Ok, well, I have a couple of weeks under my belt now, and I think I might be getting the hang of things. Well, I mean, hopefully I’m getting the hang of things. While the first couple of weeks as a Senior Interview have been incredibly informative (think information sessions and tours at all the 5-C’s), I’ve found that I’ve definitely still had my fair share of slip-ups…
What do you mean by that, Matt? What kind of slip-ups could you possibly be referring to?
Well… Take last week for example. I interviewed two students in the morning, was feeling good, and decided to get a workout in during my lunch break because I had a busy afternoon ahead. I got back the office at about 1:29, hair still wet and tie undone. My next interview wasn’t until 2:30, so I was just sitting in the conference room, finishing up some of my other interview reviews. Next thing I know, Assistant Dean of Admissions Will Hummel pokes his head in the door.
“You know you have an interview right now, right?”
I laughed a little bit, and kind of rolled my eyes at Will.
“No, I’m serious Matt. Your 1:30 is waiting downstairs.”
Once I realized he was serious, I freaked out a little bit. I mean, my shirt was literally still wet from the shower I took at the Rains Center during lunch. I tied my tie in a rush, tried to tuck in my shirt, adjusted my belt, and booked it down the stairs. Pretty sure I almost brought old Sumner Hall (the admissions building) to the ground with the way I shook the building. Tip: If you are trying to do a cardio workout on campus, don’t do a stair workout in one of Pomona’s oldest buildings. It could work out badly… When I got down stairs, I’m pretty sure some of the prospective students thought an earthquake transpired. Probably not the greatest first impression… Think of how my poor interviewee felt when I first met him.
The prospective student was a good sport about it, even though I’m pretty sure I looked like I went through a slip-n-slide on my way back from lunch. When we finished up the interview, I think I was feeling some post-traumatic stress, because I kept walking around the office saying to people, “Did you see what just happened?” First, no one cares what happened before the interview… people just care that the interview gets done. Second, why would I want to tell my colleagues that I resembled a wet dog when I was interviewing a prospective student? As impressive as I’m sure everyone in the office thought I was for fighting through adversity and conducting the interview with beads of water streaming down my face, from now on I will try to avoid putting all of my miscues on blast.
Things are definitely looking up though. As I am learning, I am also thinking up ideas that would be useful for boosting office morale. One of my favorite’s thus far: Admissions Office Combine. We send each member of the admissions office through a series of exercises to determine who is the most beastly male and female in the office. Many seem to think Seth Allen, Dean of Admissions, would blow everyone away… I’m not so sure about that.