Glad it went welll. I would probably not talk about Pokémon during your interview.
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I wasn’t going to mention this, but I had the same thoughts, lol!
Here’s my general belief about “nerdy” hobbies and job interviews/telling people in a business setting: most people generally won’t understand you, nor really care. Even if you’re a financial pokemon genius, at the end of the day, it is pokemon after all. Unfortunately not as many people are open minded about these things, and you can’t really blame them.
By talking too much about pokemon or a hobby that’s kind of obscure or not the norm, it may indicate to the recruiter that you’re kind of a social outcast, and may not have similar interests as others in the office. It sounds silly and it’s definitely not the truth, but the truth can be irrelevant in a job interview. When it comes to getting the job, what matters is what the recruiter perceives you as. They don’t know you or how you are day to day, all they know about you is how you’ve acted so far in likely…maybe the 1 hour of communication you’ve had to this point. And sadly, a lot of people still think “pokiman” is for 5 year olds, regardless of your explanations of ROI 
Now who knows - you may get lucky and get a recruiter or manager who is understanding, or heck, maybe they are a pokemon fanatic as well! But the odds of that are low. The more likely odds is that they may perceive you as somebody who is a bit of an odd-ball. They’ll make judgements about your character, if you are a social person, if you can get along with the culture at their office, etc. My opinion is that unless you HAVE to bring it up, I don’t think it’s worth taking the risk. Because the potential benefit will likely not outweigh the potential loss.
I agree with justinmew. Unless you have nothing else to talk about, I would avoid talking about Pokemon and things like that.
I understand this so I didn’t really of the Pokemon side of it. I mainly discussed the numbers and how I use it as a tool to explore finance at my school which only offers a 6 month economics class. At the end of the day, even if he didn’t understand Pokemanz, hopefully he understood the quantity sold, size and scale, and how much of a catalyst it was for my future explorations of economics. Without Pokemon, I honestly don’t think I would be able to grasp 2X leveraged ETNs, how BlackRock grew its AUM so fast (now 7 Trillion, yes with a T), DCF models, or risk analysis (I mostly use beta for analysis equities). But it probably comes down to how well I explained it.
I don’t think it’s always bad to talk Pokemon during an interview but it can definitely can harm your chances if mishandled. Personally I would not bring it up unless it came up organically. Or if I would to bring it up I would be subtle first and check the response to indicate whether or not I should continue talking about it.
Unless you’re making 50k+ a year in Pokemon, I think using the hobby as evidence of a good business sense is going to be a hard sell
For a high school kid, I think anything over 1k in sales would be impressive, and think that several thousand in net profits (where I am at currently) would be impressive if I were older since it is just a hobby and not my main job after all.
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I strongly agree. I’ve done some (limited) work in university administration and lots of research into admissions, fellowship applications, basically competitive stuff, and what’s really going to set you apart is not having a hobby but articulating how that hobby allows you to explore interest X and Y, show A, B, and C, learn Z.
For example if I was on an admissions/evaluations committee and someone came to me with Pokemon and said: “I collect Pokemon cards and it’s fun” that wouldn’t be very interesting and I wouldn’t care. However if someone said “I collect and sell high-end Pokemon cards and it’s taught me to maintain a budget, calculate overhead, profit, return on investment, and stay persistent in the face of challenges. My continued involvement in this hobby shows that I’m dedicated, willing to seek out help in order to improve myself and my collecting (maybe weave in forum, etc), and I don’t give up.” That is what’s going to get people interested and get you in.
Colleges/universities/employers are looking for people with overarching personality traits (hard work, working in teams, accountable, dedicated, unselfish). Everyone will say they are these things but when you back it up with concrete experiences, no matter what they are, then you will have a leg up.
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Glad to know it was helpful! Regarding the mention of Pokemon in the interview… To me is hard to say. Is the only hobbie I got, and it really has help me to grow as as person and develop some skills I lacked, although I do not sell pokemon cards. But I understand it can be seen as chidlish. But… what do I answer if I have any hobbie? I do read, I do like watch Youtube videos in which the movies are analysed, and I do enjoy reading about investment, but I cannot considered to be a hobbie so… Hard to tell to me.
This exactly. If you’re approachable AND curious enough to teach yourself something outside of academics (with success you can talk about), that’s a win insofar as you’re setting yourself apart. There are a lot of people who have all done exactly the same extra-curricular things and have the same grades but lack the dynamism schools/jobs look for.
If you can talk concretely about the skills you’ve gained or lessons learned, it becomes less “weird”. Even being able to be meta about translating something so niche with friends, family and new people who don’t understand it demonstrates social awareness and personal skills.
