We’ve done 3 interviews so far; are going to 4 schools in August, and have 3 more to visit in early September (however, a newly reconstructed (and very late in the fall) combined family weekend/alumni/long fall weekend is throwing a wrench into our plans to get a last one in before the end of Sept). Since his is a fall sport, our chances to get off campus then on the weekends are slim, and who knows how the new Dean of Students will feel about missing a class day.
I don’t think it is early to interview. My kids did many interviews while touring colleges during Spring of junior year.
@doschicos: Thanks for clarifying…I guess I don’t recall 7D1 interviewing this early in her college process, and since 7D2 is athletic recruit, has not interviewed (with admissions at least) for her process…
DS did almost all his interviews over the summer. Fall sports, rules limiting number of days that could be missed, and interest in geographies that required flights necessitated it.
@SevenDad , as others have said, it’s just for convenience, to get as many out of the way as possible. Some schools don’t start interviewing until September, though, which obviously makes things a little more complicated for BS kids.
None of S17’s schools did spring interviews. A few opened in August. He did spring visits, but any interviews were in the fall/winter (one was at the end of August). Several were alumni which were done at BS or over break at home, and a few didn’t schedule until you submitted your application. So much variation among schools.
Good luck (I have a few years until we do this again with kid 2).
DS is also trying to decide whether to apply to one school ED, which means he wants to visit as many schools as possible now, as opposed to after he hears where he has gotten in, in order to determine if said ED school is really #1.
@hellomaisy , at the risk of stating the obvious, make sure your son visits any school where he may apply ED while it’s in session as he won’t have the luxury of attending accepted student days to make his final decision.
DS had one school he loved during a summer visit and he planned to apply ED. After spending a full day there in the fall, it fell way down his list.
With these summer interviews, is there a chance that kid may not even apply to school or are all the schools definitely on list?
Again, as an athlete, 7D2’s process is different (with academic pre-reads, etc.) than most, but I don’t remember 7D1 even formulating a definite “apply to” list until her senior year started…and yes, we did visit some schools over Junior year spring break and the summer before senior year. But no interviews (that I recall).
Follow up question…are these schools mostly smaller LACs or larger institutions?
Hi @SevenDad !
Swimkid #2 is recovering from shoulder surgery #2 and anticipates returning to swimming for his senior season at St. Andrew’s School. As his doctor said, “It is good to be 17 and in great shape!” : )
He is in contact with several coaches (DIII) and has interviews at two LAC’s before he heads back to school in late August. He has a recruiting trip planned to his #1 choice LAC in September. Right now, we are just grateful that there is a least one coach who knows about his surgeries and is still willing to take a chance on him. Most of his list consists of small LAC’s where he hopes to continue swimming. He is also looking at a few state schools that don’t offer/require interviews. If Swimkid #2 ends up at one of his state university options he plans to pursue club sports.
@SevenDad For us, the summer interviews are mostly LACs. The larger schools mostly seem to want alumni interviews later in the year, and the largest schools don’t interview at all. How colleges handle interviews is surprisingly variable. Some don’t do them, some do but don’t care, some care, and some require. Also, these are all schools they will probably apply to, although their lists do need to be trimmed a bit.
@SevenDad For my kids, most were LACs because that was what they were focused on, but also a few mid sized universities. Not all schools made the final cut, but all were on the serious consideration list. Just seem prudent to do the interview if they were offered at the time and while we were on campus to avoid going back and also seemed preferable to interview with someone in admissions over an alum.
@NCSwimmom: We are due for a SAS parents reunion at Cantwells! I could probably use a dose of Tad, so perhaps I’ll try and get down to campus for one of the various parent/arts weekends.
Glad to hear that Swimkid’s still in the hunt for a recruiting spot. 7D2 is in a bit of a “wait and see” period, but has invite to fall recruiting overnight for one D1 school and patiently waiting to see if she makes the short list for another. Will be happy/relieved when it is all said and done!
DS did summer visits with interviews at LACs only (but that was his list!). He decided not to apply to 2 although he interviewed. Rationale was that he was unlikely to be back on campus given the location, so this was the best time to do this. He did return in the fall to visit his ED options and to a few he had visited during junior spring break when they weren’t ready to interview for his application cycle.
I was guessing it was LACs…as also noted by twinsmama in post #271 above, in our experience most of the the larger schools (which 7D1 was more focused on) didn’t even require an interview. And those she had were either done on BS campus or via Skype. But again, I don’t think she had any interviews until the Fall of Senior year…which is why the reports of recent on campus interviews struck me as early.
Best of luck to the class of 2018 (and their parents)!
I was beginning to freak out a bit as everyone is talking about interviews. My DS is only looking at large universities and we haven’t heard anything about interviews. It’s funny how some kids want to continue in small schools like their BS, but others like my son want something larger. I was expecting that to change as we visited, however, it only confirmed that!
@Momto4kids: I’m relieved that I was not the only one who was curious/freaked out about the summer interview thing!
@Momto4kids larger universities tend not to do interviews. Just check the website for each school and you’ll be fine.
This week we visited a late addition to the college list. And I was reminded how much I dislike info sessions — it’s not the school representatives that bug me. It’s really the fellow parents, who ask questions whose answers are available on the school website and, in the case of this particular school, ON THE BROCHURE DISTRIBUTE IN THE RECEPTION AREA! I must be rubbing off on 7D2, because as soon as some parent asked one of these types of questions, she pointed to the answer in the brochure.
I do have one bone to pick with the school reps…one of which repeated a version of the “If you are wondering if it’s better to get a B in BC or get an A in AB, the answer is ‘It’s better to get an A in BC’”. I hate that old chestnut.