deal with?

ANSWER: Yes, the interview is a perfect forum for you to deal with a variety of touchy or difficult issues such as having any kind of physical disability such as a hearing impairment or an illness such as diabetes, or a learning disability such as ADD, or a family problem such as a death or divorce, or an aberration on your school record such as a difficult freshman year, or a suspension from school.

Colleges want to know about the challenges you have faced. If you have experienced any kind of difficulty, this is part of you as a person and your history. Briefly talking with the interviewer about it will offer him or her a chance to understand what you have gone through, and ask questions about it. How you have handled a life or academic challenge is important information for colleges. They really want to know.

In as descriptive a way as you can, simply explain what the situation is, how it affected your academics or activities, what you have done to overcome it, and if it is on-going, how you intend to positively deal with it in college. Whatever the situation is, try to avoid going on and on about it, as if you are trying to elicit sympathy from the interviewer. If the challenge you bring up is a bad grade or two, or low SAT scores, or a disciplinary action at school, avoid making excuses, or blaming others, or anything that sounds like whining and moaning. This won’t help you at all, and defeats the reason for your bringing up the subject in the first place. You want to explain the situation sufficiently enough that the interviewer can accept it and move onto the more positive aspects of your academic record, interests, activities, and life.

FAQ #5: What if my interviewer is a real jerk?

ANSWER: Every once in a while, a student will have an interview with someone who is simply a jerk. This is more likely to happen with unpracticed alumni interviewers, but it can also happen with an admissions rep. In the long run, this is more of a problem for the college than it is for you. But should it happen to you, try not to get rattled. Smile, be polite, answer the interviewer’s questions, and be done with it. Remember, interviews themselves, rarely determine one’s admission result.
When you get abck to school, you might let your high school counselor know about what you experienced, giving specific examples of what was said and done that seemed inappropriate. He or she may be able to help.