<p>Ok, so we are getting ready to prioritize and then set up our visits.<br>
Who makes the call? Me as the parent? Or my son as the student?<br>
I'm thinking me, but then I'm the organizer and the planner of the family (no kidding huh?). I just wondered who the "proper" person is, who they "expect" to call, etc.
THANKS!</p>
<p>I'm still looking at schools and am in the same position as your son. In all the books i've read on the subject, i think that the student/ your son should call. The interview is about him and the schools like that he is independent enough to call. By that i don't mean you saying here's the phone number. Schedule somthing. I mean first the 2 of you should sit down, find an open spot, and make the call. You should be nearby in case of assistance, but in my opinion your son should call.</p>
<p>If you're calling the interviewer directly, I would agree w/ the reasoning above and have your son call. However, if you are calling an office number (and your son is shy), you may end up speaking to a secretary or someone else setting up an appointment in which case it wouldn't matter if who is making call.</p>
<p>But that's your call :) (No pun intended)</p>
<p>If you have a day set aside to visit a specific school, why not have your son call. But he'll be speaking with a receptionist/scheduler. I would hardly think that notes from that call will go into an admission folder.</p>
<p>In our case, we made a couple road trips to visit many schools and I had flights booked and hotels to book. If -- as you may find -- the dates or times that best suit you aren't available, guess who has to get on the line? </p>
<p>It would have been a nightmare for my son to call the schools. Not for maturity issues, but because I was in command of the existing travel parameters and was best able to weigh contingencies and modifications. </p>
<p>Sometimes you just need to get the job done. Sometimes you just have to leave the logistical decisions in the hands of the experienced pros, instead of letting a ceremonial representative blunder away.</p>
<p>From the Lite Side:</p>
<p>After graduating from BU I applied for a job in Boston. Walking in I realized I didn't want the job, and the guy interviewing me was a twit. Not only that his office was decorated with more red sox crap than Carl Yaztremski's den.
I have been a Yankee fan since I was 5.</p>
<p>So he hits me with the old "what would you really like to do if you could anything in the world" chestnut. Yours truly takes a deep breath and says,
" Bat cleanup and play center field for the Yankees". </p>
<p>Not a lot of conversation after that, and no, they didn't call me back.</p>
<p>May all of your interviewers be a little more creative than that guy.</p>
<p>I really don't think you or your son are more "proper" than the other to make the call. I highly, highly doubt they 1) notice, 2) remember, 3) care.</p>
<p>A successful application process does not require nearly as much planning. Heck, I was 30 minutes late for my Exeter interview, and my Tabor application was turned in on March 5th, with missing parts. (I got in at both and my parents didn't make a 50mil donation.) If you stress over the minutiae, you just won't make it alive to March 10th.</p>
<p>Blairt - that's kind of what I thought, but coming to this site has made me aware of more details than I though existed and it occured to me this might be one of them. Thus, the title of the thread "likely silly quesion."</p>
<p>D'yer - while we are not traveling due to tight work schedules, we won't have a whole lot of flexibility (well, we will in many ways, but not in others if that makes sense).</p>
<p>Well, that's a bit risky, blairt. I wouldn't suggest letting things slide. If you have an emergency, and help being late, or if the post office loses your application and the school doesn't have any kind of alert system for letting you know that it's lost, then that's one thing, but I wouldn't be very lax about those things. As I said, it's a serious risk.
On this matter, I don't think it matters. My grandmother and dad scheduled my interviews, because they were the ones who knew when they could get me to them. I would have called if they asked, I guess, but it made more sense. Do whatever is most convenient.</p>
<p>I would suggest that your son/daughter (the potential student) makes the call to set up the interview; it shows maturity, which is important. I'm currently a rising senior at Brooks School, in North Andover, MA, and have experienced the application/interview process myself. Also, just a word of advice, set up interviews at schools that are not high on your list first. I found this very helpful when I applied, as a thirteen year old the first few interviews can be a daunting experience. After the third or fourth interview your child will probably have a decent grasp of the game, and you should then set up your interviews for schools that you are more interested in. If you have any other questions just PM me.</p>
<p>P.S. Always send a hand written thank you card to your interviewer!</p>
<p>It doesn't matter who sets up the appointment. As a consultant, I sometimes set up the appointment for people, but other than that, parents usually do it. I have never heard of a secretary reporting back on who set up the interview appointment--they do thousands of them remember.</p>
<p>But I do agree with Andreas from Brooks---the student should always send a thank you note to the interviewer. And don't interview at your first choice school first. Y ou will learn a lot in that first interview--think of it as practice</p>
<p>We already knew about not interviewing at our first choice first, our current school did tell us that.<br>
Thank you for the thank you suggestion. Interesting, I send thank you's ALL the time for work but hadn't thought of it for this.</p>
<p>Easy answer. You call during the day when he is in school. My wife did all the scheduling for both of our Choaties. She is after all in charge of the family schedule. It might be awkward for your son if asked by the scheduler "Is the morning or afternoon better on Septemeber 13th?" "I have the second week of October wide open. How does that work for you?" He freezes and hands the phone to you and its all over. Interaction of the prospective student is not required until the interview. That's when you stand back and let them show their stuff. They are after all only 12-14 years old.</p>
<p>I know that Choate would like it if the kid called, because they're very much into showing that you want to go to the school and that you fit there, and that you're mature enough to call. But like D'yer said, it's not always a case of maturity, and my mother called the schools to set up the appointment, so it really in my opinion can make a difference but not really.</p>
<p>Choate Admissions Officer: "Alright people, let's make a final decision on little Johnny Appleseed's application. Grades are solid A's with a few B's. 85th % SSAT, not so good. Pretty decent interview, not exceptional. May be able to help the badminton team, so that's good. He's from Greenwich, so he's full pay, excellent. I can't make up my mind on him so it comes down to the old tie-breaker." Buzzes Assistant. "Marge, who called to set up little Johnny Appleseed's admissions interview? His Mommy? Oh, that's too bad, he might have had a chance otherwise. Heatherington, hand me Olivia567's app., will you old man"?</p>
<p>fun is fun ... you have wayyyy to much time on your hands</p>
<p>Yeah -- ain't it great!</p>