<p>I consider myself a good interviewer, but even I have the 2 interviews I knew I nailed. Other 2 I thought I did very well..but u can never tell if your not 100% sure. But then again a nailed interview doesn't get you in.</p>
<p>Yah, I think I'm an above average interviewer. I'm not great, but I'm pretty good. I had 2 terrible interview, 5 decent above average interviews, and 1 amazing interview!</p>
<p>3 interviews I nailed...And subsequently received personal letters from the admissions directors of 2 of them</p>
<p>2 I feel like I really did well on, but not quite as well as the "nailed" ones. This includes my top pick, so I'm crossing my fingers!</p>
<p>1 I completely bombed, and I am 99.99999999% sure I'll get rejected. </p>
<p>These are just the ones I applied to. Of my other two interviews, one would go in the "nailed" category and one in the middle category.</p>
<p>I have no idea what teenagers mean when they say they "nailed" an interview, but it implies that they succeeded in telling the interviewer what they think he or she wanted to hear. How do you know what the interviewer wanted to hear? </p>
<p>I don't think a Boarding School interview is something you can "nail." I know you can have the feeling of having put yourself over in the way that you think shows yourself in the best light, but who even knows what the interview is trying to discover?</p>
<p>Nailed means you did it to your best ability and you feel like your best ability is pretty good. It's not about trying to convey what they want to hear, it's about successfully conveying everything we wanted them to know about us through answering their questions. If that's not what they wanted to hear, then its not (were not gunna lie)...doesn't mean you didn't nail the interview.</p>
<p>Grejuni- your posts are always so on point.</p>
<p>I'll PM about a seperate issue...</p>
<p>I agree with saying that you can never truly tell what an admissions officer wants to hear, but sometimes you do get that feeling that you connected. To start off I applied to three schools and am anxiously waiting my decision letters. I had one interview that my mom and I call the "wow" day. Our tour guide was friendly, talkative and knew everything there is to know. My interviewer was friendly and easy to talk to. We talked for about an hour and I met a guy on the cross country team. This school is my top choice so I hope the interview went as well as I thought it did. On the flip side, at another school i applied to the interview didn't fell great. My tour guide was a little strange and didn't really know about the things I was interested in. My interviewer was nice, but I didn't feel a connection. My third school was in the middle. My tour guide was friendly, but basically the polar opposite of me. My interviewer was extremely nice and we had a lovely conversation but i don't think it was near the level of my first interview. The highlight of that school was meeting the sailing coach. We talked for about a half an hour while my mom had her interview. We are still keeping in touch and I feel that was what made that school stay at the top of my list. So My first and third school are my top choices, but everyone says that my second school is fabulous but I don't think I have a great chance of getting in there. 10 days!!!</p>
<p>Grejuni--"Nailed" in my opinion means that I thoroughly connected with the interviewer and was able to maintain an interesting conversation. Most of these interviews are long, and it felt like it could've easily gone on for much longer. I think it's pretty easy to get the general idea of whether the interviewer liked you. I don't tell them what I think they want to hear, because truly I have no idea. I was just my usual outgoing self, and I really feel that my best traits came through to the interviewer.</p>
<p>I am resurrecting this thread from last year simply because it may help some other parents to know that they aren’t alone in worrying. I have reread it and it does help. (My gut was correct, btw.)</p>
<p>This year, I am more optimistic simply because all my son’s (proverbial) eggs aren’t in the same basket, but I am trying with all my might to not think about it.</p>
<p>And since I’ll be here next year too (sigh) when my daughter goes through this, maybe I’ll be able to give some decent advice from a positive outcome. I doubt I’ll be less anxious though. :)</p>
<p>Oh, there were some problems with someone posting rather nasty things (a parent, no less) that were deleted by the mods somewhere in the second page. So if the flow of the thread seems disjointed, that’s why.</p>
