<p>This thread certainly says something about the social conditions of the US I guess and the degree to which we are vigilant for threat. Certainly both parties could be at some “risk”: an interviewer could be subject to false allegations of harassment; an interviewee could be intimidated or molested–but the odds are probably no worse than of someone driving a car into the coffee shop…I understand the OPs initial question about a new situation and agree that we need to be alert and careful in life and ----but paranoia is not healthy and excessive worry about threat actually impairs judgment.</p>
<p>Ultimately it seems to me that if a young woman is headed to college it is time for her to make an assessment of which kinds of situations she will choose to enter into and where she is comfortable. This is a great opportunity for a parent to have a frank discussion about what do you do if you find yourself in a situation that turns creepy. But to miss the interview opportunity altogether seems to me a loss; it is after all an invitation, not a command appearance.</p>
<p>Put yourself into the interviewer’s position. You’re volunteering as a favor for students and for your college. You have a job, a family, and a variety of other obligations. </p>
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<p>I think some of this may be related to the locale of the area. Where I live, in suburbia, there is a Starbucks or similar type of store every few blocks, which seems to be the unofficial let’s-meet type of place. So it would hardly be an inconvenience for someone to schedule to meet someone at Starbucks at 10 am. (I just met a fellow alum at a Starbucks this past week – we were networking through LinkedIn, as he was trying for a position in a company where I have a connection.) I imagine in more rural locations, it may be more inconvenient to find a coffee shop or library.</p>
<p>I have two kids currently “in the process.” They have had alumni interviews in:
alum homes
Starbucks
Alum’s law office
At a table in the mall
Breakfast-type place</p>
<p>Maybe because they’re boys I haven’t thought of the OP’s dilemma, but with all the places they’ve been asked to go, they probably would have preferred an alum’s home because it would have been easier/more convenient to get to in many instances. But I do agree that alumni interviewers are doing a real service for their alma maters and the students should try to fit into the alum’s routine.</p>
<p>“Go to a coffee shop when it’s not crowded. How about 7:30 am on a Sat morning or 8 pm on a weeknight? … how about borrowing the high school’s library during the student’s free period or before or after school?
Be creative folks…”</p>
<p>Wow… you’ve got some worldview.</p>
<p>Who do you think these interviewers are? They have jobs, they have families, and they have some time which they are willing to donate to their alma mater. That time does not take precedence over their jobs or their families. They are not employees of the college and they don’t work for you. You don’ get to schedule their time. The “opportunity” of an interview is what they offer, not the “guarantee” of one.</p>
<p>It is not the interviewer’s responsibility to try to fit in to the student’s schedule (at school during a student’s free period? - jeez!). It is the student’s responsibility to try to fit in to the interviewer’s schedule. If you can’t or don’t want to understand that, then decline the interview. </p>
<p>Way back when - almost all interviews were at the house of the interviewer. I agree with many of the posts above that this arrangement presents more of a potential danger for the interviewer than the interviewee. Never the less, if it presents a problem for you, the responsibility is yours to find a way to address it. </p>
<p>Perhaps your daughter (not you) could call admissions and explain her mother’s concerns and ask if it just might be possible to meet with another interviewer who does interview in a public place. Don’t see how that could have any negative consequence.</p>
<p>I would not approve of a home interview.
I am often in similar situations. As a male landlord, I am often in a home to paint, or repair or interview a (prospective)tenant. That would often put me in a home alone with (an adult) female. I choose to bring my wife, my mom, or my someone else with me for MY protection. It is way too easy for a female to falsely cry “violence!” “theft!” or “rape!” . Such allegations would be unfounded, but the stigma would remain.</p>
<p>So, I am a “big boy”, I am an adult, I’m not scared some single woman will rob or rape me. But I’m scared to death of such a false allegation. It may be more convenient for an interviewer to meet in his living room, or kitchen or bedroom(exactly where does ‘his comfort’ become inappropriate?) but I think a college interview should be handled more professionally. If the interviewer is unable or just doesn’t have the time to do so, then he needs to step aside and let someone interview that can.</p>
<p>Seeing it from the interviewers’ perspective, I am shocked he would put himself in such a risky position, and surprised the college would do so too. The college risks a legal predicament in case of allegations of impropriety.</p>
<p>I think you should call the school’s admission’s office just to confirm the guy is an official interviewer. then go, introduce yourself and wait in the car. Everything should be okay. Unless it’s a Dartmouth alum.</p>
<p>No matter how great the inconvenience, alumni interviewers who conduct interviews in their homes are creating a situation in which either party could accuse the other of sexual harassment. It’s a bad deal.</p>
<p>Years ago, I was a Cub Scout leader. In accordance with the policy of the Boy Scouts of America, which applies to leaders of both sexes, I never met alone with a Scout. This policy was instituted to avoid the risk of sexual harassment and accusations of sexual harassment. On many occasions, I met with Scouts individually to help them with badge work or test them on badge requirements. There was always another person present. </p>
<p>The situation for alumni interviewers is not that different from the situation with Scouts. It involves an adult meeting with a person who is probably underage. No matter how inconvenient, it should be done in a public place or with a second person present.</p>
<p>My daughter had to do an interview at a Starbucks where it was so noisy that it would have been impossible to conduct the interview indoors. She and the interviewer went to one of the outdoor tables even though it was very cold out. Yes, that was unpleasant, but it was better than the alternative (actually, since the college in question forbids interviews at the interviewer’s home, there probably was no alternative).</p>
<p>My S had a Bowdoin interview with an unmarried thirty-something male in a single family home in a very secluded area in the dead of winter. Of the four interviews he had, this was the only one in a private home. Yes, I thought it was weird. A stranger is a stranger–I don’t care what school they are affiliated with. I drove him and parked down the street with my cellphone on. Frankly, I think these “interviews” are affectations on the part of the schools and exist simply to make alumni feel like they are still plugged in to their alma mater.</p>
