Todd Kerpelman on college interviews:

Yeah, you think you had a bad college interview. I think mine just might 
have you beat. Let me point out that this is all true. This did not 
happen to a "friend of a friend." This really happened to me. 

So, I had applied early to Yale. They sent me a postcard in the mail that 
said, "Hey! Thanks for the application! You should be hearing from us in 
3-5 days about an interview." 

So 3-5 days later, I come home, and there's a note on the kitchen table 
that says, "Todd, call this guy about an alumni interview." 

I call him up and say, "Hi! I understand we have an interview." 

He says, "Yes. Let's meet at my house on this date at this time, and here 
are the directions." 

I hang up, and think to myself, "Great! I'm all set for my Yale 
interview." 

What this man doesn't tell me is that he's from Harvard. 

So I show up at this guy's house, and we start talking. Eventually, he 
asks me about what colleges I'm applying to. I tell him. He asks me what 
my first choice is, and naturally I say, "Yale." 

"Oh, really?" he says, raising an eyebrow. "Tell me, why would you choose 
a school like Yale over a school like Harvard?" 

So, I start telling this guy (from Harvard) why I would rather be going 
to Yale instead of his school. About halfway through my explanation, he 
stops me and tells me, "Oh, that's not true at all." 

I think that's kind of nice -- a Yale man sticking up for Harvard, 
especially when you consider that Yale/Harvard is the oldest, and quite 
possibly the largest, college rivalry in America. But I continue. 

Eventually, he asks me, "Well, do you have any reservations against 
Yale?" 

I say to him, "Well, what's New Haven really like?" 

He says, "It's awful." 

I think this is really strange coming from a Yale alumni interviewer. I 
ask him, "Well, does the city life interact much with the campus life?" 
and he says, "I don't know. I didn't go to Yale." 

I say, "Really... where did you go?" 

He says, "I went to Harvard." 

It's at this point that everything kind of clicked together. I, 
naturally, freaked out, started apologizing, tried to explain that I had 
thought this was my Yale interview, but he didn't have much of a sense of 
humor. He just kind of nodded, said, "Uh-huh," and made a mark in his 
notebook. (I'm pretty sure he was making a large check mark in the 
"Reject" column.) 

Well, naturally, the rest of the interview was kind of a disaster. I left 
the interview, bought a big bag of chocolate non-pariels, and proceeded 
to devour the entire thing. 

Not surprisingly, Harvard rejected me. Yale, on the other hand, was quite 
eager to accept me. I have a feeling both departments of admissions heard 
about my interview.