100 College Interview Questions You Need to Know

Practice College Interview Questions

We’ve put together a list of 100 common college interview questions. Practice your answers, and get ready to show off the best version of yourself! Then scroll down for expert tips, 5 common question types you need to prepare for, and sample answers. 

1. Tell me about yourself.
2. Tell me about your family.
3. As a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?
4. Can you describe yourself using 3 words?
5. What do you like to do in your free time?
6. What would you say are your weaknesses?
7. What would you say are your strengths?
8. How would your friends describe you?
9. What achievement are you most proud of?
10. What makes you unique?
11. What is your biggest regret?
12. Who do you admire the most?
13. What is your favorite book and why?
14. What are you reading now?
15. What’s the biggest challenge you’ve overcome in life?
16. Tell me something that is not on your college application.
17. What would you say are the qualities of a leader?
18. Would you say you have leadership skills? Which ones?
19. Tell us about a talent of yours.
20. What would your ideal job be?
21. Do you like working as part of a team?
22. Do you consider yourself to be an introvert or an extrovert?
23. How would you describe yourself as a student?
24. What course surprised you the most in high school? Why?
25. Describe your usual study routine.
26. Describe your ideal school environment.
27. How would your teachers describe you?
28. What was your favorite subject in high school?
29. What was a subject that you hated in high school?
30. What was the hardest subject for you in high school?
31. What was your favorite high school experience?
32. What’s the lesson that you learned in high school that you value the most?
33. If you could change one thing about the education system, what would it be?
34. How important would you say your grades are?
35. What makes you a good student?
36. What academic skills do you need to improve?
37. Did you complete any honors, IB, or AP courses? Which ones?
38. Tell us about an obstacle that you faced in high school and how you overcame it.
39. What extracurricular activities were you involved in?
40. What makes you different from other students?
41. Tell us about your favorite teacher in high school.
42. How do you handle stress before an exam?
43. Have you done any community service?
44. What are your academic areas or interests?
45. What was your biggest academic achievement?
46. Where do you see yourself in 5 years?
47. Tell us about an experience that made you change the way you think.
48. What is your biggest dream?
49.  What is your biggest fear?
50. Tell us about an experience where you showed leadership skills.
51. What is your idea of success?
52. If you won the lottery, what would you do with the money?
53. What current issues are you interested in?
54. Do you have any role models?
55. If you had a free day, how would you spend it?
56. How do you plan on spending your summer?
57. What was your New Year’s resolution this year?
58. What’s your most unpopular opinion?
59. What do you do best?
60. If you could have dinner with anyone, dead or alive, who would you choose?
61. What is your place on Earth?
62. Tell us about a tough decision you had to make.
63. If you could have a superpower, what would it be?
64. What aspect of this program attracted you the most?
65. Why do you want to go to college?
66. What do you look for in a college?
67. How will this program help you achieve your long-term goals?
68. If you attend this school, do you plan on living on-campus or off-campus?
69. Is there any aspect of college that intimidates you?
70. Will you seek financial aid?
71. What skills do you expect to develop in college?
72. How will you contribute to this program?
73. What can you bring to this university?
74. Why did you choose to apply to our school?
75. How do you imagine a typical day as a student of this institution?
76. Have any of your relatives inspired you to choose this career path?
77. Have you applied to other schools as well? What appealed to you about those schools?
78. Tell us about your academic goals.
79. Why do you want to major in [your major]?
80. How do you plan on spending your school breaks?
81. Does research interest you?
82. If you are accepted into more than one school, how would you make your decision?
83. What makes you a competitive candidate?
84. What would you say are the pros and cons of this school?
85. Do you plan on taking part in any extracurricular programs?
86. What do you hope to do after graduation?
87. Do you have any questions for us?
88. What part of the college experience are you most excited about?
89. What do you value the most about this college?
90. Tell us what you have found most stressful about the college interview process so far.
91. Tell us what you have enjoyed about the college interview process so far.
92. Is there something you would change about this program?
93. How will specific resources at this school help you achieve your academic goals?
94. What do you think makes our alumni different or special?
95. What would make you proud of being a part of this institution?
96. What advice would you give yourself if you started college here?
97. How would you describe this institution’s academic culture?
98. What do you know about our current research opportunities?
99. Are you interested in career-placement opportunities?
100. What can you tell us about this university that is not on the website?

