Brentwood School student Adam had applied to college on his own, and Princeton was his number one choice – he applied Early Action. When Adam requested a Princeton interview, he was assigned a Wall Street Journal reporter as his interviewer!As you can imagine, this was quite intimidating, and he knew he needed help preparing for his Princeton interview. That’s when he called me.
I worked with Adam for almost 4 hours, practicing his interview skills and identifying and refining the points he wanted to discuss with his interviewer. Adam did great on his interview, but because Princeton is highly selective, he was deferred.
Based on the strength of Adam’s interview, his interviewer sent a second personal note to the Admissions office that resulted in Adam being admitted to Princeton. After receiving his acceptance letters from Princeton and 12 other colleges, Adam sent me his thanks:
“Evelyn – I wanted to share some great news with you. I was admitted to my first choice college, Princeton! As icing on the cake, I was also admitted to Columbia, Dartmouth, University of Pennsylvania, Cornell, Amherst, Swarthmore, Rice, UVA, Duke, UC Berkeley, UCLA, and UCSD. Thank you for all of your help throughout the college process. You thoroughly prepared me for my interviews, and I attribute my having successful interviews to your guidance…my Princeton interviewer informed me that he wrote a second letter to Princeton after he heard I was deferred.”
— Adam, Class of 2012
If you’re applying to colleges like Princeton that interview their applicants, you must be prepared. College interviews are a completely different skill than writing a great college essay, making your college list, or even being on the debate team.
At Magellan College Counseling, we prepare our students for every part of the college application process — even Princeton interviews. Are you or your child having a tough time applying to college? Contact us and let’s see how we can help.