I Just Interviewed with Georgetown - Here's What to Expect

Paul CaintPaul Caint Alum Member ⭐
edited December 2017 in General 3521 karma

Hey everyone,

I just got done with my INDIVIDUAL Georgetown interview. I thought it would be helpful if I laid out my experience so people may learn from it, or in case you have a Georgetown interview coming up soon!

So first, in case you were wondering, it went really well for me. Like really really well. Like extraordinarily well :smile:

Here are my "situational" takeaways:

1. It was very informal
You should still wear a suit, but the interview itself was not structured at all. In fact, when my interviewer walked in (after a brief banter about the ties we were wearing) he explicitly said "This interview is very informal, so don't be stressed."

2. It was "so I could learn more about Georgetown."
In fact he never said it was so Georgetown could learn more about me. It honestly felt more like he was selling me on Georgetown than I was selling myself to Georgetown.

3. It was so they could make sure I was a human being.
In fact, my interviewer explicitly said that. They want to make sure that you aren't just a great resume and numbers, but can actually be social and like, you know, talk to people :smile:

Here are my suggestions of how to prepare:

1. Know your resume.
Be prepared to discuss the jobs you held and what roles you played (informally). My interviewer talked through some of the jobs I held and asked me about what my role was. He asked me about my time working on a presidential campaign, and I talked through my general responsibilities. Additionally, he asked me about my time interning for an appellate court. *He asked me about the procedure of how appellate cases were decided. I recommend that if you have any law-related experience on your resume, you should work hard to remember the specifics of what you did. Afterall, you'll be interviewing with (presumably) a lawyer and they will know the topic in depth.
---1a. If there are any atypical things on your resume, be prepared to discuss them.
----------For example, I transferred from one school to another after my freshman year. Just be able to come up with a coherent reason why you did the thing you did. If you transferred, I highly recommend you have a more compelling story than "I just didn't like my old school." You should be able to discuss at length why you did X, Y, or Z.

2. Be a good conversationalist.
As I said before, this interview was NOT formal. It was NOT my interviewer reading from a list of questions and jotting down notes. Instead, it was a conversation. That being said, you should be good at small talk. If they bring up their children it's not bad to ask about their age, what college they go to, etc. It's not bad to ask questions either, and you should ask questions throughout, since there is no formal "Q and A" portion of the interview. Just smile and be friendly and open, and don't be scared to go down a relevant tangent every now and again (me and my interviewer talked about felony disenfranchisement for 10ish minutes).

3. Bring questions! AND LOTS OF THEM!
And these don't have to be super specific questions either! Just ask what their experience was like at Georgetown, what the professors were like, what was the student community like, etc. Also as said above, just ask questions throughout the interview since there is no Q and A. The interview will be more like a conversation, and it's good if you have questions ready to be able to fill the awkward lulls and transition to new topics.
----3a. Ask questions about your interviewer's experience
-----------I feel like this is just a good interviewing tip. Someone once told me "people rarely remember what you say, but they remember how you made them feel." It makes people feel good to talk about themselves, so let them :smile:

4. Be prepared to answer soft-ball questions.
Like your typical ones: why law? what field of law are you interested in? I wasn't explicitly asked a question about "why Georgetown?" but I'd be prepared to give that answer too. I had no hard-ball questions though. Nothing like "what was a stressful situation you were in and how did you get out of it?" type questions.

All in all, my Georgetown interview process was really nice. Congruent with what others have said before, its very informal and felt more like they were selling me Georgetown than I was selling myself.

If you have an individual interview, it's probably a good sign! It felt more like a gateway than a test for admission. One pre-law advisor said that among individuals who received an individual Georgetown interview, 75% are admitted. So if you got an individual interview, just sit back, relax, and be yourself! So long as, you know, "yourself" is a cool person :smile:

Comments

  • jack.igoejack.igoe Member
    544 karma

    Thanks so much for this Paul! Super useful.

  • dml277dml277 Alum Member
    775 karma

    Thank you for sharing!

  • goingfor99thgoingfor99th Free Trial Member
    3072 karma

    :]

    Glad it went well.

  • mcglz_64mcglz_64 Alum Member
    891 karma

    I think this must have been a "pre-acceptance" interview - one of those where they for sure want to know if you are serious about Georgetown and if they see you are, will be subsequently followed by an acceptance. I realize this seems pre-mature but congratulations!!

