<p>There wasn’t a “formal” interview for the parents - when our son was through with his interview (about 45 minutes), the interviewer walked him back out to the lobby, and then we went in to the office and he answered any questions we had for about 15 minutes. He did ask at the end “is there anything else about your son that you think it’s important for us to know?”</p>
<p>This was an off-campus interview at our interviewer’s place of work. - I would expect that every interviewer might have their own style, and it might not always occur this way - but I wanted to share our experience.</p>
<p>My husband was not present for any of the campus visits, we have other children and he stayed home with them. I don’t recall anyone questioning his absence. My mom and sister joined us for the trip, from different parts of the country, and we had an awesome road trip/adventure. My mom and sister were very helpful. At some schools they talked to students, at others they talked to administrators. At one school, they found a connection between my d’s interviewer and our hometown that I never would have uncovered. We stayed at this school for two hours, and when the interviewer sent a note to my d once she was accepted he mentioned my mom and sister. At another school, they noticed that the black kids were self segregating (we assumed) and spoke to a few of the kids about their experience at the school, turns out they had a few negative things to say. The school came off our list. They were a good set of second and third eyes and would often wonder off and strike up conversations with people we would not have had time to speak with and they made it to more of the dining halls and would give us a report on the food.</p>
<p>Local interviews don’t put a student at a disadvantage. In fact, local interviewers have more time to spend with a student and can do a more comprehensive report. Some of us are pretty good at drawing out those things about a student they might not think is important. and our “opinions” count as much as the staff interviews.</p>
<p>So either way - making a connection is a key factor. And letting the interviewer see the real kid (not just the black and white stats).</p>
<p>My D had her Andover interview locally due to scheduling. I wouldn’t have done that if I thought it would be a disadvantage. She was smiling and they stayed in touch during the process - something in-house Adcoms often don’t have time to do (based on their internal volume).</p>