Anyone else on here go to the interview today?
I thought it was a very relaxed atmosphere. It was one of the first interviews in my life where I didn't have butterflies in my stomach. In addition, I feel like Kerry Mortenson from admissions did a good job of making the day less stressful. She came off as very approachable and down to earth.
The interview was not too bad. I enjoyed some aspects of being in a "group". It gave you a chance to build of other people's answers without "stealing" them. Almost a bit more conversational that interview-esque.
Overall, the day went by really smoothly.
How did you guys feel about it?
I went to the interview on Sept 28th as well. I totally agree with the above comments. Kerry, the dean, and the campus tour guide had some good advice and information, and were definitely laid back, which made the experience less stressful, even though during my interview I was a bit nervous, but that's how I am at any type of interview.
Since we were the first batch of interviewees, there were only 24 of us. But they said each successive batch will be around 40. I felt at home since there were a lot of California residents. Due to there being 24, they broke us up into 4 groups of 6. Groups 1 and 2 did the interviews at 9:30 AM and came back at 10:30 AM to do the writing sample (the essay was very practical and answerable), while Groups 3 and 4 did the writing sample first and then the interviews next.
It was the first group style interview for me, but like PharmyC said, it wasn't bad at all. The 2 interviewers spent time introducing themselves, then asked us general questions (in my case, they were the exact questions I had studied for, so I was relieved), and then let us ask them questions. The group style interview definitely takes some stress off you because you get time to collect your thoughts while someone is answering before you, as well as have time to prepare for the next question while others are answering the current question after you.
I didn't really build too much off of the other interviewees' answers since I come from a very different academic and experiential background than all the people in my group.
After all groups had interviewed, there was a presentation about financial aid and then some final admission comments from Kerry, who was very approachable if you had extra questions. Then we had a campus tour. Despite the light rain that day, it was nice to see the beautiful campus and inside the high tech buildings. Then we had lunch, which was said to be optional but apparently you had to attend in order to "sign out". I couldn't stay with the other interviewees to eat lunch because I had a flight to Midwestern Glendale to catch at O'Hare (security lines are notoriously bad there).
For those having interviews later in the cycle, I wish you good luck and hope you have as wonderful an experience as I had!
😎