<p>There's a long discussion going on on Parents Forum about the location of alum interviews, and since mostly parents have responded there, and since I've been an alum interviewer for Harvard, I'd be interested in hearing your views. </p>
<p>How do you react to the location of alum interviews? Does it matter to you whether the interview is in a coffee shop, your guidance counselor's office, the interviewer's home, the interviewer's business office or a room at your local library? If you could choose, which would you prefer?</p>
<p>Are there certain places where you'd feel more comfortable or uncomfortable? How does the interviewer's gender affect your reaction to the interview location?</p>
<p>My interview for MIT was conducted at the interviewer’s home at around 8pm. I’m a twenty-one year old male and I’ve been on my own since sixteen, so that colors my perceptions.</p>
<p>I think the thread in the parent’s forum was a bit strange. Most of my friends who interviewed for colleges did so at coffee shops, but I think an interview at a home or office is perfectly fine. Undergraduate interviews don’t seem professional, and I don’t think that they should be. </p>
<p>Parents who have problems with the impropriety of home interviews seem out of touch and overprotective to me.</p>
<p>I like coffee shop interviews, it just seems like the right setting. I have one at an interviewer’s office next week, which isn’t as comfortable. I actually wouldn’t mind home interviews much but I don’t assume many people do that.</p>
<p>Well I think Northstarmom is asking whether a home interview is comfortable/appropriate, and additionally, do you feel safe? (From what I gather after reading parts of that crazy thread.)</p>
<p>I’m choosing (or at least suggesting) to interview at a coffee shop; partly because I’m currently at my parents’ house and don’t want to inconvenience them, and partly because I’m a recent grad (read '09) and I’d would be more comfortable doing so at a public space. </p>
<p>With that said, when I did my interviews in hs, I (and my parents) didn’t have a problem with me going to an alum’s house for an interview. Nor did I think it was inappropriate. I do think parents are more acutely aware, or rather, instinctively more likely to overestimate the dangers of situations involving their children. It’s biology me thinks.</p>
<p>i personally don’t mind going to my interviewer’s home for the interview. for me, it makes little to no difference where the interview is being held, and my parents have never been hesitant either about home interviews.</p>
<p>From personal experience as an interviewee I think home interviews and at school interviews are ok, but coffee shops are the best. Because both the interviewer and interviewee are equally familiar with the surroundings, unlike the student’s school ( the student will feel more comfortable) or the alum’s house ( the alum will feel much more comfortable). Coffee shops are neutral and each person will feel fine. </p>
<p>I would think that gender would only be a problem for overprotective parents of their daughters who have male interviewers at the alum’s home. I personally don’t find any difference but parents might feel more comfortable if it was a female instead of male. Just a guess</p>
<p>I just read the parents thread and yes it seemed like moms were worried about their daughters at the male interviewer’s home. </p>
<p>Many parents on that thread believed that a coffee shop would be distracting and loud, but the 2 interviews I have had at coffee shops have been crowded but not distracting at all. Of course as the OP already stated on the parents thread, the alumni are volunteers and don’t have the time to go to coffee shops. But from a student’s perspective coffee shops are the way to go.</p>
<p>The location of the interview for me does not matter, per se. I quite frankly don’t care where it is, but, from the location (and, sometimes, the time) the alumni tells me s/he wants to have an interview at, I attempt to induce what kind of person the alumni interviewer is beforehand so that I can be adequately prepared to meet with such a person (I know which comments NOT to make, which questions I can most likely get a detailed response from, etc.). While my method obviously will not always work as there are some variables that I cannot adequately take into account, it has worked for me for all the alumni interviews I have had (and I’m finished with them…woo!). As well, I must note that I always find it necessary to derive all the possibilities of how an interviewer will be like and then narrow it down when I first meet the interviewer so that I’m never caught off guard…I don’t like getting caught off guard (I still perform adequately, but I usually only meet expectations, and not exceed them, when I’m not prepared) :).</p>
