As we approach M9, I thought that we could all share some of our worst or funniest interview stories as I have seen this thread be done in the past several years and thought it would be great to restart it.
As a swimmer, swimming at boarding school was a common topic that came up during my interviews. At a particular school that is discussed with relatively frequently on CC My interview asked me this:
AO: So you swim? Have you heard about our swim program?
Me (In the heat of the moment): Ohhhhh. Yeah…I’ve heard the boys team is pretty good and that is totally something I would want to be a part of if I came to your school and–
AO: We don’t have a pool… SO THERE IS NO SWIM TEAM.
He then proceeded to write something down furiously…Needless to say, I don’t expect to get into that school. Why on earth would an AO phrase a question like that? Who knows. Ultimately, I have no clue why I started talking bs but in hindsight, I probably could have handled that differently?
Our DS kept referring and asking questions about another school without realizing it and the AO replied you would have to ask the other school, I can only answer questions about our school,
I was doing a Skype interview, and the connection was pretty bad. So here’s what happened:
AO: What kind of books do you like to illustrate?
Me: A lot of different genres, mainly adventure tales.
internet fails to cooperate
AO: Vegetables?
Me, extremely confused, thinking I missed half of the question: Oh, you know… Tomatoes and stuff…
My AO just kept on picking lint off of her blazer
A very similar story to @CC4life:
At one interview they asked me what sports I played:
Me: I’m on a swim team.
AO: So, we don’t have a swim team…or a pool…
Me: oh. okay. Well, I also played soccer in sixth grade???
AO: See, there’s a sport you could persue!
Personally, I think the AO in the @misslilbookworm example was a jerk and the AO in @CC4life 's case was underhanded (valid for a college or job interview, but a bit cruel for HS, IMO) Although lesson number 1 - research the school before the interview.
As an FYI, Milton,as one example, has no pool (well, they do, but not a competition swimming pool) but has a swim team and SPS has a pool with no swim team.
at my parents’ interview for HM, the AO asked if it was my parents who wanted to come here or me
That’s a typical question, although not necessarily phrased so directly.
@ilovechoateeeee last application cycle, during my interview at a HADES School I discussed how much I was passionate about attending boarding school and the AO replied “if you really wanted to come to boarding school you would have applied in 8th grade…Right? So I get it your parents are making you do this now which we don’t really prefer, but whatever.”
Personally, I don’t see why 10th, 11th, or 12th grade applicants would for some reason be less inclined to attend boarding school, but I couldn’t exactly say anything like that in the moment.
I just sort of smiled before reiterating that I’m really passionate about it to which he just responded"SURE…"
Wow, some of you had some really rude interviewers, yikes!
I completely missed my interview at a HADES school because my Mac didn’t support skype interview. I had to call and reschedule for the next day, I was so scared because it’s one of my favourites
omg @CC4life that’s hilarious but also incredibly scary. I can’t believe he didn’t believe you!
Something similar happened to me at St. Mark’s…
My interviewer: So if you could make a perfect school, what would it have?
Me: Well, some brick buildings, I love brick. Uhh, probably some good food, great CS program, all that. Oh! A great track team! Track is important to me.
My interviewer: St. Mark’s doesn’t have a track team…
Me (trying to backtrack): Oh, yeah, track doesn’t matter too much.
Here is the better response:
“My point exactly. If SMS did have a track team, it would be perfect. But I realize that no person, and no institution, is perfect. And really, how boring would life be if we were all perfect?!?” 
Ooh, that would be a great response. But sadly, that would be really hard to think of right in that very heated moment.
@CavsFan2003 @skieurope Exactly! St. Mark checks every box for me (small school, fantastic CS program, really nice faculty, pretty good food, international-friendly) except for not having a track team. Also since I applied to St. Mark after writing all app materials, I did talk extensively about my track experience…
tbh St. Mark really should build a track team and they can just use like LPS’ tracks/fields. That’s what my current school does.
@skieurope I don’t have enough brain cells to think of that response…
The challenge for some of the smaller schools is what do you give up to make that happen? The number of sports offered is limited, in part, by the number of students. Particularly for boys and winter sports, where SMS is known for hockey and basketball, neither of those will go away to make room for indoor track.
It comes with experience and age. TBH, my 13 y/o self would have said (and my 21 y/o self would still think): Get over your damn self. You asked me to describe the perfect school. I never said SMS was a perfect school. L-)