<p>I didn't get into any of the schools I'm applying to :(, so now, I'm looking at private day schools.</p>
<p>PLEASE could someone give me tips on how to conduct a good interview? I really need to get into the day school, since I didn't get into boarding school... I simply cannot stand another year in my current school.</p>
<p>Any tip at all would really be greatly appreciated- the type of things to say, the way to dress, how to ask really good questions, etc. I did do the interviews for boarding school, but I really didn't feel as though I conducted any of my boarding school interview really well...</p>
<p>I understand how you are feeling. My son has been rejected from 5 of the 8 schools he applied to and we have not heard from the remaining 3 yet.</p>
<p>I strongly recommend that a parent call the schools and ask for a candid reason why you may have been rejected. You may find a pattern or something that you can address in future similar situations.</p>
<p>I would also wait about a week for everything to calm down in the admissions office. Plus I would try to direct my inquiries to the person that did the interview for you or your child.</p>
<p>A few thoughts…After April 10 reply date, some schools will post availability of late applications for boarding, you may have some options there if you are interested in those schools. Next as for interviews, I interview people for employment, and I do alumni interviews for my college, and I also have been on interviews for many things. First, I think appropriate dress for the interview ranges from skirt or dress for girls, to nice dress pants. For boys, nice pants, dress shirt, and maybe jacket and tie. I would look at the individual school’s dress code and try to comply. For the few schools that allow casual dress, I would not wear jeans or sweats anyway,but for sure I would skip the tie in a casual place. Combed hair, clean everything etc. Unless of course, the grunge look is the real you, and you are going to a very liberal place.</p>
<p>The point of the interview is two fold. To find out about you (for the school), and to find out about the school (for you). That said, don’t ask questions easily answered by the catalogue or campus tour. Make it more specific to you - eg. about the team, music, art, math, language or other interest that you, individually, have. You in part have to give an impression of who you are, and why you would do well in the school. Of course the interviewer has questions, but sometimes the interviewer may not be skilled or just asks opened ended questions like “why xyz academy”. You need to have an answer other than I did not get into boarding school. I like xyz because of its excellent (math) program. I love math. I can not get enough of math. I want to be the next Isaac Newton, steven hawkings, you get the idea. But you need to be sincere. Even if your answer is small class size and individual attention, and this is really your reason, it is ok. Some interviewers know kids need to be questioned more specifically, but not all.
Make sure to emphasize your strengths, and the contribution that you will make to the community.</p>
<p>Most private day schools use the same admissions schedule as the boarding schools, so it is late to apply.
Don’t try to call schools right now. They are overwhelmed with calls, and really don’t have the resources to discuss things like why a candidate was rejected. Remember that there are a lot of rejected students - to talk to each one would take a huge amount of time.
Dress - it’s always best to be both comfortable and a bit dressy. Boys should probably stick with the blazer and tie concept, girls with something equivalent.
Interviews - show that you know something about the school. Don’t ask questions that can be answered by looking at the school’s website.</p>
<p>thanks, especially anothermom2. so the questions I ask should be really in-depth?
how nice should the skirt and shirt be? should it be a collared shirt that’s really formal, or something more on the casual side? and what would too casual be?</p>
<p>as you can probably tell I have not got much experience in interviewing… neither do my parents, since I’m the first kid. my mom always jokes that I’m the “experiment”</p>
<p>and nemom, I know that the schools have same admission schedules, but I was able to get them to extend the deadline for me, partly because we’re moving there over the summer.</p>
<p>You should ask questions that aren’t answered in the material the school supplies (online or print). Formal is nice, but it also depends on the school - some are much more casual than others. You might look at the viewbook/website to see how the average student appears to dress for clues.
The thing with the deadlines, glitters426, is that there may not be any spaces left, even though you have an extended deadline. What area are you moving to? Some areas are more likely than others to have spots left.</p>
<p>we’re moving to King Country in Seattle, but there should be space… otherwise why would they give me an extended deadline if there were no more spaces?</p>