Parent of a high school junior here, considering several top-50 small northeastern liberal arts colleges that recommend on-campus interviews. Can you please share any information about:
Younger D interviewed at several national universities over past year; older daughter at some of the top-50 northeastern liberal arts colleges. I think in most cases we registered for them 6-8 weeks in advance and never had a problem. It varies a lot by school and time of year though. If it’s possible, I would personally shoot for that time frame, maybe even earlier at busiest times of year (i.e. spring break season), although interview appointments are available with a much shorter lead time. Bottom line, try to get signed up early for info session/tour if you can, and as early as possible if your child would also like to interview. Interview spots are much more limited than tour/info session spots. Signing up early allows you to choose date/time that works best for you.
Tip: Sign up with admissions and keep an eye out if the school will be interviewing in your area. S visited a school about 4 hours away. He decided it was a top choice, and he wanted to interview. We were planning another trip just for that but had signed up with admissions office and received a notice in the mail that admission officers would be interviewing in our area (metropolitan region), about 20 minutes from our house. Saved us a whole day and a tank of gas.
Another Tip: If your student has a dream school, especially one that is more competitive, they might want to interview at a school a little farther down their list/a little less competitive first. That way they can get comfortable with the process before they sit down with the rep from their dream school. Students can feel pressured, but they learn quickly that most reps are just interested in having a conversation, and then the process feels more comfortable and less anxiety-inducing. Best of luck to your child.
Thank you!
I’ll also add that you could run into these situations:
At William and Mary, they open a limited number of fall Saturday interview spots on approximately September 1. They filled up pretty quickly So a prospective student who wanted to interview in October or November would want to be aware of that setup. I guess other schools could do the same.
At Wake Forest, where interviews are strongly encouraged, slots fill up fairly early, especially toward the end of the interview season. So a prospective student would also need to be aware of that (Wake admissions provides a lot of detail about the interview process on their blog). This would probably also be true at other schools where interviews are relatively important.