I would say it’s all about the interviewee framing the topic with confidence and offering concrete details and then judging the follow up interest of the interviewer, instead of not mentioning Pokémon at all.
Dear God why!? I just got another interview opportunity at a Dartmouth College. Well at least I now know what one is like. (This one is just a Skype interview though) 
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Do it. Even if you’re not 100% sure of the job, there’s almost zero harm in going in for an interview. Just to even check it out and get the feel of the place.
At this point I’m assuming you are quite young - so more general knowledge is likely best for you.
When you’re applying for jobs, generally you’ll have multiple potentials going on at once. Never put all of your eggs in one basket as you won’t know for sure if you’ll even get the job.
For example - when I am job hunting, I apply to tonnes of different places. I usually have at the very least a couple of prospects always going at once, and am usually at different stages in the interviews. Ex. prescreens, interviews themselves, references, etc.
Until they actually offer you the job, never assume you have one. Always keep an eye out and keep hunting.
And if you get lots of offers - awesome! Then you can choose your favorite one.
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Would Charizard ever pass up the opportunity of a battle? Well, don’t turn down interviews;)
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not a fan of the anime I see.
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facts
Just finished up the interview for Dartmouth. It went horrible on my end, and he honestly made me hate the school - which I thought was impossible. Well the school’s mascot is Keggy the keg after all, and it is most known for its alcohol abuse, its over-welling frat centered culture, and recently the sexual assaults and of over a dozens students with the school doing nothing about for over a decade. Also, the frat he was in is the one Animal House was based on, recently got kicked out of the school, and BRANDS their pledges.
From this experience I learned that it more important to be a good fit and genuinely like the college where you will spend 4 years of your life, ratter than just going to the school with the most clout points.
Bit confused - are these job interviews? Or interviews to attend a school?
Edit: Noticed this was for school - which is definitely different than a job interview.
What went bad about it?
In the nicest of ways, I’m happy this went bad for you.
Feed back is a gift, always, even if it’s bad. It’s good you figured out you don’t like that school, that’s huge. It’s good you got a chance to learn about the school’s culture as well, although if I’m being entirely honest a lot of what you mention you are going to see in school’s frequently. It depends on what circles you want to run with, I never did anything with a frat (we called it “pay for friends” when I was in school). And as much as I hate to say it, sexual assault/abuse is very common in the college world. Most universities hide this, so I’m not surprised. Just be warned, you may encounter uncomfortable situations in the next four years.
Sorry, trying not to derail this thread with on campus issues.
Learn from any interview mistakes you may have made, don’t be afraid to ask yourself “what could i have done better” and take it from there. It’s good your getting experience, good or bad.
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sexual assault/abuse is more common in individuals without fully developed brains (under 25). The notion that it’s high on campuses might be true but there’s tons of evidence that it’s also lower among common age groups in college/university compared to outside it. Hint, the behavior is less common in higher IQ individuals which is usually what colleges are looking for.
The claim that colleges/universities cover this stuff up is complete nonsense. If I was in charge of a campus the last thing I’m doing is hiding stuff like that under the rug, it’s far more effective to get the unsavory individuals out instead of letting them do more harm. I’m not the only genius in the word that can figure that out and for every moron that might try and hide it there’s ten more competent people doing the right thing.
During interviews, I usually try to go in with the attitude that I am interviewing them as much as they are interviewing me.
Being an interviewer is a nontrivial skill. Often times an interviewer themselves can cause the experience to go poorly.
And just general advice about the school choice, unless you’re going the route of a Master’s/PhD or are entering an extremely competitive field your choice of school really won’t affect your job prospects. Having a degree is typically just a minimum requirement checkbox when applying to jobs. My advice is to pick a school you’ll enjoy going to. Look at the campus, number of students, general culture, clubs, available courses/programs to make your decision. If you’re just choosing on reputation you’ll potentially put yourself through 4 years of sadness just to put a special name on your resume that most employers will glaze over
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I can’t speak about other cases, but this definitely has a cover up. There were over a dozen reported incidents to the college. All three of the professors were from the same field, physiology and neuroscience, and all three tenured. It would have looked horrible for the school if they are were fired at the same time for the department. (I believe) This is why the school took 16 years before doing something, and even then, they didn’t fire them - they all resigned or retired. Some of the students were even still assigned under their predators after going to the college with the allegations.
for more info of the Dartmouth case
www.cnn.com/2018/11/15/us/dartmouth-title-ix-lawsuit/index.html
slate.com/technology/2018/11/dartmouth-sexual-assault-harassment-lawsuit-psychology.html
Very good advice (as always 
) “pay for friends” lol I really like that