<p>First, I can’t imagine that an alum would tape an interview. Second, admissions wouldn’t have time to listen to a taped interview.</p>
<p>Thanks fireandrain!
:)</p>
<p>I wrote to Brown. It seems interviews are not part of the application process. Does that mean my chances are slimmed?</p>
<p>Interviews are part of the admissions process, but they are not mandatory. As the first post here, and the Brown website says, not having an interview will not negatively affect your chances.</p>
<p>Although it was several months ago, decision day is tomorrow, and I would like to talk about my experience with a Brown interview.</p>
<p>We met in the local library. The location was close to my school, so I had the option to walk, and I got there about an hour early. I followed my interviewer upstairs as soon as he arrived, and we began to talk. I don’t remember exactly what set the conversation off, but I think it was something about school. It was because of this that we never actually “started” the interview. </p>
<p>However, before I knew it, it was nearly six and the library was closing. I wasn’t sure how, but I’d managed to talk to around six thirty. It must’ve seemed rambling, but I believe for a majority of the interviewer I talked with enthusiasm. I talked about all the specific reasons I wanted to go to Brown, taking extensive time talking about my visit there and how amazing it was. I talked about a research paper I was writing for my honors English class, and at one point, I believe we got onto the subject of faith.</p>
<p>I believe the interview went well. Although the admissions officer reminded me of the chances of admission, he also told me that if he saw me on the street, he could’ve pegged me as a Brown student.</p>
<p>Hopefully, this will become true.</p>
<p>I’m so nervous…this is it guys!</p>
<p>Good luck to everyone! I’m praying/hoping/begging I get in…I literally can’t sleep! Too bad the decisions don’t come out exactly at 12am :/</p>
<p>I am a Brown alum and used to do these interviews, and my DH is Brown PhD, and DD is Brown AB 01, MS 02.</p>
<p>I just want to say to students who think the interviews mean nothing, because they or their friends did one and did not get in, look at the numbers of applications these schools receive! Do you really think that even if your interviewer writes the most glowing report of his or her interviewing career, and you still did not get in, that it “means nothing”? Perhaps the interview report kept you in consideration until nearly the end of the process (which you will never know), or was the thing that got you on the wait list instead of not being accepted at all.</p>
<p>I have been told that the interview does several things for the AO–</p>
<ol>
<li><p>It confirms the impressions they are already getting from other sources such as letters, which is important.</p></li>
<li><p>They are trying to get a bit of a window into your personality. At least that is what they are supposed to be doing – sorry about that guy with the little notebook! (Maybe he was succesful in his own way at doing that) </p></li>
<li><p>It might raise a red flag that they would not have seen otherwise. Sometimes interviewers pick up on things that don’t show in the transcript and such. </p></li>
</ol>
<p>Also, if an interviewer realizes the student hasn’t a clue about Brown, such as never seeming to have heard of the open curric, that shows they probably have their eyes on another place and maybe the AO should allocate their precious spots in the next class to other applicants. The interviewer won’t tell them not to accept you, but they will pass it along that you were clueless regarding things Brown thinks are important about Brown.</p>
<p>If Brown (or any other school you are interviewing for) is really your dream school & first choice and you can’t imagine being anywhere else, then say so in that interview, and give really interesting reasons why you are such a great fit for Brown. And don’t forget to do the same thing in your essay. </p>
<p>Everything I have just said applies equally to any other schools’ alumni interviews, I am sure. Good luck to all!</p>
<p>Sweetea</p>
<p>Brown reminded your friends of a prison? Bars?</p>
<p>There are 2 places I am guessing they saw “bars”—one is there is a wrought iron fence surrounding the main Green & its buildings. It was built during the 19th Cent, I think, and different sections were given by various classes. You see that kind of thing on a lot of college campuses. There is one of these at a prep school near where I live, too (I believe originally Brown’s campus was fenced to keep the cows in – they had cows to give milk for the students). </p>
<p>Also, they may have been talking about iron bars on the ground floor windows of some of the older dorms. Those are not to keep the students in, they are to keep intruders out. The “bad guys” in Providence call Brown “the Mall.” </p>
<p>Don’t get the idea Brown has a huge crime problem—it does not— but you have to have some common sense, and many Brown students come from towns and schools where they were able to leave things lying all over the place. You can’t do that in a city. </p>
<p>You will notice there is a sort of moat around some of the blocks Brown’s housing occupies. It’s to make it hard to climb into ground floor windows from the street.</p>
<p>Ah, the moat. Back in the day, my friends used to make “moat punch.” OK, this is a total non sequitur. Perhaps it belongs in the food thread.</p>
<p>JRZmom, thanks for your perspective – I agree with what you said (although some Brown interviews do come right out and recommend that a student not be accepted).</p>
<p>I have a daughter who has gotten into a college prep school (Chadwick Academy in Palos Verdes). Do you think she will have an advantage getting into Brown and other tops schools going there rather than our local public school?</p>
<p>@parent24: You’ll likely get more responses if you make your own thread in this forum.</p>
<p>The short answer, which you probably don’t want to hear, is “no one really knows.” On the one hand, people cite the significantly larger number of students who get into top colleges from prep schools. On the other hand, there’s no evidence that can be presented that shows that these students would not have had the same results at their local public schools (where they probably would have been at or near the top of their class as well) or that the top students at the public school would have different results at the private school. What matters most is doing the most with what opportunities you have - if you do that, then regardless of where you are, you have a chance.</p>
