<p>My 17 year old is in bed by 9:30 every night. But she commutes 38 miles to school and we are up at 5:30 a.m.</p>
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Well, that’s an odd reason. Surely the house is cleaned on a regular basis anyway. In any event, I don’t see the big deal about tidying up the living room and one bathroom. And then you ask everyone to keep the noise down for a half hour. As for the little sister’s bedtime, how is this relevant? Those who go to sleep early aren’t going to be kept awake by a quiet conversation in one room. I don’t really see the big deal here. This is important to your son. You can bend a little.</p>
<p>I know that the interviewer is, without a doubt, who he says he is and would never contact the school. At his age, I really do think he is just “old school” but I just never heard of any interviewers coming to homes. I guess it is the late hour more than coming to our home that seems problematic to me aside from the cleaning and the dog. DS wants to do it though so we’ll go with it. I kind of feel sorry for the old guy doing this and want to make him comfortable but also realize the limitations of what information he will be able to provide for DS since he hasn’t been to school there in almost 50 years so that’s kind of a bummer. Anyway, one late night isn’t going to kill us and I guess we are “unusual” for going to bed so early since not many kids have the early start at school. Yes, class starts at 6:30 am, isn’t that awful!?</p>
<p>DS had one school contact him for a phone interview (since they were so far away) for the day he was going to get his wisdom teeth pulled out and he explained in the email that he wouldn’t be able to talk that day and the man said fine, email to set up a time later. DS is upset because he’s emailed him twice with no reply for the last 2 weeks so he’s afraid not to comply. He just had an interview at Starbuck’s on Thursday and it was so loud, the interviewer had them go outside. He has 2 more this week at the same Starbucks, maybe we should just invite them all here if I have to clean anyway-lol.</p>
<p>I guess now I’d like any tips for what you would do. We found the form that the interviewer has to send to the school and it’s pretty comprehensive and looks like a “big deal” to me so I’ll do the cleaning and have dd hide the dog in her room. I’m sure he would expect to meet the parents, right? Geez, I hope he doesn’t want to look at DS’s room-ugh. That would add a whole different level of “cleaning” but if he asks DS about his music or suggests he play something, that is where all the instruments are! How would you dress-parents and kids? What refreshments would you serve? Do you think he expects to be invited to dinner? Would you offer? At his age, I am already thinking DS should meet him outside and escort him in since it will be dark. Any other tips or hints? </p>
<p>Thanks for all of your opinions. It helps so much to get different points of view! I like that some of you were interviewers and what your experiences have been. Especially this comment: “When I did the interviews, the parents usually greeted me and then made themselves scarce. Sometimes they offered coffee or water. I wasn’t there to interview them, or to judge their home or hospitality.” That is a relief!! I think it will be just fine but what “big waving red flags” did you ever see, Lafalum84? I’ll have to watch out for those.</p>
<p>I don’t know, I feel like it is pretty invasive to go to the student’s home. The fact is that I am a complete stranger to the student, and in this day and age I don’t think I would want a complete stranger coming into my home, top college alum or not.</p>
<p>And for many of us, cleaning for every day is different than cleaning for company. I can see being stressed about making the perfect impression on the interviewer. :)</p>
<p>Edit: See, the post above is the reason I think interviewing in student’s homes is a bad idea. It is completely inappropriate for the parent to be worrying about how the house looks and what refreshments to offer. The interviewer is not supposed to be evaluating those things, but of course it is hard to keep that in mind when they are coming to your house!</p>
<p>If a friend or family member had an emergency and showed up unannounced at your home at 8PM, what would you do? </p>
<p>There are plenty of reasons why routines can be broken or bent a tiny bit. I do not really see why this request has to cause such drama. It is not that unusual for athletic recruiters to visit prospects at home? At least, that is what Hollywood portrays! </p>
<p>If waking up is an issue, try to arrange the visit for a Friday night. And, fwiw, prepare some good coffee and bake a great batch of cookies! Or some medicinal tea, considering the age of the interviewer. </p>
<p>PS For full disclosure, except for the role of GCs, I do not think that there is a more asinine part of the application process than this entire interview boondoggle. Unprofessional, useless, stressful, and potentially harmful are the only terms I think do apply! I have always suggested for applicants to do their best to AVOID meeting interviewers, and I have yet to see any evidence that I have been wrong on that call.</p>
<p>FidoPrincess – I wouldn’t offer him dinner 8 p.m. is a bit late especially for someone 68. I would offer something to drink: tea, coffee, hot chocolate. Maybe a piece of pie if you’re a baker? Or a small dessert.</p>
<p>I would be sure to mention (or have your son work it into the conversation) that he has an early start time so the interview doesn’t go too long.</p>
<p>I interview for an Ivy. We are instructed to use neutral locations. I don’t care for Starbucks because of crowding and lack of privacy. When the weather is nice I have used places like the outdoor patio areas of shopping malls. (i dont mind if parents are peeking at me from around the corner of nearby buildings). When I interview students from S’s HS alma mater, I am given use of a room in the college counseling office. The students feel comfortable there, and I get the quiet and private environment I need.
