As Greeley West seniors enter their last few months of high school, decisions on college looms large. For senior Sophia Dhupar, the college choice for her dream school isn’t just her decision.
Last week, Dhupar had an interview with Harvard University, a highly ranked Ivy League school and extremely competitive school to get into.
Dhupar is heavily involved at the school. She is a full IB diploma student and part of girls varsity tennis, orchestra, Tri-M, Link Crew, secretary for Theatre, president of National Honor Society, president of Key Club, president of String Council, and a senior rep for the GT Student Board. Even with all that experience, Dhupar was still nervous. “I was excited to get this opportunity, Since I’d done a few others of these interviews, I had an idea of how it would be but was nervous about it being in person since the others were over Zoom,” she stated.
She went on to say, “I was intrigued when I found out that a retired 24-year District 6 senior administrator (positions including Chief Operations Officer and Superintendent) would be the interviewer and he knew some of my teachers.”
Dhupar, although being pretty nervous, was sure her interview went well and is hopeful, “I truly enjoyed my interview and while I didn’t answer every question perfectly, I feel I was able to accurately convey who I am as a person. I hope that would be enough, but even if it was only based on interviews, Harvard is still extremely competitive.”
Dhupar went on to give some advice for her peers who may find themselves in an interview situation. “Every interview is different, and while you hope for someone who is amicable, they may be the nicest person in the world or the most intimidating, just always be ready to talk about yourself but don’t prepare so much that you have things memorized,” Dhupar said.
She stated lastly, “Interviews are about having a conversation and
being your most authentic self, not about how well you can answer questions.”