<p>And this is why Starbucks has made billions. :D</p>
<p>Eight o’clock does not seem late to me. My guess is that the interviewer wants to give the family a chance to finish their dinner and be ready for an “evening activity”. Isn’t that why 8 PM starts prime time TV?</p>
<p>intparent- great story.
My son’s in the interview process now. This is our third to run the gauntlet.</p>
<p>He’s very comfortable in his own skin (possibly too comfortable at times :)) He’s suggested meeting at the interviewer’s office toward the end of the work day with great success. He’s convinced people are most at ease in their own space, and he’s happy to give that ground to the interviewer. Offices are usually quiet but have others around which feels safe. No Starbucks-type distractions, and he gains some insights into directions the conversation could go based on the shingle on the door, family photos, art work, etc. He loves to find connections so this works for him. </p>
<p>I’m guessing this isn’t a possible solution for this particular situation, but if offered the choice, I like the in-office option for kids who don’t feel the need for “neutral” space. </p>
<p>In our home- never! I would cause everyone to stress, what with fluffing the pillows, overthinking the refreshments and trying to keep our dogs and cats from inviting themselves onto the new lap.</p>
<p>I think if the interviewer is Cheech Marin, I’d skip the medicinal tea as he’s probably had plenty in his lifetime :)</p>
<p>This has turned into all kinds of funny! That list is great, neuroticparent. I feel younger just reading it and thanks for letting me know that DS shouldn’t escort him from the car-lol. I imagine he might be very insulted. I love the story about the car in the pond but it just reminded me that I have to sweep the walk and cut the grass, too. </p>
<p>Thanks everyone for so many good tips! I like the idea of offering a dessert type of food, that’s easy and son can do it without any help from me. I think anyone expecting “important” company would go out of their way to have the house (and yard!) presentable so I’ll do the extra fluffing of pillows. </p>
<p>xiggi, I don’t think there is a lot of “drama” involved. I just initially thought that the request to meet at our home was so unusual and meeting so late seemed really odd and as you can see, others here do too. We’ll comply but I have to agree with you that these interviews have not turned out to be what we thought at all.</p>
<p>Each school has portrayed the interviews as more of an “information session” for DS to learn more about their schools. They have not been like that at all. The interviews have been pretty stressful and DS has had to travel over an hour each way to meet some of them so really, coming to our house is much better than that option. His interviews have been more like “grillings” where the interviewer asks DS what he knows about their schools. DS has really researched each school and was well prepared so he had the answers but one interviewer actually gave him a really difficult math/physics problem to solve! Some interviewers, like this one, have been out of school for so long that they really can’t answer DS’s questions. He was also told that most would be 30 minutes but none have been less than an hour, and a few were almost 2 hours long. A 2 hour interview on top of an hour drive home seemed a bit much. Ds actually enjoys the interviews even though they are stressful and has really connected with some of the interviewers. </p>
<p>The interview will be this week so I’ll let you know how it goes and I’ll try to keep my car out of the pond!</p>
<p>Haven’t read the whole thread, but this seems like a perfectly reasonable request to me. One of S’s interviewers–an elderly gentleman–came to our house. I offered refreshment, then left them alone. </p>
<p>What’s the big deal? 8 pm is hardly the middle of the night. Put your D to bed and if your dog is a problem simply put him or her in a room and close the door. Surely your S can stay up until 9 for once. </p>
<p>It used to be the NORM for alumnae interviews to take place at the house of the interviewer or interviewee. Perhaps this gentleman is simply certain that given the presence of the family and the gender of the applicant he is safe from accusations of sexual harrassment. :)</p>
<p>Edited to add: just recalled that one of S’s interviews was in fact at the home of the interviewer.</p>
<p>“I guess a good house cleaning and refreshments are in order…”</p>
