Report Preparation University Interview

Yousef

Yousef grew up in Nablus, Palestine. He is presently in the American Academy of Nablus. Both his father and brother work in the IT field.

Yousef has an interest in robotics – an interest which he discovered through the first Lego league. He described robotics as one of his greatest passions. Most specifically, he enjoys robotics’ programing aspect. He pointed out that his interest in MIT was sparked after coming across the MIT robotics team online. He also identified with the institutions cultural multiplicity.

Yousef demonstrated some aspects of being good at problem solving. However, he appeared to have weaknesses that could get in the way of effective collaboration with colleague or peers. For instance, during the design phase for a robotics competition, he indicated that following the identification of an inconsistency between the system’s right and left motor, he came up with a solution that involved the utilization of a gyroscope that constantly updated on the basis of the state of the motors. It is important to note that although he was part of a larger team, Yousef appeared to disparage the other team members during his account of the event and indicated that he largely did all the work by himself.

Yousef also has poor interpersonal skills. The interview was in itself one sided and his responses appeared scripted. He also demonstrated egoistic tendencies. For instance, in describing a period in which he tutored a student who was a year ahead of him, he gave the impression that he was more interested in proving and projecting his mathematical prowess than he was in helping his friend who was taking SATs at the time.

Yousef stated hobbies are inclusive of chess. Having discovered chess at a relatively young age, Yousef has taken part in various tournaments in his city. He does not appear to be interested in other extracurricular engagements.

Yousef also appeared to be poor in handling failure and diverse challenges in life. For instance, it took him a year to return to chess after suffering a devastating loss during a chess tournament in middle school.

Yousef does not appear keen to apply the knowledge he acquires in education to practical real-world problems. This is more so the case given that he explicitly stated that there is no particular problem he would be interested in solving at the community level if he had the capacity and capabilities to deploy his gathered competencies.