<p>I am glad that I get to live in a world, however ephemeral, that is sunnier and more pleasant than the worlds in which some others of you seem to live. In my world, it is nice when people invite you into their homes. Not every adult male is a sex predator, nor is every young woman a victim waiting to happen, or a potential fraudulent law suit. Older teenagers about to go to college are not paralyzed by fear that they will be attacked, by alumni interviewers or by street criminals. Parents do not intervene in their children’s business unless asked. (I realize, reading this thread, that I only knew where my kids’ college interviews were happening if they chose to tell me, which was about half the time.)</p>
<p>I agree! I suppose you could caution your student prior to dropping them off etc, but I honestly think this is a prime example of making a mountain out of molehill. Not one person on this thread (to the degree I’ve read) speaks about how they were molested during an alumni interview. In a professor’s office? Maybe. It happened to me as well from an accounting professor. But this was well after I was enrolled in the college.</p>
<p>I guess we were fortunate in that my D’s interviewers last year weren’t total strangers. In most cases, they had a longstanding relationship with her high school and had interviewed other students my D knew. One was the husband of a teacher at the school. The one I recall without a relationship was a college professor so it was easy to “google” him. However, we didn’t end up dealing with the house issue as most of her interviews took place in their offices or at the school. </p>
<p>The only interview that seemed odd to me was when my H drove D to an interview in a nearby city at a hotel. This was with a college admissions staff person and he conducted the interview in his hotel room. My H met the admissions person and then nervously waited in the lobby. Fortunately all went well.</p>
<p>Both of my D’s interviewed for Ivies in private homes (including for Dartmouth!) and it never crossed my mind that it might be unsafe. My initial thoughts about the interviewers were that I appreciated the time they were taking to give my D’s a chance to contribute their personal/human attributes to the admissions process which applicants don’t get to do at most colleges. I admit to googling one male interviewer but not out of mistrust, just curiosity since he lived in our general neighborhood. Turns out he was an 80-something-year-old physician.</p>
<p>I’ve had four kids/stepkids interview for college admissions (not Ivies) but for top-25 LACs and I think that with the exception of a guy, who was an MD and conducted the interview in his medical offices, every one of the kids’ interviews was at an alum’s home. One more exception–D2 had two interviews with someone in the admissions office because it was pretty easy to do both the interview and tour on the same visit. D1’s favorite interview was with a couple who both went to the college that she ended up attending–the husband and wife were in their early 30s and had a couple of young kids and they had her come by after dinner. Wife put the kids to bed and husband interviewed her–then wife came down and they chatted. I admit that I had a moment of concern about the kids going to the homes of folks who were strangers, but my general inclination that most people are good and decent took over.</p>
<p>I completely agree that it is the interviewer who is more at risk in a home interview than the student! </p>
<p>Do you really think that this person signed up as an unpaid volunteer alumni interviewer in order to rape teenage girls, especially ones who are KNOWN to be at their house at a specific time? Or show off their house to a high school kid? Come on.</p>
<p>Of course you should let your D do a home interview. My S interviewed in several homes, and one interviewer came to ours. (All for Ivies, coincidentally.) I think that those interviews were far better than those in which they met in a crowded, noisy coffee shop.</p>
<p>BTW, I know of a number of cases of undergrads and grad students either having affairs with or being harassed by professors. (At top schools.) I have yet to hear of anyone having an issue with an alumni interviewer. :)</p>
<p>I think some who have posted have a misconception of how alumni interviews are assigned and think it’s just easy to meet at Starbucks or even to go to the kid’s school. Not every student who is assigned to an interviewer lives in the same town or within a few miles. Even within a large metro or suburban area, there may only be a few interviewers and the students they are assigned can live as far away as 30 or more miles. Not every kid can meet on one Saturday at Starbucks. I think it was momto4collegekids who suggested that the interviewer could just go to a student’s house or school. If an interviewer is assigned 6 kids to interview and they all go to different schools and live 20 miles from the interviewer’s home, why would the interviewer go to all these different locations? The kid’s free period or before or after school may coincide with an important client meeting, a patient’s surgery, a court case, etc.</p>
<p>Both my children (one of each gender) had interviews conducted in alums’ homes. Concerns about safety never crossed my mind. Life is filled with potentially perilous situations. This is not one of them, IMO.</p>
<p>I do alum interviews for my alma mater. We are permitted to interview anywhere that is convenient for us. Our interviewers are active and engaged alum and participating board members of our regional school organization. We are also trained for this purpose and have extensive in person meetings with the regional rep when that person is in the area. In addition, we have frequent and ongoing interaction with the admissions office by virtue of phone calls, emails and reports. With all that in mind I’d have close to zero issue with an at home interview for a school that allows them. As other people have mentioned, I’d be more concerned in the interviewer’s place.</p>
<p>In view of all some of some of the issues that have been raised here, I generally do hold my interviews in public places these days. But I totally agree that these can be, to say the least, not optimal - loud, with a lack of privacy and distracting for both the student and the interviewer. I always arrive extra early to be sure to get a decent table. A few parents do come in to introduce themselves and to meet me before the interviews. In some cases I can sense that it’s out of concern that the daughter is meeting a stranger in a public place, in others it’s just to introduce themselves and say hello. In fact, the school actively encourages us to invite any parents who drop in to come back at the end of the interview to chat and to see if they have any questions.</p>