D did not have a good interview with the admissions counselor who traveled to her school. This was her top choice school, and now she’s worried she blew it. She simply did not click with the person on any level, as hard as she tried. She has the GPA and SAT scores put her 75% percentile range, and planned to apply EA.
He told her “I’m the one who’ll read your application” , so I’m curious if you think he will be the ONLY person to decide whether she gets accepted or not, or is there a group of admissions people who go over the applications?
It was a one on one meeting with the rep assigned to our state. Originally, 7 kids signed up to meet with him while he visited her school, but the other kids no-showed, leaving her alone with him. She said he asked her very awkward questions like, “Do you have a car?” (No) “Would you like to have a car?” (Sure?) “Why don’t you want to play varsity sports?” (Never played sports before… she participated in a non-sports related activity).
He didn’t know much about her intended major, so he read to her off the school’s website things she’d read herself, but then drilled her on naming the tour guide on her campus visit, and the exact date of her tour…she got the tour guide’s name correct, but couldn’t recall the exact date of her tour. She said he gave no verbal or non-verbal feedback to her replies, but would just continue on to the next question.
I’m sure he’s a great guy, but they did not click and now she’s wondering if he holds the key to her acceptance there.
I wasn’t very impressed with the Head of Admissions when we went to visit the campus. His powerpoint presentation slides were dated with 2015 statistics. When a parent pointed this out he acknowledged that he had no idea what the current stats were.
The answer is, it depends on the school. At some schools (these tend to be smaller schools), every app is read by 2 people who give a recco, but the final decisions is made in the committee meeting. At other schools (usually bigger schools with large amounts of apps), the regional counselor can ding an app before it goes any further. You may be able to find the process this school uses, in the admission section of the website.
If it were my student I’d try to make sure they have a connection to someone within the department they plan to study in. Is it a school she visited and had the opportunity to meet a professor in the department?
If so, a quick email thanking them again for that meeting, letting them know she met with the admissions counselor at her school, she remains very interested and applied.
If not, a quick email to introduce herself, let them know she met with the admissions counselor, is very interested and applied with some genuine flattery on why she thinks their program/department is the best.
I’m going to echo what @twoinanddone said so succinctly. The whole admissions department sounds incredibly weak-- and could be a symptom of a larger institutional problem–are you sure that this is the perfect school for your daughter?
I look at this a little differently. Maybe your D felt like it didn’t go well, but that doesn’t mean the admissions officer felt that way. Maybe that’s how he rolls. I would think she’d get a bonus for being the only one who showed. In any event, if it were my D and it’s her first choice school, I’d still have her apply EA. Good luck to her!
What makes you think he’s a great guy? I don’t get that impression at all. I think this is a good teachable moment for your daughter. If she was my child I wouldn’t want her to question whether or not she “blew the interview,” I’d want her to question their corporate culture and whether or not they’re a fit for her. Maybe he doesn’t accurately reflect the college’s values, but maybe he does.
I’d encourage her to do further research on the school. Has she reached out to the department she’s interested in? Can you arrange a visit? I work at a selective private college and students contact us to ask questions, make appointments to meet someone in the department and sit in on a class, or to arrange a phone or Skype meeting to learn more. She may want to contact a couple of different departments to get a feel for how they respond to prospective students.
The Admissions Dean doesn’t sound that great either. If it were me, this college would have some serious selling to do to remain on my family’s list.
Was this directed to me? If so, I never said he was a great guy. He just might not be very good at interviews. Maybe he was planning on more of a presentation and was thrown off when only one kid showed. I’m not saying he didn’t do a lousy job, either, but I’ve seen enough college presentations, etc., that I just don’t equate the quality of those to the quality of the academics and other parts of the school that make it attractive.
I would just apply anyway. He may be an awful interviewer, and they do exist! It doesn’t mean they will reject your D. It is EA, so your D is not bound. Remember that she will never see the admissions people again if she attends.
