As part of their admission procedure, colleges are now taking a peek into students’ minds with smart questions

By Charu Pandey & Mayashree Paul

Students must think on their feet for a seat

If students think they can sail through the college interview on the strength of their marks, they need to think again. College admission interview questions are like those on Kaun Banega Crorepati, but with no multiple options, no phone-a-friend and no blindingly attractive prize money at the end of it.

Tame questions like ‘tell me about yourself’ and ‘where do you see yourself in five years’ are old hat. In today’s admission scenario, the stakes are extremely high with colleges being inundated with thousands of applications for just 80 seats to a course. And so the questions are aimed at evaluating students’ emotional quotient and their view of the world.


In this face-off, students are assessed on certain markers that administrations think are worthy of a seat.A commerce aspirant at a top university came out of the interview and told BM, “They asked me if your favourite celebrity had arrived in the city and you know that he/she will be at a mall at 2pm, would you attend the class at 2, or bunk to go see the celeb? I said that I was aware of the attendance rules and I am sure I would not bunk.’’
Another question asked of a student was, ‘would you prefer studying from home or attending remedial classes.’ A student from a college near Jayanagar said, “There are certain things a college expects of its students. But rather than tell us what it is, they pose questions that will give them the answer to how we might act.’’

A lot of questions are focused around attendance. Shristi Singh, another humanities aspirant told BM, “I was asked if I would turn up for class if I was unwell and I had my internal assessment presentation which would fetch me credits at the end of the semester.”

Interviewers from some esteemed universities also insisted on asking if the students would be able to adapt to early morning timings as some professional management courses like B.Com and BBA start early in the morning at 6am. “I know that the colleges in the city are strict about attendance and dress code. But the quirky questions threw me off,” said Rahul N, a student from Kolkata.