<p>Unfortunately I think that is the case. I agree that he is probably just “old school” and due to his age, he no longer has an office to conduct interviews. I also think that it would just never occur to someone of his generation to conduct an interview in a Starbucks or Barnes and Noble. We forget that the informality that is now so much a part of our society is a relatively recent trend. Because the school is one in which your son has high interest, I would meet the man on his terms. I would keep it simple - no need to clean the whole house, just the room where you will conduct the interview. If it were me, I would offer tea, coffee or bottled water and put out a plate of cookies/biscuits. While I agree that the whole thing is a bit of an inconvenience, the goal here is put your son’s best foot forward.</p>
<p>My H and some of our friends interview for their alma mater and the university is very clear that interviews are to be conducted in neutral locations, not in our home and not in the student’s home. We all giggled about the suggestion that interviews conducted in our (gracious, fine) homes might intimidate the students. </p>
<p>Perhaps this has changed. The interviewer probably thinks he’s doing the student a favor by meeting him in his own home given the inconvenience of the late hour.</p>
<p>D1 friend went to the same house for 2 different school’s interviews - one with the husband and another with the wife. Just so happen she was applying to both schools. Awkward.</p>
<p>I didn’t catch the whole thread, but I would say that this is one night of your life. It’s a school where your DS is very interested in. </p>
<p>Get the house “company” clean. Drop the dog off at the kennel, take the crying baby to a neighbor, and offer coffee, tea, danish and some privacy.</p>
<p>Some day it will all be funny.</p>
<p>S3 went to interviewer’s home and interviewer had a toddler and multiple dogs running through the whole time. He described it as bizarre…After that, Starbucks interviews were heaven…</p>
<p>why can’t interview take place with sister sleeping?</p>
<p>Fido, drama is just a figure of speech. I could have used words such as hoopla, commotion, or simply worries. </p>
<p>All to say that this should not be that big of a deal. Parents tend to worry excessively about things. An alumni interview has little to no bearing on the final outcome, despite many claims to the contrary from the folks … who are part of those volunteers’ organization that work without much of supervision or input from the admission department. </p>
<p>You could cancel the entire interview or roll out the red carpet and it would make no tangible difference.</p>
<p>S2 had it at the interviewer’s house 40 mins away. I drove him both ways and sat around for an hour in his house. Would have loved it if he had offered to come to our house!</p>
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<p>Well, not to be sexist and start this thread on a new path… but based on your screen name, you are not the one who would be judged on the cleanliness of your home (that usually falls on us wives). And highly likely that your wife would do most of the cleaning to get ready, partly because she KNOWS that she is the one who will be judged and therefore is the one who “sees the dirt” and cares. So of course you would prefer that.</p>
<p>Yes,intparent, people who love to entertain, keep a spotless house(or have someone who cleans for them) or are evolved enough to not worry about such things may very well think this is no big deal.</p>
<p>My daughter’s interview was with the enrollment manager at her college. He was in the area, but we were unable to travel to Boston, so he did the interview over the phone. My guess is the enrollment manager interview did carry some weight in her admission.</p>
<p>An interviewer gave you son a math/physics problem to solve?? That’s wacky IMHO. </p>
<p>When I interviewed, a lot of time it was in my house. If a parent came too I just asked them to sit in another room and I didn’t judge the student on that fact.</p>
<p>It has all been said already and I agree with Harvest Moon that the interviewer has probably been conducting his interviews this way for decades. A couple of interviewers came to my house thirty years ago and no one ever gave it a second thought then as Starbuck’s didn’t exist. </p>
<p>I conducted alum interviews in my office, which in hindsight, might not have been the best idea, but there weren’t a lot of options in Manhattan in the late 80s. The students all seemed to come from Stuyvesant HS or Bronx Science so they were already in Manhattan on weekdays.</p>
<p>Personally, I think it is totally inappropriate for the interviewer to suggest anything other than a neutral, public location. I can see where you wouldn’t want to make waves at this point, but I suggest that after this is all over (after acceptances have been received), I would send an email to the admissions office. I suspect they would want to know about this and would want to encourage the interviewer to get with the times.</p>