<p>Would it be considered rude or awkward to bring a list of questions you have for the school to the interview? I have a bunch of questions for a school I will interview with, and I don't want to leave anything out because my memory failed. I wouldn't be looking at anything during the interview; I'd take it out when they ask me if I have any questions.</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>That sounds like a dealbreaker.</p>
<p>I really wouldn’t if I were you. It would probably be better to memorize them or at least keep in mind what you want to ask. You don’t want to seem like you’re just reciting something in an interview, you want to appear natural. The interviewer wont be interogating you, so just relax and ask questions you’ve thought of before. They wont pentalize you for thinking about it a second. Even a “hmmm, let me think…oh right! [insert question here]” will be acceptable. </p>
<p>Don’t stress. No notes required 
Just form a mental (or physical) list prior and review it right before the interview. Even if you do have a complete mind-blank, I’m possitive you can come up with a few on the spot. And if all else fails you can go with the classic “Actually, I think you managed to answer them all already!” and then maybe inquire their email address in case you have any questions at a later date. </p>
<p>Some good memory-blank questions could be as easy as: “How many incomeing freshman (or whatever grade you’re applying for) do you expect this year?” “What is the average day like?” “Can you explain ____ tradition? I’d really like to understand it more.” </p>
<p>Good luck And once again, I highly suggest leaving the notes at home.</p>
<p>Nonsense! I totally disagree. Schools are looking for kids who are actually involved in the application process. If you have questions, ask them! Your questions will tell your interviewer that you’re actually interested in the school. If you need to bring notes to be sure you don’t forget your questions, then bring them! And tell your interviewer that you wrote your questions down because you wanted to be sure not to forget anything. As far as I’m concerned, this shows both (1) that you are genuinely interested in the school and (2) that you actually spent some time thinking about and preparing for the interview. Both of which are GOOD things!</p>
<p>@dodgersmom, hmmm, good perspective, I didn’t think about it that way. I guess you could really go whichever way makes you more comfortable in that case.</p>
<p>bring what ever you need into the interview that will help you succeed!</p>
<p>I had my list in the notes on my cellphone, checked it before we went into Admissions. Personally I’d never refer to a paper or elist during the actual interview if at all possible, the idea is that you’re having a relaxed and free-flowing conversation. Also, every AO I talked to gave me their card and told me to email with any Qs that arose…so even if you forget something on your list, it’s a good reason to reestablish contact later. </p>
<p>IMHO</p>
<p>Take the notes and tell us what happened on M10. :D</p>
<p>I’m with dodgersmom on this.</p>
<p>So…did lost1nth3music get accepted?</p>
<p>An interview is a “first date”. While some interviewers might find a bunch of prepared notes to be a sign of earnestness, others might find it awkward and uptight. </p>
<p>Would you take notes with you on a first date with a boy/girl?</p>
<p>I’m coming at this from a slightly different perspective…but I did have a little notebook with questions for schools when I was on the job market as a teacher this year. I had interviews at at least 9 schools, which meant spending all day at the school and having at least 6 formal interviews with different members of the community as well as meeting students and teaching sample classes. It’s a lot to keep straight! My notebook had one or two pages of hard facts about each school that I could learn from the school website or Boarding School Review, even Wikipedia, etc. etc. Then I’d look into their curriculum guide and class schedule to get a sense of how the day was organized and what classes were required. Doing this research would always spark genuine questions that I couldn’t answer from the website, so I wrote them down immediately. I made sure I had 9 or 10 genuine questions about each school. Sometimes I had far more than that.</p>
<p>I’d prep the facts page and my questions before going into the interview, and a lot of times my questions were answered before I could ask, but I had no shame at the end of the interview about asking if I could get out my little notebook and check to make sure that all my questions were being answered. Honestly, everyone I spoke with was kind of charmed by this. (and as embarrassing as this is to admit, I actually used two different notebooks–a recycled paper one for the progressive schools and a professional leatherbound one for the traditional schools and I always used a pen that was the school’s color 
. Silly tricks aside, I had done real reseach on every school and the questions that sprung from my notebook were deep and specific. They weren’t questions I could come up with on the fly, and I didn’t want to pretend to make them seem spontaneous. For what it’s worth, I was offered a job at every school I whipped out my little notebook.</p>
<p>Schoos don’t expect you to be perfect. They need to know why you are specifically interested in their school, and what you would bring to the school community. Vagueness is your enemy, so if it takes a notebook to remind you of a specific question, then that’s part of who you are and it’s nothing to worry about.
Finally, because it cannot be said enough: Eye Contact!</p>
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<p>Wow . . . just wow!</p>
<p>And the rest of us are satisfied if we can find matching socks . . . ;)</p>
<p>Oh, my socks never match. But in this economy, I was taking no chances (and I already own a ton of notebooks and pens). There’s a ton of competition to get a teaching job in a boarding and day schools. Over the course of my job search, the lowest number of applicants I heard of for one position was 50, and the highest was over 200. those are tough odds–I needed all the help my notebooks could give!</p>