MIT Interview: What should I expect in an MIT undergrad admisions interview, and how should I prepare for it?

Source: I'm an MIT alum that does incoming student interviews (Anonymous because I have some interviews coming up this season) The purpose of an MIT interview is to give the applicant a way to shine through in person in ways that might not be evident in a written application. This is what they tell you, and it's completely accurate. The biggest thing I look for in an interview is passion -- some of the most interesting, best people I met at MIT were people that were passionate about things that I never even knew existed. I sound nerdy myself here, I love people that can't contain themselves about how cool some new theorem they have been thinking about or some new group they just joined or started. Tell me, or better yet, show me, what really drives you. In one of my favorite interviews, the candidate started excitedly explaining a math concept, and mid-sentence, pulled out a piece of crumpled paper from his back pocket that he had been playing around with ideas on, and proceeded to draw out the concept he was describing. I really got the impression that it was something he was so excited about that he couldn't wait to share it with someone else. That was cool. I might ask you what your favorite class is. Regardless of what you say, I'll probably ask you what you like about it. Perhaps I'll ask you to explain it to me as if I had never heard of that particular subject. I'm not trying to put you on the spot, but rather, I'd love to see how you view your favorite subject, what makes it so interesting, and how your brain looks at it. I had one person tell me their favorite subject was calculus, and then explain that it was "the easiest" -- that's good, and I'm happy you do well in it, but what I'm really curious about is what makes you tick. In the end, passion is hard to convey in a written application, but can come through fairly well in an interview. What your passionate about is less important than the passion itself -- show me the great things you've discovered about your favorite topic -- whether its rap music or biology -- and that's what will excite me about you.

Standard disclaimer: I also have no special knowledge of the MIT admissions process other than having been on the user-end of it; further, my MIT interview was literally 20 years ago so things may have changed ... but basically my experience was the same as 's. The MIT interview is not something to worry about.  It is an institution that predates quiz show style interviewing at places like Google and Amazon that have become common in the software industry and is definitely not this kind of interview. My interview had no technical component at all as far as I remember. In my opinion, the purpose of this interview is to attempt to distinguish who among the qualified candidates applying to MIT really cares and is passionate about engineering for engineering's sake and who is more of standard issue gets-good-grades-for-the-sake-of-the-grades-and-societal-approval type achiever. In other words, in my opinion you should talk a lot about independent engineering projects that you work on because you like to, because they are your passion, because they are fun.

My husband and I have been alumni interviewers for about fifteen years now, and I would say the same things as others have said. It is not a test (remember, you probably know more in your field than I do, since the likelihood is that you're not going to major in what I did).  You don't need to show off your knowledge or your accomplishments -- those are already on your application.  And frankly, everyone else applying *also* has super knowledge and accomplishments of their own.  (Yes, sometimes people who are really shy do well to bring a short resume, nothing slick or fancy, just a way to put some conversation topics on paper.  But most people don't and most of the time when they do, I don't find them all that necessary.) The interview is an opportunity for us to get to know you as a human being rather than as a pile of paper, and then for us to show MIT what we learned about you that they might otherwise not know. It's a chance for you to be *real* -- don't worry about being polished and perfect, and definitely leave the platitudes at home.  Come ready to talk about what you are curious about, what you love (even if it has nothing to do with tech), how you handle the tough stuff in your life, why you care about what you care about and why you don't like what you don't like.  If there is a problem in your history, realize that we won't know about it if you don't mention it (we do not see your applications), but consider whether you would like to think about it with us.  We're good at being strategic and we sometimes have interesting ideas.  Be ready to answer followup questions, and remember, we have very good BS detectors, so don't try -- it will only make you look bad. Also, bring your *own* questions.  We did go there, and we know what the culture is like, what the coursework is like, how much sleep you're really not going to get, etc.  We do try to keep up on current developments at the Institute, and if we don't know the answers, we can point you in the right directions.  It doesn't look good if you can't even muster up the curiosity to learn from us in a friendly conversation. Remember that you're being interviewed to see how you fit into a culture that values productive irreverence, and where you will probably not be the single shining star but may instead be thrilled to have made it up to average -- both of those may be quite a change from what you're used to in high school.  We know what the Institute is like and we're trying to imagine how you'd cope, which subcultures you'd fit into, what you'd bring to MIT, and what MIT would be like for you. The saying at MIT is that we work hard and we play hard.  We do the interviews because for us they are fun.  Come ready to enjoy a cup of coffee and a nice conversation, come ready to learn and to share.

In addition to http://mitadmissions.org/apply/freshman/interview there are also admissions blogs about the interviews like http://mitadmissions.org/blogs/entry/college-interviews