I have never, and would never, interview in my home or the student’s home. It is discouraged by the University, and just feels too intrusive to me. I like lisa6191’s idea of Barnes and Noble cafe.</p>
<p>re: red flags - For me some examples would be if the student is inappropriately dressed (ripped jeans, etc), excessively late to the interview, or rude or inappropriate in their comments. It’s only happened once and I’m quite sure that kid wasn’t getting in anyway.</p>
<p>Aside from that, I really do believe that the interviews are mainly informational for the student.</p>
<p>To post #26, a glass of wine. :)</p>
<p>Thanks, lisa6191, for understanding about the cleaning. Yes, everyday cleaning is very different than “company’s coming” cleaning in my book. MommaJ is right though when she says that it’s important to my son so it’s worth the effort and I won’t be so uptight after reading that Lafalum84 wasn’t there to judge the hospitality.</p>
<p>I think the glass of wine should be for FidoPrincess! </p>
<p>When’s the interview? Can’t wait to hear how it went.</p>
<p>Slightly OT: 68 is not quite ancient enough to escort from the car or serve medicinal tea. Your son’s interviewer could be any of the following, all 68:</p>
<p>Steven Spielberg
Bill Clinton
George W. Bush
Tommy Lee Jones
Jimmy Buffet
David Lynch
Cheech Marin
Julian Barnes
Keith Moon
Reggie Jackson
Deepak Chopra
Donald Trump</p>
<p>I think if the interviewer turns out to be Keith Moon, you might be on the series “Lost,” and just not know it. </p>
<p>good luck with the cleaning. that was the first thing I thought about when I saw this. Ugh.</p>
<p>Here is my guess…the interviewer is only able to this at 8 in the evening. He may think it is easier for HIM to come to you…rather than have you need to go out someplace at this somewhat later hour.</p>
<p>Agree about the cleaning that everyday cleaning is different than what you might feel you needed to do for an interviewer coming to your home. Hope a neutral location can be found. Good luck with the interview!</p>
<p>As a parent, I would not at all want an interviewer to come to my house, whether I’m there or (especially, of course) if I’m not. ESPECIALLY at 8:00, which is just too late. These days are different from “back in the day,” and there are a lot of weirdos out there. Not to say that I distrust more people than I trust, I just wouldn’t do it. I would be light and casual about it and respond with one of the email suggestions made by others.</p>
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<p>Not “company” clean.</p>
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<p>Let them in, of course. And, depending on who it is, apologize if things are NOT company clean. But an interviewer who is judging my kid (and by extension his/her environment) is not a “friend or family member”. And this is not an emergency.</p>
<p>I remember when I was a lot younger I worked for a big firm that was a partnership. Before they would accept an associate as a partner, one of the partners had to go to the associate’s house and meet their spouse as well. It was just one of the things they always did, I guess to make sure they lived an “appropriate lifestyle”, and to be sure the spouse would not be some kind of embarrassment. I had a friend who was up for that promotion, and a partner invited him out to dinner (with wives in tow). And insisted on picking up the to-be-promoted guy at his house, even though it was really out in the sticks. And it was summer, too. So they spent a couple of days ahead of time on yardwork, sprucing up around the front door and the inside areas, etc. Then… 10 minutes before the partner came, my friend’s car (which had a bad emergency brake) rolled unaccompanied down his driveway and into a pond on their property. Where it was still sitting when the partner and his wife showed up.</p>
<p>Also, if my dad were an alumni interviewer, he would DEFINITELY be judging candidates by their houses, cleanliness, hospitality, etc.</p>
<p>Okay, the point of that story is that an interviewer from an older generation may indeed prefer to evaluate not just the candidate, but his parents/house/etc. So while some interviewers say they are not looking at that, I don’t buy that it is not part of what some other interviewers might evaluate. Just saying… and THAT is why they would only interview at our house if I couldn’t avoid it, and the kid and I would do some serious prepping before they got here.</p>
<p>^
Oh intparent I am having paroxysms of inappropriate, horrified laughter at the mental image of the car in the pond…</p>
<p>Yes, if the interviewer does come to your house, at least be sure your car is not in a pond… Although this guy did get his promotion. So I guess there is a lesson in that part, too.</p>
<p>D1 went to an HYPS interviewer’s house. She judged the interviewer. She said the house wasn’t decorated (color coordinated) and it was messy. She left with a bad impression of the school. What she said was, “Am I suppose to aspire to this?” I guess it could go both ways.</p>