E very spring, over 1,200 students put on their dark suits, tuck their portfolios under their arms and head for OCS, the Faculty Club or a local hotel. Before they can win lucrative and rewarding jobs in the consulting industry, they must survive the interview.

This isn't as easy as it sounds. Even getting an interview at many of these companies can be difficult. Each student receives 1,000 `points.' A student (call her `Sally') can spend 20 points to submit a resume and cover letter to certain exclusive companies, or to bid against her peers for limited interview slots. J. Christopher Paul `98 says, "Companies are looking to see how many points you are willing to spend on them. All you need to do to score an interview is spend the highest number of points."

Once Sally secures an interview, she must stand out from the mass of other candidates in order to win a job offer. But interviews can be tedious, nerve-wracking and just plain weird. Check out actual interview questions used by companies including Microsoft, Mercer, and Lehman Brothers. As for Sally, she must either think fast or start thinking about that job opening at McDonald's.

But it's not all bad news. For one thing, there are no points taken off for wrong answers. The interviewer is more interested in hearing a creative yet logical thought process. Paul explains that, based on what he has heard from people in the consulting business, "They're looking to see if you have a very deliberate and careful thought process. Even if in answering a question, you make a mistake, they want to see you catch your own mistake. It's not timed, it's not like the SATs." Of course, right answers never hurt anyone.

Questions:

1. There are two islands. Each island has one person living on it. Each person has a box, a key and a lock. Each key will only unlock its own lock. One of the people also has a pot of gold. A boatman paddles back and forth between the two islands. He will steal anything given to him unless it is in a locked box. How could the person with the gold send it to the other person without leaving his island?

2. A fairy arranges 100 gems in a line. First, she touches each gem. Then she touches every other gem, starting with the second one. Then she touches every third one, starting on the third gem. This pattern continues until she touches every 99th one (which is just the 99th one) and then every 100th one (which is just the 100th one). She tells you that the gems that she has touched an odd number of times will kill you and the ones that she has touched an even number of times will give you eternal life. Which gems kill you?

3. Why are manhole covers round?

4. What is the angle between the hands of a clock at 3:15?

5. You have three boxes. One has blue balls, another has red balls and the third has both blue balls and red balls. They are all labeled incorrectly with the labels "blue," "red" and "mixed." You have one opportunity to pick a ball from any box, and then you have to relabel the boxes correctly. Which box do you pick from and why?

6. You have a 10 by 10 by 10 cube made up of 1,000 smaller cubes. You submerge the large cube in a tank full of water. How many of the smaller cubes are wet on at least one face?

7. You are walking along a road and encounter two people. One person is a liar and the other always tells the truth. There's a fork in the road. One road will lead you to Harvard and the other leads to Yale. Both of the people know which road is which, but you do not. You can ask one of the people one question of your choice, and of course you'd rather go to Harvard. So what would you ask?

8. You have two bottles. One holds exactly seven cups of water and the other holds exactly three. How can you measure out exactly five cups of water?

9. Four men want to cross a narrow bridge at night, but they only have one flashlight. Only two people can cross at once, and since it is dark, one of them must have the light. When people walk together they must walk at the pace of the slower person. Each man walks at the following pace:

Man 1: one minute to cross