<p>PhotographerDad was banned from all interviews after he asked a receptionist to copy a recipe in Connecticut Magazine. I kid you not.</p>
<p>That was a long ride home for PhotoDad.</p>
<p>PhotographerMom this made me laugh because I could imagine my husband doing something similar</p>
<p>Poor PhotoDad! That would have been me.</p>
<p>I was happy to have a sensible answer ready when asked, “Why school X?” The interviews I enjoyed the most were those in which discussion was rather loose and informal. Our worst interview experience was years ago at school Y, where an athletic coach was clearly wearing a new (poorly fitted) hat as an interviewer. He left a lot of those uncomfortable silences and did not offer any encouragement to us about our child, who had a lot of hooks. Between that and the fact that we’d been forgotten for nearly an hour in the waiting room, we could hardly get away from that school fast enough.</p>
<p>Mostly it’s a chance for you to ask questions, a la Deerfield and Exeter model. I don’t think they are really using it as an opportunity to sniff out helicopter parents. In hindsight the best questions I asked were about leadership and where the school was headed, esp if there was a new headmaster recently installed. Gave them an opportunity to brag about new buildings, technology, forward vision, etc. Good Luck. Try to enjoy it and thinking about the possibilities for your student at each of these great schools.</p>