<p>There’s no way to know how the numbers will play out with the admissions class–balancing boys and girls, musicians and athletes, writers and scientist–so promising signs are just that. We went through a whirlwind last year with coaches calling and admissions officers sending very strong messages of support only to get waitlists. It was baffling. We learned the hard way that the best advice is make sure you let a school know if it is your first choice–it could just make the difference.</p>
<p>This was a very interesting read-thanks for bumping. I’m not going to ask about my parents gut feelings, I already know my pesimism is genetic.</p>
<p>This is our first time through this process, so we have no experience-based knowledge nor do we have any other special knowledge/understanding of BS admissions… so our main gut feelings are nervousness and great apprehension. Because S has worked hard and achieved well for many years, both academically and on EC’s, we are guardedly optimistic but we are also prepared to console him (and ourselves) after March 10.</p>
<p>We went through the process last year for the first time and learned alot. After my son got his acceptence letter by a great school, I opened my letter adressed to me (both came on Mar. 10) and we were denied FA. Talk about an emotional swing!</p>
<p>Some people want to see a letter of admission even if the school can’t offer the FA they definately need to attend the school. There you got it, hockey21. I am sure you were proud of your son’s achievement despite the blow of no FA offered. I personally don’t care for the “emotional swing”, so to me if the school knows for sure that with no FA you couldn’t possibly attend what’s the point of offering admission?</p>
<p>As a parent, have been through this 2 times now, 3 including the college process that just concluded (successfully, Hallelujah). I was glued to CC looking to read any mention of the potential BS’s. This was the time one hangs on every little burp that it is heard about the possible BS and trying to interpret what it could mean, if anything. Can’t say if my gut feeling was right or wrong because it kept changing. I’ve always remembered an Admission officer friend telling me there is 20% they know they want, 20% they know they don’t want, it’s the other 60% they just don’t know and will take whatever info to assist in the decision process. It helped in knowing that I pretty much exhausted all connections (if any) and that the letters of recommendations were from the best sources available. Always positive with the boys in discussing the possibilities and if things went South then it was the school’s lost. I do believe there is a method to the BS admission madness that can be more understandable than the college admission procedure. All I can say is try not to dwell too much, because I know you will, and Good Luck!</p>
<p>There are so many factors …what grade are you applying? are you a male or female? are you boarding or day? are you full pay or full FA,or somewhere in between? what sports do you play? your test scores, your race,your personality,all must fit. That is why it is key to apply to numerous schools just to cover all the bases and maybe find a good FIT and get accepted somewhere. I do not want to go through that again, hopefully this year will a happy March 10…for everybody!</p>
<p>I hope so too, hockey21. </p>
<p>An applicant can only go to one school, so that’s all they need to gain admission to. Sure, my son has his favorite, but he really would be thrilled to attend any of the schools to which he applied. As long as there is ONE admittance with FA, it will be a merry evening at Five Guys (and maybe Ben and Jerry’s afterwards). </p>
<p>I’d better curb my caloric intake now, just to prepare.</p>
<p>I agree with hockey21. Apply to as many BS’s as possible. No applicant knows exactly what the winning combination is at each BS. There is great safety in numbers, however. </p>
<p>Last year, my son applied to 10 BS’s. We knew that he would get in some and not in others. But then we just absolutely knew that he would be accepted in one certain school (he wasn’t) and knew for sure that there was no way that another school would ever accept him (it did and he now attends that school). So dive into as many pools as you can, swim as hard as possible and then wait to see how you finish each race. You will be surprised, stunned, pleased, confused, mad, sad, excited, happy, and dizzy on March 10. It is sort of like all of your prior life crammed into one day. Fun but scary.</p>
<p>Benley,
There are very few who can’t afford the school. The only question is what will you give up. The new car. The vacation. The new suit. etc. Like every other expense in life, you have to judge the worth of it.</p>
<p>We went with 5 apps this year, and narrowed it to 3 after the visits. We kind of went high,med,low pretty much based on average ssat %. We would be happy with any of them but of course there is a fav</p>