  • Paul CaintPaul Caint Alum Member ⭐
    3521 karma

    @mcglz_64 Haha maybe! I'm tempering my excitement but I feel good about it :smile:

    @dml277 @goingfor99th Thanks!

    @"jack.igoe" Did you apply to Georgetown? If so do you have an interview coming up?

  • TheMikeyTheMikey Alum Member
    4196 karma

    Thanks for this!

  • 1000001910000019 Alum Member
    3279 karma

    @"Paul Caint" do you mind me asking if you've heard anything else from Georgetown?
    I heard from a consulting service that Georgetown is wait listing a lot of students this cycle.

  • TabbyG123TabbyG123 Member
    711 karma

    This is awesome! Thanks for sharing. :)

  • Paul CaintPaul Caint Alum Member ⭐
    3521 karma

    @10000019 No I haven't heard back yet. They told me it would take ~3 weeks to process my interview before I heard a decision back. With the holidays, I expect this to be even further delayed.

    I also wanted to say, I have a friend who had a 175+ and a 3.9, and was asked to interview. He DID NOT DO THE OPTIONAL ESSAYS, which is why I think we both got interview requests (I didn't write them either).

  • goingfor99thgoingfor99th Free Trial Member
    3072 karma

    I didn't write them either, but I did have a diversity statement.

  • 1000001910000019 Alum Member
    3279 karma

    @"Paul Caint" said:
    @10000019 No I haven't heard back yet. They told me it would take ~3 weeks to process my interview before I heard a decision back. With the holidays, I expect this to be even further delayed.

    I also wanted to say, I have a friend who had a 175+ and a 3.9, and was asked to interview. He DID NOT DO THE OPTIONAL ESSAYS, which is why I think we both got interview requests (I didn't write them either).

    Did you apply with binding decision?

  • Paul CaintPaul Caint Alum Member ⭐
    3521 karma

    @goingfor99th Neither I nor my friend had diversity essays. Just personal statements. That could explain things!

    @10000019 Nope, just regular decision.

  • Sarah889Sarah889 Alum Member
    877 karma

    @"Paul Caint" I was interviewed by Georgetown on December 14 and my acceptance letter is dated December 18. I'm sure you will hear back sooner than you expect. Best of luck!

  • kimpg_66kimpg_66 Alum Member
    1617 karma

    People that were invited to interview, did any of y'all write the additional essays?

  • Paul CaintPaul Caint Alum Member ⭐
    3521 karma

    @Sarah889 Yeah but I did my interview on December 21st - four days before Christmas haha. So I expect to be a bit delayed :smile:

  • goingfor99thgoingfor99th Free Trial Member
    3072 karma

    @Sarah889 said:
    @"Paul Caint" I was interviewed by Georgetown on December 14 and my acceptance letter is dated December 18. I'm sure you will hear back sooner than you expect. Best of luck!

    When did you apply?

  • liacortez07liacortez07 Alum Member
    3 karma

    Can you request an interview?

  • michael_theodoremichael_theodore Alum Member
    edited December 2017 253 karma

    Thanks for sharing this.

  • Paul CaintPaul Caint Alum Member ⭐
    3521 karma

    @liacortez07 No I don't believe you can. Interviews are invite only.

  • mcglz_64mcglz_64 Alum Member
    891 karma

    Invite only! I don't think there are too many schools where you can request an interview. Northwestern does for sure though

  • AlexAlex Alum Member ⭐
    23929 karma

    How much time overall did you spend talking about your resume? I worry because I feel like my resume is a bit weak and I don't have much interesting to say about it.

  • Paul CaintPaul Caint Alum Member ⭐
    edited December 2017 3521 karma

    @"Alex Divine" A while, maybe 1/3 to 1/2 of the interview - so like 20 or 30 minutes. I will say it felt more like a catalyst for more conversation though. He didn't ask me any really hard questions about it, just "what was your role on X," and again on the court: "What was the typical appellate procedure?" I think he only asked the appellate question because he's a lawyer who has argued at the appellate court I worked for.

    But I think we talked about my resume for so long just because my resume is a bit provocative, and my interviewer was a Democrat.

    I worked for Hillary Clinton during the presidential campaign. My interviewer was really interested in what the inside of a campaign is like, and he himself, being a Democrat, talked through some of his own opinions and whatnot.

