<p>Hi, I want to apply for the 2012-2013 school year into grade 10. I am awaiting my mother making the decision to let me interview and tour (and later apply) tonight.
Anyways, if I do get to interview, I was wondering if there were any tips I could get? I would be interviewing at Andover and possibly Exeter. Questions they might ask, or things I should do or ask myself? What about the tour? Thanks so much.</p>
<p>Hi! This fall, I’ll be entering Andover as a new sophomore, and I was in your exact position last year! </p>
<p>For the interview, I say there are three rules: Be relaxed, be prepared, and be yourself. There’s no need to stress when boarding school interviews are often very conversational. In fact, my interviewer told me, “You can just relax, I’m not going to quiz you on calculus!” at the beginning of our interview. I was blissfully unaware of the importance of interviews at the time, so I was completely relaxed. You, however, seem more prepared than I was, just by getting prepared now! </p>
<p>Usually, interviewers will ask, in a purely informal way, what other schools you will be applying to. Think of your response in advance of the interview, don’t get caught off guard! And honestly, only say the schools you KNOW you will be applying to. If you give a list of… 17 schools, the school you’re interviewing at might think that they rank as a safety, or simply a second choice in your mind. When there are, in some cases, 9 or 10 people vying for one spot at the school, they want to know that you’re PASSIONATE about their institution. </p>
<p>Usually, the conversation will land on your extracurricular activities. This is the time to work in all of the awards you’ve won, or all the teams you’re on. Don’t give the interviewer a laundry list of activities, just discuss the ones you’re REALLY passionate about. For me, I talked about dance and music, if I remember correctly. If you’re lucky, you might share an interest with the interviewer. Don’t be stressed, and don’t think the interviewer is going to drill you with make-or-break questions! They just want to see you as a person. What you want them to see is someone friendly, not necessarily as a person who only cares about school.</p>
<p>There are also no right or wrong questions to ask for yourself. If the interviewer asks if you have any other questions for him/her, don’t think of it as a test to think of the best question. Just ask about what your curious in, maybe something pertaining to your activities. For example, if you’re a violinist, you could ask about extracurricular orchestras at the school.</p>
<p>The tour is purely casual, so don’t worry about that. At one school, I became friends with a girl before tours started, so she asked to be switched to my tour guide! We just had fun talking. Think of the tours as a way to really see the school from a student’s point of view, and even as a way to make a new friend. </p>
<p>Sorry for the novel! I hope this helped. Feel free to message me if you have any more questions! (:</p>
<p>The above poster gave some great advice. I’d second all of this.</p>
<p>I’d also recommend dressing formally for the interview. If you’re a guy, you should wear a shirt and tie at the least. I’d also recommend wearing a jacket.</p>
<p>Also, if you have a special interest (tennis, dance, drama, etc.) you should contact the appropriate faculty member before your interview and arrange a meeting. This way you can learn about the school’s program, and make yourself known to that faculty member.</p>
<p>Thank you so much, cassat. You helped a lot.</p>
<p>Thanks so much to Ifax as well!</p>
<p>The most important part of the interview is to just be yourself. You also want to make it more of a conversation than just your interviewer asking you questions.</p>
<p>I had the same question as Stuckhere. I get really nervous easily, but this helped a lot! I just have another question: how do you prepare yourself for an interview and see if a school is a fit to you?</p>
<p>Thanks! :)</p>
<p>There’s not much to do to prepare. You probably want to go into the interview with a few questions about the school. At the end of the interview, the AO will ask you if you have any questions (it’s pretty lame to say "no, I don’t have any questions), and this is a very good way to learn something special about the school.</p>
<p>If you fit in? That’s your call? Can you imagine yourself walking to your classes, hanging out in the student center? Each school has a distinct vibe that only you can discern.</p>
<p>Okay cool. </p>
<p>And that’s a good way to think of it. 
Thanks a lot!!! :)</p>
<p>I second on AlexMac’s “have a few questions about the school ready”…I’d add that you should make sure they are not ones you can get the answer to by reading the first few layers of the school’s website. Best if your question is related to something you do or in which you have a genuine interest/passion.</p>
<p>Here’s some more advice (excerpted from my write up of our experience in the 2010-2011 application season, for further reading see the BS parents’ subforum):</p>
<p>Before the first round of interviews, we did a few “mock” interviews where one of us [my wife or I] asked our daughter questions she might be asked (We took the questions from a College Board publication on visiting and interviewing at colleges.) We just wanted her to be comfortable talking about herself and aware of the times she gave “Yes/No” type responses.</p>
<p>I think interviews will be a problem for me; I’m not that talkative when I don’t know the person well. I hope they make it easy for conversation. Are the tour guides chooses based on charisma too?</p>
<p>@rizzledrizzle:</p>
<p>The tour guides a students (occasionally a faculty member at some schools) who are assigned a family to tour the school with. The tour guides are very knowledgeable and enthusiastic about their school. The interviewers, unless you get a really bad one, are generally nice and easy to talk to, so it shouldn’t be much of a problem.</p>
<p>One more thing…I’m pretty sure the tour guides at some schools fill out a form after giving a tours. I don’t know exactly what they might be recording on that form, but I wouldn’t be surprised if their input is taken into consideration by the AOs. So I wouldn’t take your interaction with them TOO lightly/casually.</p>