Posted by Jamie @ Bellerbys Brighton
Here comes the end of two of the biggest interviews of my teenage life.
This time last year, I had never even considered applying to Yale because its prestige intimidated me so. It was kind of like a toothbrush maker applying for a job in the New York stock exchange - I don't think I'd get accepted, but hey, I can make toothbrushes.
We met at a small cafe in an office block in Hammersmith. She told me that she was flexible with the time, but chose to set it at 3pm anyway. I admit I was feeling completely drained from the previous day in my interview with U of Hertfordshire. I was out walking in boots for 9 hours. 9 HOURS. I wished I had worn my blacktop sneakers instead but I'm guessing the mud stains would have not bode well with the interview.
Ms. Stephanie Manson introduced herself but briefly and we started almost instantaneously. She asked me where I was from and confessed that she had never suspected I was Malaysian due to my "very good accent" [I kind of like having that sense of ambiguity anyway].
I told her about the basics - how I moved to Brighton and how long I've been here. We talked about what I liked about this city and then she proceeded on to asking me about my art.
The good thing about this interview was that she knew what I was applying for [as opposed to Harvard] and that she clearly wanted to know more about it. In my commonapp I didn't get much chance to talk about Art so I thought it best to speak as much as I could. My nerves didn't affect me quite as much as the previous session, which I thank God for.
So the interview progressed with a few awkward pauses and sounds of her pen scratching on her clipboard [that's another thing - she wrote stuff down right in front of me but Harvard chose to type up the report right after our meeting]. We were talking about my current project on Child Abuse and I was explaining my ideas to her. Then she asked me,
"So describe the development of your art style from childhood to now."
and I could have sworn I heard a very subtle yet evident hint of nervous laughter escape my lips.
"Well when I was younger, my drawings were very comic book-like and kind of cartoony. And as I continued my art I started to develop a natural narrative style which led to my interest in animation. Now, my art is more... more.... uh. It's kind of. I don't know how to describe it.
HERELETMESHOWYOU" [*shoves little art sketchbook across the table*]
As a Yale applicant, you should seriously avoid using imaginary words like 'cartoony'. Seriously.
But anyway, I managed to get past that little momentary glitch and finish up by asking my own questions about the college. I'm glad that she didn't ask any hardcore things like, "Why Yale?" or "What would you bring to the college if we were to accept you? *gives look of reproach and utter seriousness*".
Overall, I think it went pretty well, though I am not expected any good news in April. In any case, I had applied for Fine Art so I don't even know if I'd hop on the bus if the opportunity came by.
That's my take on it. Guess I'll just have to wait and see.
Jamie is studying A Levels at Bellerbys College Brighton