    ^I said the talk about my resume was more of a catalyst for conversation in that we ended up talking about the 2016 election, and eventually the 2000 election, for ~20ish minutes, but it wasn't necessarily about my experience - just the election in general.

    I think you're fine so long as you can discuss your role - I wouldn't be concerned with selling yourself or how that role prepared you for law school. Frankly, I don't think the interviewer will care about that (unless they explicitly ask).

  • AlexAlex Alum Member ⭐
    23929 karma

    @"Paul Caint" said:
    @"Alex Divine" A while, maybe 1/3 to 1/2 of the interview - so like 20 or 30 minutes. I will say it felt more like a catalyst for more conversation though. He didn't ask me any really hard questions about it, just "what was your role on X," and again on the court: "What was the typical appellate procedure?" I think he only asked the appellate question because he's a lawyer who has argued at the appellate court I worked for.

    But I think we talked about my resume for so long just because my resume is a bit provocative, and my interviewer was a Democrat.

    I worked for Hillary Clinton during the presidential campaign. My interviewer was really interested in what the inside of a campaign is like, and he himself, being a Democrat, talked through some of his own opinions and whatnot.

    ^I said the talk about my resume was more of a catalyst for conversation in that we ended up talking about the 2016 election, and eventually the 2000 election, for ~20ish minutes, but it wasn't necessarily about my experience - just the election in general.

    I think you're fine so long as you can discuss your role - I wouldn't be concerned with selling yourself or how that role prepared you for law school. Frankly, I don't think the interviewer will care about that (unless they explicitly ask).

    Thanks for the detailed answer :)

  • tylerdschreur10tylerdschreur10 Alum Member
    1465 karma

    Very helpful, thanks for sharing @"Paul Caint" Good to hear some first-hand experience of an interview. I would agree it sounds more like a confirmation of a personality and social skills. Hope they thought it went as well as you feel and you get that acceptance ASAP!!!

  • westcoastbestcoastwestcoastbestcoast Alum Member
    3788 karma

    Thanks! @"Paul Caint" I hope you get in with $$$

  • Sarah889Sarah889 Alum Member
    877 karma

    @goingfor99th said:

    @Sarah889 said:
    @"Paul Caint" I was interviewed by Georgetown on December 14 and my acceptance letter is dated December 18. I'm sure you will hear back sooner than you expect. Best of luck!

    When did you apply?

    I submitted my application on November 26.

  • Paul CaintPaul Caint Alum Member ⭐
    3521 karma

    Admitted :smile:

  • Bobby LuuBobby Luu Alum Member
    88 karma

    @"Paul Caint" That's sick!! Congrats!!!!

  • Kermit750Kermit750 Alum Member
    2124 karma

    Congrats!

  • LCMama2017LCMama2017 Alum Member
    2134 karma

    Hey! That's so exciting!! Congrats!!

  • melissa091melissa091 Alum Member
    150 karma

    @"Paul Caint" said:
    Admitted :smile:

    Congrats!! Well earned! :smile:

  • g00g00shg00g00sh Member
    119 karma

    Hi @"Paul Caint", were you offered a group interview first or just the individual? I have a group interview and am curious about how one functions versus the other.

  • Radhika.Radhika. Member
    214 karma

    Congrats, Paul! So happy for you :)

  • J.CHRIS.ALSTJ.CHRIS.ALST Alum Member
    399 karma

    Great stuff!

  • TabbyG123TabbyG123 Member
    711 karma

    @Max_henry91 said:
    Hi @"Paul Caint", were you offered a group interview first or just the individual? I have a group interview and am curious about how one functions versus the other.

    I wrote up a post about the group interview if you're interested!
    https://7sage.com/discussion/#/discussion/14645/georgetown-group-interview-experience

    @"Paul Caint" NICE JOB! I knew you'd make it! :)

  • Paul CaintPaul Caint Alum Member ⭐
    3521 karma

    @"Radhika." @J.CHRIS.ALST @PublicInterested Thanks everyone :)!

    @Max_henry91 Hey! I was only offered an individual interview. I just attended Georgetown's Admitted Student's Open House, and MOST people who were there did a group interview. I don't think getting a group interview vs. an individual interview is any indicator of your acceptance likelihood.

  • teamteamvicsterteamteamvicster Alum Member
    edited January 2018 774 karma

    Does anyone know if they do interviews for ED applicants?

  • g00g00shg00g00sh Member
    119 karma

    Thanks @"Paul Caint". Congrats on your acceptance ;)

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