<p>We are planning to attend the 10 Schools Admission Organization meeting in a nearby city. Has anyone been to one of these? What was the format? Was it useful (for gathering information, making contacts, getting a feel for a school, etc.)?</p>
<p>We have a D applying to my school among others and will attend the TSAO travelling show when they get to our city. The schools send assistant deans, usually, who are central to the admissions process and are good people to meet. There is always a general reception and plenty of literature. D will interview for my school before this event. Note: D knows my school’s campus well so an off campus interview is appropriate. She will travel to the other schools for their interviews and tours. I would caution against choosing schools from the TSAO events alone; these schools have widely ranging personalities and strengths. Much better to get on campus, get a sense of the culture, sit in on classes, etc. Good wishes!</p>
<p>Thank you! We will definitely visit every school on my son’s list, but since we won’t get to many of them until November, I hope this meeting will give us a better idea of their real “personalities.”</p>
<p>We attended a meeting last year and S interviewed with three schools prior to the actual reception/presentation. I don’t know if it an advantage or disadvantage but one thing to keep in mind is that if the candidate interviews at one of these traveling road shows most schools count that as the interview. You can still visit the school, take a tour, but you will not interview (this may differ from school to school but this was our experience). To me, the biggest negative of the TSAO interviews is that the parent gets very little, if any, time to speak to the admissions officer. The reception/presentation part was very helpful and not nearly as crowded as some boarding school fairs. He was able to speak to every school that was of interest.</p>
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<p>Depends on where you’re from. The TSAO event we attended had fewer than 50 people, about 20 kids, and I only saw two other students interviewing other than our son. There was plenty of time to talk to whomever we wanted to speak with. Our son interviewed with two schools there, but Choate was not on his radar until this event. The Choate rep’s interest and interaction with our family changed all that. He interviewed later with an alum at a local Starbucks but didn’t set foot on campus until revisit days. He’s now starting his third year and, luckily, we’ve found Choate to be the “home” we thought it would be after attending the TSAO event.</p>
<p>If you are from the northeast, CA, or TX then @Chathan is probably right—attendance will be high and you may get only a cursory feel for the school. You can rely on these events for a ton of information, useful Q&A, and a sense of how much general interest there is in BS in your area, but there is no substitute for an actual campus visit. Wish we could have done so.</p>
<p>Good points ChotieMom. Ours was in California and it was wall-to-wall interviewing in the hotel lobby prior to the reception. Of the schools that were interviewing in the lobby (probably half of them) they seemed to have 20 minute slots from 3:30 on to the reception (I think it was around 6:30). I’ve heard from some others who are in the process this year that the coming TSAO interviews are all booked when they are in town. It was most valuable to our S for the interview practice (though I’m sure that none of the TSAO would want to know that they were practice interviews!)</p>
<p>The Ten Schools meeting was last night, and I found it very much worth the trip. Because of train schedules, we got there early and left before the end; however, I think this was to our advantage, as we got to speak to some admissions officers before the rest of the crowd descended on them. The schools were represented by their admissions directors. I don’t know whether that is true of all the meetings, but in this case they were all attending the SSATB annual conference in Philadelphia.</p>
<p>We had a couple of really enjoyable and informative conversations with admissions directors of schools my son is applying to, and added one school to our list that I had discounted for what turned out to be spurious reasons. I must say that it helps a great deal (for someone new to the boarding school world, as I am) to link friendly human faces with these institutions that can - on paper or on screen - seem a little intimidating. It was also helpful to get a sense that I am reading the “personalities” of the various schools fairly well.</p>
<p>After a brief presentation and Q-and-A session, all the parents descended on the AOs (mostly, it seemed, to the Lawrenceville table, because it isn’t far away, and to the Andover table, because it’s one that a lot of people in this area have heard of), and we went off to catch our train, so my tale ends here. :-)</p>
<p>So, if there is anyone reading this who is in our situation, I do suggest that you try to go to one of these meetings if they have one in your area.</p>
<p>I realize I’m a little late to this discussion, but I have something I wanted to add. We attended a TSAO reception last fall. My son was planning to apply to 6 of those schools. Because of that meeting, we added one more school to his list - and that was the only school that he was accepted to! He was wait listed at 4 and rejected at 2. We visited all 7 campuses after the reception, and felt that the 7th school (which ultimately accepted him) was a great fit for him. We would not have considered it had we not gone to the reception.</p>
<p>I sure wouldn’t mind if that happened to my son; the school we unexpectedly added to our list is only 3 hours away from us, as opposed to 6+ for some others!</p>
<p>I’m hosting a reception for a Taft rep in Kansas City on September 30th. It should be small and not a big formal presentation where people get lost in the crowd. Families within driving distance are welcome to contact me (or call the school’s admissions office and they will contact me).</p>