<p>The reason I ask is because we would have to travel by plane to the schools he wants to interview at, and we have a very limited time available to fit in two interviews on a Saturday morning and catching a flight back home that same evening. I wanted to avoid the back and forth of "would this time work with flights?" scenario. If we have to do that and he needs to tell the admissions office, "let me check our travel options with my parents", I'm OK with that. I just wanted to get some feedback.</p>
<p>It depends on the school. All of my interviews last year were alumni interviews. Those schools were on the East Coast and obviously people couldn’t just up and fly out there so they have alumni in the area interview applicants. It really depends on the college, but flying out to the college just for an interview is really too much, I think.</p>
<p>It’s no big deal. There are lots of reasons that it’s convenient for parents to make appointments for visits and interviews. I’m in the “kids ought to do this for themselves” camp in general, but I’m in the “whatever makes sense, makes sense” camp also. Some campuses schedule interviews online, so you can do it together. but really - don’t sweat it.</p>
<p>You could sit next to him while he makes the call, so he can consult with you about scheduling. You could also lay out for him what windows of time are and are not feasible and let him call to book within the window you specify.</p>
<p>Or you could try the method we used. Our daughter had an email account that was for college stuff, and authorized us to send emails out of that account for her from time to time to arrange this type of thing. If the arrangements can be made by email, this allows you to act on your son’s behalf without it being obvious.</p>
<p>It is indeed no big deal, as the interview process is a mostly irrelevant affair. If the school has a well-developed system and prefer to set interviews up, then go with the flow. If you can avoid them, there is no real loss as the overwhelming majority of interviews play no role in the admission decisions. </p>
<p>In general, the entire interview process is mostly a tool to keep alumni involved, and perhaps extend the ever-so important recruiting that might help swell the application numbers. </p>
<p>Of course, the people who participate in the interviews will usually cling to the notion that their input is both important and relevant.</p>
<p>And last but not least, if the positives are minimal, there is always a danger that the interview becomes a rather negative issue. While there almost no mention of positive results stemming from interviews, there are plenty of reports of “interviewer of hell” and even reports of interviewers who believe their role is to google students to death and uncover potential misrepresentations. Something they are woefully not trained nor equiped for, not to mention not expected to do. Some notable interviewers did not hesitate to come to gloat on THIS site how they were responsible to derail an application. </p>
<p>Bottom line? I would make no effort to avoid an interview when mandatory, but especially no effort to make one happen.</p>
<p>According to some relatives/friends who worked as adcoms/alum interviewers, all of them would have expressed reservations about the student’s maturity, ability to take the initiative, and independence if the student had a parent do what you’re suggesting. </p>
<p>It almost invariably causes the interview to act as a negative rather than a supportive factor in their application file.</p>
<p>So, why not tell your son that he can schedule interviews at 10:00am and 1:00Pm (or whatever works for your flights) and have him call the schools and ask for that time? I understand busy but is there any other time you could do these interviews where you would have more time to get them done. Have you visited these schools before? If not, it’s 2 hours minimum per school for a tour and interview.</p>
<p>Perfectly fine to request interviews. Absolutely something your student needs to do themselves. There were a few times my son had to call admissions when he was applying to colleges. It’s hard for them. They are used to electronic means of communication. We went over what needed to happen in each conversation and he wrote notes so he wouldn’t forget anything. He did fine. Your student will too. Much of the world communicates electronically, however our kids have to gain confidence talking on the phone. It’s not going away.</p>
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<p>Interviews at two different colleges in one morning sounds very ambitious. Generally speaking I recommend no more than one college visit per day. If the two colleges are very close together, you might be able to see one in the morning and the other in the afternoon.</p>
<p>Unless on-campus interviews are strongly encouraged at these colleges, you might find it more productive to spend your time looking around campus. Campus tours, info sessions, and some independent poking around may be more valuable than interviews. Signing in for a tour usually is sufficient to indicate that you have taken the trouble to learn about the college.</p>
<p>Only a few colleges encourage on-campus interviews. Their admissions websites should make it clear if they expect applicants to interview.</p>
<p>I did exactly that for my D, and it didn’t hurt her at all.</p>
<p>When you call the admissions office for an interview date and time, you’re talking to the receptionist, not the interviewer. I doubt my D’s interviewers knew who set things up, and they didn’t seem care enough to ask.</p>
<p>Are you going just to interview? My D did some interviews when we visited schools for tours, but for others the admissions reps will be in our area in the fall and conduct interviews here. I did have my D make the calls to sign up. Admissions people are generally nice to deal with; I told her what times to ask for.</p>
<p>Given the time difference between coasts and the fact that using a cell phone during school hours results in a detention for DS…making the needed calls (if indeed this can not be arranged by email) is certainly a reasonable thing for a parent to do. Although I haven’t set up interviews specifically, I have made numerous phone calls on behalf of DS - getting both info and contact specifics. It is then up to S to make any and all other contacts and arrangements.</p>
