Attitude during Interview

Be yourself. If you're acting, they'll know.

 

Don't play hard to get -- put out.
Frequent comments about interviewees seem to be that they are (1) too arrogant -- and act like they have an air of entitlement, and (2) too retiscent -- and that interviewing them is like pulling teeth. You get one chance to sell yourself to the school. So be confident and excited. But don't expect the school to sell itself to you -- there are like 8,000 of you for each slot they have. And don't kiss ass, or be an ass, or anything with ass in the sentence. Be a confident, excited, well thought out, mature version of yourself. Good luck.

 

Aye. Don't hesitate to sell yourself but don't be arrogant.

Tell them about the good things about you, but don't act like it makes you the greatest ever...that is for them to decide.

Act like yourself, be friendly. Have some substance.


PS. I don't think it helps much in "other interviews" you are talking about to be fakely brownnosing and fakely excited. If you are actually excited, then it works.

 

Agree with this. If the OP did well acting like this in job interviews, it was likely despite his antics, not because of them, that he got the job.

 

a med student once told me that one of her fellow interviewees commented initially to her interviewer that the class or lecture she attended before the interview was "one of the most amazing experiences" that she's had. The interviewer proceeded to blast the poor girl about how what other "amazing experiences" she had in her life. needless to say, the girl came out of the interview crying.

moral: be yourself, trying to be too confident or too enthusiastic can backfire if the attempts aren't perceived as genuine.

 

It's not a bad idea for folks to practice their interviews with friends and family or ideally on video and get constructive feedback. If you are coming off cocky or obsequeous, it's a good idea to find that out early.

 

Interest
Don't expect the interviewer to sell the school to you (it can happen but don't expect it). You should go in knowing something about the school and be able to ask an informed question about the school. (You applied -- there should be some good reasons why you thought it was worth the application fee and the time it takes to do the secondary).

Arrogance
Don't go in with the sense that the admission is a slam dunk because this is your safety or because you've already been admitted to a higher ranked school or because your stats are well above the average for the school.

 

Yeah . . . don't try to "be" any particular way. Just talk to the interviewer, answer the questions, ask your questions, etc like you were having a conversation with a normal person. That always worked well for me.

My interviews were always just friendly, low-key conversations.

 

Word.

 

I agree. Even better if you can get interview practice at a campus Career Services group or something. The problem with friends and family is that they're rarely honest.

I like the watching yourself on video, anyway. You'd have to be completely arrogant to not shudder at seeing how you come off in interview mode.

 

Nice word.