<p>I need some sleep because I’m pretty sure half of what I said is completely incoherent…</p>
<p>After interviewing at the interviewers home, office, a school, and a coffee shop, I prefer coffee shop because it is less intimidating/formal, and allows conversation to flow better. When I’m at the interviewers house, I feel like I am inconveniencing them, especially when they have a family that they tell to stay quiet in a different room until after the interview. At a high school on a weekend, it just feels really formal and unnatural. At the office, there a combination of the formality and feeling of inconvenience.</p>
<p>Additionally, in terms of interviewer’s gender, I have no preference and it doesn’t affect my preference of place to meet. However, I’ve found it easier to make conversation with with younger alumni (20s) or much much older alumni (45+).</p>
<p>In my case, I prefer a location which one senses is more “personal”. For example, if the interview is to take place at the interviewer’s house, a coffee shop or the interviewer’s office, one (probably incorrectly) senses that one will be the only interviewee. On the other hand, if the setting is one in which many will be interviewed at once (e.g. the interviewee’s school, a local university, etc), I think the interviewees will be more intimidated.</p>
<p>I’ve had college interviews in a number of different places. My first was in a small room on campus with a senior. I’ve had two at coffee shop type places, two at homes of interviewers (one with a man, one with a woman), one at my school in the college information/testing prep center, and one with 2 profs instead of alumni on campus. </p>
<p>I never felt uncomfortable in the home interviews. During my one where the interviewer was male, the interviewer actually invited my mother in, since it was about 30 minutes from our house and she’d had to drive me there. He apparently often invited the parents in, and talked to them as well as the student. His daughter was there too, snacking and reading magazines on the porch, and his wife was upstairs. Having my mother there probably would have made me more uncomfortable if she could hear what I was saying, but she turned her cochlear implant processor off. How sweet of her. In the other one, we were alone for about half the interview, and then her husband came home with the groceries. My mother dropped me off and went to some nearby caf</p>
<p>^ Ask your interviewer beforehand for some physical indication ( blue sweatshirt, or tall, dark skin etc…) if it will be at a coffee shop. Normally the interviewer can probably see a nervous or confident teenager dressed nicely with a resume in their hand and deduce that it is the student.</p>
<p>As an alumna interviewer, I would advise against asking your interviewer what he or she looks like for the purpose of identifying him or her in a coffee shop. If your interviewer offers the information, that’s fine. Otherwise, it is not a question you should ask, IMHO. Just look around in the coffee shop; your interviewer will be looking for you.</p>
<p>I’m a student, but I’ve just finished up 11 interviews this application season.</p>
<p>I’d have to say that I’m most comfortable in a busy starbucks/panera. In private offices, it can be alright if the interviewer is chatty and likes talking rather than asking lots of questions. The vibe of busy social places is very calming.</p>
<p>My ~worst~ interview was in the interviewer’s home, because he obviously felt extremely comfortable walking around in socks and putting his feet up on his coffee table. I was trying to be as polite and respectful as possible, as it was a VERY VERY upscale home, so I ended up seeming very rigid in comparison. Beyond that, he did challenge my personal religious/dietary beliefs which might explain how terrible it was.</p>
<p>“As an alumna interviewer, I would advise against asking your interviewer what he or she looks like for the purpose of identifying him or her in a coffee shop.”</p>
<p>I’ve been an alum inteviewer, and if you’re going to meet in a public place, I think it’s smart to ask the interviewer what s/he looks like. When I was going to interview in a public place, I asked interviewees what they looked like. Doing this prevents missing each other or being in the embarrassing situation of asking random strangers if they’re your interviewer. It even would be smart to offer to e-mail the interviewer your pix.</p>
<p>When I had my interview last year, I had it in an investment bank’s office. While I was waiting for the interviewer to show up, I sat in a chair near the firm’s trading desk (very exciting to see people trade stocks before the market opening). Then, the interviewer showed up, and we moved to a more private setting (his corner office).</p>