<p>If she truly wants to go to prep school, and you have the resources to send her there, then she probably should go, because her education will most likely be better for it. The reason to go to top colleges isn’t because you’ll do so much better in life… but rather because you’ll get a top-quality education, and to be with people who you fit in with. You can still do extremely well in life from a low-ranked university, and if you’ve got the drive and attitude you’re more likely than someone who goes to a top school without that drive and attitude. But with better resources, better preparation, etc., you’ll be more likely to make your life what you want it to be. And education is the key: for some kids here, it’s a matter of “catching up” to their prep-schooled peers, which I’ve already seen happening in my CS/physics classes (and those Brown admits who need to “catch up” seem generally capable of at least diminishing the gap between their better educated peers). For others of us, it’s a matter of exploring pathways more in depth than most.</p>
<p>I agree that you should start another, separate, thread, and do it in the Parents Forum where you’ll get a wider variety of answers. One answer is that it depends on the prep school, the public school, and how your daughter would do at both. If she is valedictorian at her public school, that might be more impressive than falling in the bottom half of her prep school. How good is the public school? What schools do the prep school kids get into? Can you compare Naviance statistics for both? </p>
<p>The bottom line is that there are so many variables that you should make the decision based on factors other than select college admissions. Decide based on the next four years, and not on what may or may not happen four years from now.</p>
<p>I accidentally went to the wrong Starbucks in the strip mall where I was supposed to meet my interviewer. This caused me to be 10 minutes late and my interviewer then had somewhere to go. As a result, my interview only lasted 20 minutes, but I still got in.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>There’s a very supportive Forum here on College Confidential for “Prep Schools” (which, as a practical matter, is focused on boarding schools, but covers all manner of college preparatory schools). There’s even a Parent’s Forum within that space that you may find very useful:</p>
<p>[Prep</a> School Admissions - College Confidential](<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/prep-school-admissions/]Prep”>Prep School Admissions - College Confidential Forums)</p>
<p>I know you’re beyond the admissions stage, but the conversations – particularly among the Parents – cover life as a student; parent involvement/guidance; what to expect; and, of course, the impact of one’s choice of school on college admissions. In fact, that’s a very hot topic.</p>
<p>In the event you don’t venture over there, my own personal view on the question you raised is: it depends. And it largely depends on the student. The private school itself might provide a historical statistical advantage, but you need to look deeper than that. If your public school option is seriously deficient at meeting her needs as an individual student, the private school may be the easy choice. But it’s also entirely possible that the private school might not meet her specific, individual needs (from academic offerings, to the right mix of collaboration/competitiveness, to guidance counseling, and more). Students are very different creatures from one another. And there are lots of excellent private (and public) schools out there, but they’re not all the same. There’s no universal truth here.</p>
<p>In addition to how well the school matches up with her learning style, there’s the age-old debate as to whether it’s easier to get into a highly selective college from a highly competitive private school. Her class rank may be lower at the private school. It may be more difficult to keep up and take the most demanding courses at the private school. And, depending on how far away Chadwick is from your home, the distance could mean less chance for community service. Or it could mean the end of a favorite EC interest, like playing an instrument with a long-time instructor or membership in a ham radio club. It’s also possible that the high school has resources (a woodworking and metalworking shop come to mind) a private school doesn’t have.</p>
<p>That’s not to say that private school is a disadvantage. The main point is that the answer depends entirely on how your child engages learning, people and her surroundings and how the options she has stack up and align with the kind of student she is. But if I were in your shoes trying to decide which school is best, I would not zero in on her chances at college as a leading indicator.</p>
<p>The question I’d ask myself is “Where will she thrive and do the best and grow the most?” The school that gives her the best shot at those things will, as an ancillary benefit, likely give her her best shot at the most selective colleges. I ignore the stat-hounds who push numbers related to college admissions for various schools as though they give you an idea as to whether one school is better than another. Those people don’t know your child; they don’t care about your child; and they have no idea if the schools improved the students’ chances over what those same talented students might have had in another school.</p>
<p>If you can visualize your daughter on graduation day from high school, without knowing where her future will lead, try to imagine whether she will be a better, smarter, more mature and empathetic and aware person at School A or at School B. Regardless of which college she might go to afterward, I’d want my child to attend the high school that coaxed the very best out of them during high school. The college admission outcomes will follow along…and the college she enters will hopefully be the very best college for the type of student/person she is as she’s coming out of high school. That’s why, imo, you want to explore which high school will bring out the best in her by graduation day, not which will give her an advantage with admissions to Brown or its peer institutions.</p>
<p>It’s a very personal and gut-wrenching choice. Bon courage!</p>
<p>Thank you so much! it was very helpful and brilliant.</p>
<p>I was wondering…
What does it mean if Brown calls your guidance counselor for senior year grades? For those who weren’t asked for it, is it bad news?</p>
<p>Great information! Will definetely come back to this thread when I’m looking for colleges. (:</p>
<p>Thanks for the info on Brown Alumni interviews especially that they try to arrange an interview for every applicant. 
Do you know if it helps to update your application with new awards and accomplishments and if so, how to find out the Territory Admissions Officer who is responsible for PA?</p>
<p>I received my call for an interview scheduled for next week. Thanks for the information–it helped with the anxiety immensely!</p>