<p>And frankly, if an interviewer/alum representative is unaware of the time constraints involved and would hold parental contact against a student, well… then I’d say they are way to high up in an ivory tower and disconnected from reality.</p>
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<p>Careful - it can actually make a big difference at some schools - both in admissions and scholarships. I’m sure this statement is true for some schools, but absolutely false for others.</p>
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<p>You’d be wrong at the schools the relative/friends worked as adcoms/alum interviewers on behalf of. </p>
<p>In fact, in an on-campus interview they also assess how well/poorly/indifferently the applicant treats the admissions staff and positive/negative assessments will be assigned accordingly. Same with phone demeanor when an applicant calls to set up alum interviews. </p>
<p>It’s one reason why everyone I’ve known who worked as an adcom/alum interviewers has advised all prospective college applicants to behave and treat the admissions staff…including secretaries as if they were adcoms/alum interviewers themselves.</p>
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<p>Since you are sure, do you mind sharing wich schools are the ones where "it can actually make a big difference?</p>
<p>Since the list of the schools that pay no attention whatsoever to interviews is endless, it seems easier to learn about the ones that might pay a bit of attention to the process. And, we could also look at the schools that suggest or require an interview, and share note about those where it could make a BIG DIFFERENCE. </p>
<p>My take? Except for an obscure school that gets little to no ink, the interview might make a minuscule difference, and again in the positive and the … negative range!</p>
<p>But, heck, my opinion is one out many. So let’s hear which one might have that big difference! And difference should mean that a candidate might have a different outcome based on the interview from what would have been the case without the interview.</p>
<p>So, if schools don’t pay attention to the interviews…why do they bother with them?</p>
<p>^^</p>
<p>Already hinted that it typically serves to keep alumni happy and interested. Many want to remain involved with their alma mater in some capacity. For some, it means “boostering” or “recruiting” and for others it means interviewing. A happy alum might mean a donating alum! </p>
<p>A number of schools also believe that having local interviews might increase the number of applicants from poorly reached and served areas. For instance, Stanford after years of not having interviews decided to start a program to “spread the news” to areas such as the Southeast or … abroad where the full paying students might be more abundant! And lastly, the interviewer’s “job” is to convince the applicants that it was a wise decision to apply, and that it would an even better to enroll if admitted. Remember that pesky yield! Interviewers are more cheerleaders than gatekeepers!</p>
<p>However, even if a school has a very active interviewing process, the real question if it does play a direct role in admissions. We know that, except for interviews at school, most interviews are not conducted by adcoms. We know that most interviewers do NOT have access to the application documents, and would not be able to “measure” a candidate on the admissions’ metrics. They are neither trained nor qualified for that … part of the job. </p>
<p>So, at best, the impact of the interview might be confined to a possible contact for the adcom to clarify something that might be nebulous in the main application. </p>
<p>All that put together, it remains that the interview process is hardly one that should keep the applicants and their parents awake at night. If one takes place, so be it. Many students have been admitted at schools that DO have an extensive interview process (think HYPP) and I doubt that a single student with a lackluster application might have been “saved” by a strong interview, if such animal even exists!</p>
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<p>cobrat - you seem to have a lot of relatives and friends. With all of that insight, you may want to leverage off that information. There is a lot of money to be made as a private college counselor.</p>
<p>I have talked to my kids’ adcom, school administrators, housing director, doctors, deans, even professors…no one has ever bat an eyelash. I would even say sometimes when my kids took the initiative to call, they were ignored by many adults.</p>
<p>I just recently made a change for D2 at her new college. I spoke to the person in charge on weekly basis (became best buds) for 2 months, she called me as soon as it was possible, made the change over the phone. D2 called me to let me know what a surprise it was and how she lucked out.</p>
<p>Interviews are not very important, they are usually optional and informational. The flip side is when it is offer and the applicant turns it down.</p>
<p>My D would not have been able to make interview arrangements for herself in high school because she was not able to use the phone during the business hours of the admissions office. Her high school forbade students to use phones during the school day, and she had commitments after school. So I served as her secretary in this capacity, setting the date and the time. Also, I was making all the travel plans and setting the itinerary for all her trips. It simply wasn’t realistic for her to make these arrangements for herself at the time. I don’t think anyone at the colleges cared.</p>
<p>My daughter used e-mail to contact the professors she met. I handed her the addresses. When she met with a prof at the university she is attending, the professor asked her where her parents were. She said that we were looking around campus. The prof told her to thank us for having her come to the interview alone.</p>