Rough interview
- Thread starter baileydb
- Start date
DS's BGO interview was harrowing and he felt pretty awful afterwards. In fact, his BGO was not entirely positive at the end of it, either.
DS has an appointment in hand now.
The BGO interview is not a deal-maker or -breaker. Just make sure the rest of your package is as strong as you can make it.
Best of luck to you.
DS has an appointment in hand now.
The BGO interview is not a deal-maker or -breaker. Just make sure the rest of your package is as strong as you can make it.
Best of luck to you.
Some BGO's on this board, including a moderator or two, so they may want to clarify. But I understood that for most of the SAs the BGO/ALO/etc interview usually result in the following...
1) Vast majority of the time - Candidate is ok
2) Rarely - Candidate has a major deficiency/concern the board should know about
3) VERY rarely - Candidate walks on water, I give my personal urging they be considered
In other words... unless the BGO interview revealed something major such as the candidate was only doing this because her parents wanted her to, or drug use, or questionable ethics, etc then you probably are just fine and fall into the first category. Don't sweat it if you weren't polished and didn't "wow" them... after all it's nerve wracking and your BGO knows you are in high school, not a practiced interviewee.
Stay positive!
1) Vast majority of the time - Candidate is ok
2) Rarely - Candidate has a major deficiency/concern the board should know about
3) VERY rarely - Candidate walks on water, I give my personal urging they be considered
In other words... unless the BGO interview revealed something major such as the candidate was only doing this because her parents wanted her to, or drug use, or questionable ethics, etc then you probably are just fine and fall into the first category. Don't sweat it if you weren't polished and didn't "wow" them... after all it's nerve wracking and your BGO knows you are in high school, not a practiced interviewee.
Stay positive!
baileydb
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Thank you all for the encouragement! To answer as to why it was bad, I obviously did not put enough preparation into the interview. When he asked me to state in my own words the missions statement of USNA, I was pretty much like "It's to, uh, develop good officers to lead and, uh, yeah...." Not all questions went that badly but there were a few like that, and there were a few that I answered okay.
No matter how much we prepare pressure can make almost everyone forget their own name and stumble over words. Remember Ralph in a Christmas Story all that work to meet Santa and he went blank about the red ryder BB gun with the compass in the stock. Stay confident and good luck.
Vista123
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son's army interview with his FFR (army equivalent of BGO) was remarkably shockingly bad.
...to set the stage, we lost power shortly before the interview started, it was 100 degrees in Chicago-no air conditioning. Son had never ever practiced an interview (nope he was so sure he was perfect...no need to practice...)son dressed well (sport coat etc) so did FFR (army equivalent of BGO). The FFR was sweating so bad I thought he was seriously going to have a heart attack.
Son did not keep another copy of his resume in front of him during the interview with the FFR. It may have helped had he had a couple of talking points in front of him. It was his first interview EVER. I would say (from spying from the other room upstairs...) it was an unmitigated disaster! I tried to get him to practice interviewing with someone before hand. (nope he knew better...). He mumbled, kept his head down and was inarticulate.
...One question that the FFR from USMA asked him was "what book have you recently read that gave you insight into the military?"
"Good!" I thought...he knows this one, he he had just finished "The Things They Carried." He had, the past year, read: Black Hawk Down, We Were Soldiers Once, Flags of Our Fathers and Lincoln.... but instead, he stumbled and answered, "I saw the movie Saving Private Ryan" (well at least it wasn't Saving Private Benjamin). His FFR at the end, shook his hand and gruffly told him to improve his eye contact and practice his interviewing skills. It did not go well.
Son ended up with and LOE to USMA anyhow but it was not a winning interview.
(BTW DS chose navy instead of army...that interview came next and was far better)
...to set the stage, we lost power shortly before the interview started, it was 100 degrees in Chicago-no air conditioning. Son had never ever practiced an interview (nope he was so sure he was perfect...no need to practice...)son dressed well (sport coat etc) so did FFR (army equivalent of BGO). The FFR was sweating so bad I thought he was seriously going to have a heart attack.
Son did not keep another copy of his resume in front of him during the interview with the FFR. It may have helped had he had a couple of talking points in front of him. It was his first interview EVER. I would say (from spying from the other room upstairs...) it was an unmitigated disaster! I tried to get him to practice interviewing with someone before hand. (nope he knew better...). He mumbled, kept his head down and was inarticulate.
...One question that the FFR from USMA asked him was "what book have you recently read that gave you insight into the military?"
"Good!" I thought...he knows this one, he he had just finished "The Things They Carried." He had, the past year, read: Black Hawk Down, We Were Soldiers Once, Flags of Our Fathers and Lincoln.... but instead, he stumbled and answered, "I saw the movie Saving Private Ryan" (well at least it wasn't Saving Private Benjamin). His FFR at the end, shook his hand and gruffly told him to improve his eye contact and practice his interviewing skills. It did not go well.
Son ended up with and LOE to USMA anyhow but it was not a winning interview.
(BTW DS chose navy instead of army...that interview came next and was far better)
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baileydb
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Vista, thanks for the insight. My Dad was eavesdropping from upstairs as well. I came up and said "that was rough" and my Dad was like "yup!" So I knew it went bad. I was in a similar situation as your son, was far too cocky about my ability to interview well. Unlike your son, I have don TONS of interviews so thought I was prepared...but nope. For some reason this one went poorly. I think I do much better on an interview when I am nervous which is weird, and since USNA is my second choice, I didn't care quite as much (sorry to all you Navy folks here!).
Thanks so much for the story though it helps me feel better. Before the interview I thought I had a decent shot, then after thought I was ruined, but now I feel much more positively
Thanks so much for the story though it helps me feel better. Before the interview I thought I had a decent shot, then after thought I was ruined, but now I feel much more positively