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: Magic Cookie

Applicants

I've been talking to two types of applicants lately: high school seniors applying to college, and people applying to my student organization. Just so I can get it out of my system, here's the advice I wish I could give them. Of course, it won't do them any good here.

For the college-bound:
I'm looking for some evidence that you love something, that you pursue something, that you DO something that isn't handed to you on a platter. It's great that you run track and you're a National Merit Scholar, but does that say anything about you? Tell me about your Buddhist meditation practice or your weekends playing with dogs at the Humane Society or that you've seen every Charlie Chaplin film or knocked on doors for a political campaign. I don't want to hear about how you're the president of this and the captain of that unless it means something to you.

Also, it wouldn't kill you to show some interest in your interviewer. They are, after all, an alum of the school you're hoping to go to. And everybody likes to talk about themselves. Ask, what are you doing now? What did you do right after you graduated? What did your friends do? How do you think going to School X shaped where you ended up? It's supposed to be a conversation. At every interview, I've been sitting there reading a book waiting for the person to show up. Not one person has asked, what book are you reading?

For the law school organization applicants:
You may sincerely believe in what you're writing on your application. But when I've read enough of them, they all start to sound the same. Don't tell me abstractly about why you think justice is important. Tell me a story. You're passionate about big ideas -- relate them to something in real life.

Full post as published by Magic Cookie on January 31, 2008 (boomark / email).