If she gets in and it is still a school she is interested in for other reasons (ignoring admissions), you should both go to accepted student days in the spring and give it a more in-depth look. She should stay overnight then if she can. 24 hours on campus for her, and more time with you poking and prodding at campus priorities, budgets for research, etc shoukd help her decide.
The procedures for reviewing applications varies from college to college. There are no guarantees in this process but I don’t think that a supremely well qualified applicant will be turned down for an interview that just didn’t click. It sounds like that admissions officer has poor interview skills for a person in his job. Still it wouldn’t hurt for your D to email him a quick note thanking him for his time and noting that she is very interested in the college and plans to apply EA.
If anything your D probably has less interest in the school than she had been earlier (if need be you can remind her you never have to deal with admissions again once you enroll in a college).
All anyone can do is to apply wisely – cast a wide net in terms of reach, match, and safety schools that appear affordable and that your D would be happy to attend and she will be fine.
@Mimi2018 I’m so sorry your D had this experience. My D had a similar experience at a college fair. DH & I were there and the whole thing was shocking and bizarre. She also said that she would be the one reviewing the application. We crossed the school off of the list (for reasons in addition to the bizarre behavior). She grilled D and insulted her more than once. I think she thought she was very witty, but she wasn’t. I was shocked by how in your face she was as the school is not “highly” ranked and I would think that she would want to be recruiting people not turning them away. I think others have given good advice. I just wanted your D to know she is not alone!
Hi All! Thank you for taking time to respond to my post. Truly, all your responses are very helpful. I’ve stated before on other posts that this process is very new to me, so I greatly appreciate your input.
D did send him a thank you note after we got home from school yesterday, so she feels good about that. We also discussed that this is an opportunity for her to learn, and so we discussed what she thought went well, how she can improve the next time if she’s in this type of situation again, and also to pay attention as to whether this might not be the best fit. I’m a big believer in “everything happens for a reason” so I encouraged her to open her eyes a bit and really think if there might be a better fit elsewhere.
I said “I’m sure he’s a great guy” just to be nice, frankly. I’m sure he’s a nice person on some level.
I do agree that the admissions department at this school seems somewhat weak, and this is a red flag for me as the paying parent. We did tour the school but were unable to find out much about her major, as the tour guide didn’t know all that much about it either.
She’s still planning to apply to this school, but this experience definitely opened her eyes to look elsewhere.
One issue is that time is slowly running out as far as campus visits go, but we will figure out that next week once she finalizes her EA applications.
I’ll have D read your replies to my post. I know she’ll appreciate what you’ve all said and especially knowing she’s not the only one to have this type of thing happen.
It’s all a great learning opportunity, and she definitely learned to what an awkward interview is like!
Was this an actual interview? It sounds to me like this was a “college day” at the HS… where colleges come during the day, set up their booths, and students come over to talk, introduce themselves, etc.
I would not worry about it ( feeling that she blew it) especially since your daughter was the only student who spoke to this person. That could be viewed as a positive. Also… and don’t take this personally… but if this was not an actual interview… there is good chance that this guy is not going to remember the details once he sits down and reads the application.
I would remind her that this guy is not necessarily a reflection of the entire school… apply wisely and see how it goes. Good luck!
Great advice has been given on the main question. I have another suggestion - if you’re having a hard time finding anyone knowledgeable about your student’s intended major, try reaching out to the department chair before visiting - the email address should be on the departmental web site. My kids were interested in STEM majors, and we rarely found tour guides or admissions people who could answer specific questions.
We did have great luck reaching out to department chairs. Probably wouldn’t work at really large schools, but chairs would often arrange for a student in the major to do a special tour, arrange a meeting (or lunch) with a faculty member, or even speak to our kids themselves.
Many faculty I know (but most of the ones I know are at small institutions) consider recruiting talented, motivated students to be part of their job, and are willing to meet with prospective students. It can’t hurt to try - and can make a huge difference in how students feel about a department!