Almost the third Brandeis student in as many years to appear on a reality TV show, Becky Farmer (GRAD), 25, competed in the final round of the Boston-area auditions for America's Next Top Model this summer, but ultimately lost to Madeline Alvarez, 20, of Worcester. Farmer sat down with the Justice this weekend to discuss trying out, modeling as a child, and the transformation of the supermodel.

JustArts: How was the experience? Why did you audition?

Becky Farmer: My really good friend, from [Pennsylvania State University] came to visit me in town and she really encouraged me to go audition. So we just went and wanted to have fun the whole day, so that no matter the outcome, we didn't feel like we'd wasted our time and wished we'd done anything differently. So I went and I asked when I was going upstairs and this one girl said, "Just be yourself because it's getting kind of boring." People were being really poised, like a fashion model.

JA: It seems that modeling is much more of a lifestyle than a job. Had you progressed to the final round, would you have been ready for such a life-altering change?

BF: I think any profession is a lifestyle. But I didn't go out to change anything. My goal wasn't to be on the show or be America's next top model. Even when they asked me why I wanted to win, I said, "I don't think I can win." I didn't even think I had the courage to get out of bed and have the courage to come here. So I wasn't really prepared to change my life-I mean, I want to be a costume designer.

JA: So being a semifinalist was a big surprise?

BF: Huge. When she called me-the person from the paper or UPN-I thought that telemarketers were giving out our telephone numbers. And she said, "I'm calling to say you're a finalist." "What? Get out of here, that's crazy!" and she quoted me exactly, and I sounded like an idiot. I was very surprised.

JA: What was the semifinal round like?

BF: There were six finalists from the Boston area. They did interviews and they posted our answers online with pictures and then the public could vote.

JA: How'd you get into modeling in the first place?

BF: The first thing I did was modeling at the mall, when I was a little girl, for my favorite store. If you modeled for the day they gave you a free shirt, so that helped my mom. It was one less shirt she had to buy, so that's what I started out doing. And then I started doing stock modeling, but nothing was ever really successful. I think my parents put me in it, probably to help my self-esteem, because I was very, very shy, and didn't talk a lot.

JA: There's this notion that the "supermodel" is dead, and it seems that the show hopes to reverse that idea. Do you think they're successful?

BF: I think it's successful with making celebrities, especially with Eva Pigford, who won last year. But I do think the idea of the supermodel has died out. The last big supermodel was Heidi Klum, and that whole class of Tyra, Christy Turlington and Nikki Taylor.

A reality show is going to set you up for failure, in a way. In shows like Making the Band, musicians that have to struggle to get their deal don't respect you.

JA: So you think it cheapens it?

BF: There's a stigma attached to the person who wins, no matter where they go. They are that personality that was edited and was shown on television.