*Do your homework: Colleges pack information into their Web sites and literature. Read them. If you want to play soccer, first find out how hard it is to make the team; if you want to major in nursing, make sure the school offers it.
*Dress and act appropriately: The coat and tie are unnecessary, but the interview is an adult experience. “It should be, at least, on par with a job interview,” says Karen Kothe, associate dean of admissions at Bates College in Lewiston, Maine. “So you wouldn’t show up in beachwear.” Behavior counts, too. Corey Fischer, college-counseling director at the Woodberry Forest School in Virginia, remembers initially liking one student. “Then when he threw his leg over the arm of the chair, it was like, wow, we’re not sitting on my couch watching TV.” It also helps, you know, like, not to talk too casually.
*Ask smart questions: Most interviewers save time for questions from the applicant. Have a few in mind–for example, identify some professors who seem interesting and ask about their classes. Search for answers that can’t be found on the Web site. If the interview is being conducted by a local alumnus, you might try asking about the good old days. Of course, that occasionally can prompt a 20-minute retrospective.
*Don’t let the conversation die: Prepare rough answers to basic questions about your high school, your academic interests and your activities. Letting these softballs slide by can be a mistake: even if the interviewer’s read your application, he might want to hear you speak articulately about a familiar subject.
*Take it seriously: Admissions officers watch your demeanor and body language. They’ve seen that bored adolescent look a thousand times. “You need to go in with a little pep,” says Bobby Sizemore, a guidance counselor at Ft. Myers High School in Florida, who is sending students to Brown, Yale and NYU in 2003-04. Pep may sound old-fashioned, but if pep is what it takes to get in, go with pep.
