3.25.2008

2 minutes

smart cookies

My brother, Greg, has a girlfriend. Her name is Katia. Katia is a smart cookie. She recently had an interview at Harvard as part of her application process/admission hopes for business school. I had her describe the entire experience, which was totally fascinating. She even hired a consultant to help her prepare for said interview. Apparently the goal is to get girls to crack and cry from the interview pressure. But Katia was prepared. Though they tried to get her to let her guard down by kindly informing her that this interview would not be of the tough, "crack you" variety. Then they continued to do everything in their power to the contrary. But this power suit sporting smartie sailed right through. She was even thrown a few curve balls that the consultant didn't warn her about. When asked to spontaneously speak passionately for 2 minutes on any subject (while the interviewer yawned, checked their watch, and refused to make eye contact), she effortlessly lapsed into a discourse on being the driver of her own destiny. Nice! So this got me thinking. What would I speak passionately about for 2 whole minutes at the drop of a hat...under pressure...in any environment, much less a Harvard interview office? My mom, the librarian, instantly said "Reading to your children!" My brother, the film producer, said "Storytelling!" Wes, man of many hats, said "The Environment!" And I fumbled around. I thought of a couple of things immediately, but they weren't topics I would readily bring up in an interview for a school or job, and definitely not topics I could speak effortlessly and unflinchingly on without my nerves getting the best of me. So what would you talk about for 2 minutes? I know it seems like a short amount of time. But it takes practice—I tried it. So kudos to you, Katia, for being passionate at the drop of a hat. Harvard would do good to have you there. My fingers are crossed for you.

**UPDATE**
She got accepted! (To quote Greg, "Katia got into Haaavaad." :)

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Nichole said...

Good Job Katia! I love seeing smart beautiful women going in and kicking butt at stuff like.

For me, my two minutes would be about "health and fitness". :o) Though,I'm sure most of my 2 minutes would be spent shaking and saying the word, "Um" 100 times. lol.

Emily Ruth said...

Wow. 2 minutes? Can I have like a week to think about that and prepare? Oh, you said at the drop of a hat. Am I stalling? No. Maybe I would talk about procrastination. No, that's too cliche. I would probably spout off about Morris. I talk Roger's ear off for 10 minutes every day when he gets home about all the things Mo did. Yeah. Harvard would eat that up. I mean, the relevancy...

Melanie M. McKinnon said...

wow! i would never make it through an interview like that. i'd crack in the first 20 seconds. what a pro! i'm so glad she held her own then made it in.

i'd probably speak passionatly about the lack of research on SIDS since that is what is currently on my mind and the more i read about it, the angrier i get.