College Interview Questions: Introductory Questions 

When you walk into a college interview, the admissions committee already knows your numbers, like if you’re trying to get into college with a low GPA or if your test scores are in the top percentile — now they want to get to know you. They're looking for things like:

• Your personality: Are you someone who will fit? How will you contribute to the campus community?
• Your motivation: Do you have clear goals, and how does this school align with your future plans?
• Your problem-solving skills: How do you handle challenges or stressful situations?
• Your passions: What do you genuinely care about outside of academics?

Your interview will start with a series of personal questions, such as "Tell me about yourself.” The admissions committee wants to learn things about you that might not be in your Common App essay, college essays, or supplemental college essays, so introductory questions will give you the opportunity to elaborate on certain subjects.

Your overall strategy to answer these questions should consist of providing the interviewer with the context of what you are going to talk about (such as your family, your hobbies, extracurriculars for college, or a certain experience that you had), mentioning specific skills or knowledge that you obtained from the situation you are describing, and linking them to your future in that school.

Sample College Interview Introductory Question Answer

Check out our tips on how to write your Common App essay!

College Interview Questions: Academic Background Questions 

While your high school resume or Common App activities section probably includes all the relevant aspects of your academic timeline, there are lots of things that the admissions committee might want to hear from you directly.

Walk the interviewer through your academic achievements and how they have made you a suitable candidate for this program. Highlight impressive aspects of your academic performance, such as your GPA, any awards or recognitions, or special projects you took part in. Lastly, it is important to show your enthusiasm and ambitions by mentioning your academic goals and how this program can help you achieve them.

Sample College Interview Academic Background Question Answer

College Interview Questions: Personal and Professional Goals Questions 

The admissions committee is going to try to figure out if you have the kind of mindset and motivation they look for in a student. You are likely going to be asked about your aspirations in life, your dreams, and fears, or what makes you different from the rest. They are using these types of questions to further help them figure out why the college should accept you. Your answer strategy for this kind of question involves finding out which characteristics they value the most in applicants.

Sample College Interview Personal and Professional Goals Question Answer

College Interview Questions: Questions about the School and the Program

Once those interview invites start coming in, do a deep dive on each school’s website to see if you can find the interview questions they often use, similar to these lists of Yale University interview questions MIT interview questions and Princeton interview questions.

You are most likely to be asked questions of this nature whether you are applying to UC schools, your local community colleges, or some of the most prestigious or easiest Ivy League schools. To answer these questions, you will have to research the school and gather as much information about it as possible. Focus on specific aspects of this school that caught your interest.

If you are applying to an Ivy League school, make sure you review their interview format and common Ivy League interview questions, since it varies compared to other colleges.  

Sample College Interview Answer to Questions about the School and Program

College Interview Questions: Questions about the Field You Want to Pursue 

Convince the admissions committee that your intentions of pursuing a certain major are genuine. Are you applying to a liberal arts program? Or maybe you are choosing some of the best undergraduate business schools to attend? Start by describing what aspect of your chosen field caught your interest. Did anyone in your family influence you to follow a certain career path? Was there a subject in school that made you become interested in a certain activity?

Make sure to mention why you chose this particular school and program to fulfill your academic objectives and what you hope to learn from it.

Sample College Interview Answer to Questions about the Field You Want to Pursue

BeMo College Admissions Consulting Reviews

Preparing for college admissions interviews? We can help you! Read some of our BeMo reviews from our past students:

"Today's session with Cathleen Kuo is very helpful. She did an amazing job in providing constructive feedback. She was very encouraging and provided great tips to ace the interview. The best part about her is she took the time to learn about me, even before the session (such as which program I am specifically interested in and how many previous sessions I had with BeMo, etc.) and she planned this session per the program's needs and mimicked the format of the specific college interview. She did not rush the session and answered all my queries in the end." - BeMo student.

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