I have an interview at Smith on Monday. With this in mind, I suppose I need to start thinking about how I'm going to present myself to them. Of course, I'm just going to go with the general principle that I am awesome and that any sensible university would be delighted to have me as a student, so I'm mostly going to be presenting myself as myself. Even so, a little thought as to what aspects to present most strongly probably wouldn't hurt.

I'm planning to talk about how much I loved Northampton last time I visited, and how looking at Smith it seems to stand for the same things that made me love the area in the first place. I'll talk about diversity and how it's important to me and how it makes me feel more at ease, and say how their attitude towards diversity really comes off as genuine rather than just as words. I'll mention how throughout my teenage years I always wanted to go into academia, and how I went to Oxford, but then having to struggle through university while I was dealing with all my mental health stuff meant that I lost my passion for learning. Then I'll say how with Smith I'm actually genuinely excited about learning again; I'll say that I'm excited to have a chance to continue with my physics and also to have a chance to study a wide curriculum that I wouldn't have at an English university. I'm also going to try to explain how, yes, I've kinda made a mess of my adult life to date, but how I'm really trying to get things right for me, and how I see this as a huge opportunity for myself.

The idea through all of this is that I'll be presenting myself as:

a. Someone who really wants to be at Smith rather than just a generic desire to be at a university.
b. Someone who is very intelligent and has a great deal of academic potential.
c. Someone who really has a drive and a passion for this.
d. Someone who shares the same values that they do and will add to their overall diversity.

Thoughts? Advice? Smoked herring?