<p>Hi Parents. My son, currently 8th grade, is going to apply for 2012-2013. We live in California and are wondering whether we should spend time and money to travel to the campuses for application interviewes this fall. We have visited and toured most campuses my son is considering applying to. Most schools offer off-campus interviews with alumni or admission staff on the road. I think on-campus interviews are done by teachers or admission officers themselves. Please share your experience or opinion on off-campus interviews. Thanks in advance.</p>
<p>You want to be on campus if possile. You’d have a better chance of meeting with an admission officer who could really make it happen if he/she like you. Off-campus interviews with alumni are more – unpredictable, which of course does’t mean they’ll kill off your chance of getting admitted. I would be on campus.</p>
<p>Even if you have visited, children at that age are rapidly changing in their opinions/what’s important to them, so a fresh visit is still an important factor. Also, I think speaking to admissions rather than an alum can help favorably if the AO really likes the student.</p>
<p>If you go through with it, this kind of travel will become a regular part of your lives for the next several years, so seeing how you and DC handle the travel is a real consideration, as well. This on top of agreeing with the comments above…the student who gives you a tour on campus may well be someone your kid will sit in a class (or play on a team) with in the following year.</p>
<p>An AO once told me after my sons interview that he would be pulling for my son during acceptance decision making. I don’t think you can get the same cheering factor in your favor if an alum interviews your child off campus. I think it will be more like another written recommendation. Having said that, there’s plenty of applicants who are accepted through the off campus method. Another big plus to having a campus interview is to meet the coaches and music directors. They can also be helpful to your application if your child has a talent they need.</p>
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<p>First - many Adcoms who are part of the committee making the final decisions do travel across the country to meet students. So an off-campus interview is not a negative.</p>
<p>Second - alumni interviews do carry quite a bit of weight, otherwise we wouldn’t do them year after year. We had all on-campus interviews with the exception of one HADES school and the latter resulted in a better result than the HADES conducted on campus.</p>
<p>So it depends.</p>
<p>We’ve seen parents on this board who were told the Adcom was pulling for them and then they were rejected.</p>
<p>Thank you all. I think if we can meet AO on travel, I would definitely go for off-campus interview. I don’t think Andover and Exeter AO’s do that, and rarhter set up alumni interviews even though they are in town. The only problem with alumni interviews is individual differences among them: some take interview very serious, but others not as much. From my experience with my another son, who ended up not going to prep school after all application processes a few years go, one school alumnus interview took very short and another one was really long. Considering that interview is a very important factor in prep school admission, I try to be really careful. Thank you again.</p>
<p>I do agree with other posters about the value of visting campuses and talking directly to faculty, staff, and students to get a feel for the soul and culture of a school. There is no substitute for visits from that perspective. However, off-campus interviews are not a negative, especially if you can only do so much travel; it does get expensive. The Ten Schools Admission Organization (of which A & E are members) does travel around the country. Our son interviewed here in town with a couple of AOs (one director) during a TSAO event last year. Both gushed about how they had enjoyable, genuine conversion with S, didn’t need to “pull” info from him, and could definitely see him on their campuses/around their tables–but didn’t offer admission in March. At that event, S spent a lot of time talking to Choate rep (not on his list at that point) and determined then that his original list was too narrow. Further research convinced him that Choate was probably the better fit for his passion, but had to interview later with an alum locally. We didn’t get the same fuzzies from the alum, but S is now loving his first weeks at Choate and is grateful for the TSAO event for clearing up some misconceptions. If your child is considering any of the ten schools, please check their website and/or the school websites to see if there is an event near you. It’s the next best thing to being there. Best of luck!</p>
<p>Sorry if I wasn’t clear. I meant to emphasize that A & E AO’s definitely conducted their own interviews at the TSAO event, and did not relegate to alums, so if there is an event scheduled near you and your child is applying to these schools, s/he can probably get all the interviews done at the event with admissions staff. We wish our son had been prepared to interview with Choate that evening, but he knew little about the school at that point and had to schedule locally with an alum later. Still worked out well.</p>
<p>I think these posts #6-#9 really speak to what a crapshoot admissions is. You can prepare for a school interview, but later be rejected. Another AO from another school you don’t know much about, but later think is a real opportunity, can see something in you. AO’s are open about who they are “pulling for,” but in the end, some other AO may be more persuasive, or some other student more compelling. </p>
<p>I really think the school picks the student, not the other way around, most of the time. Unless you have a tremendous hook, it’s really all the luck of the draw once all things like grades, recs and test scores are in the same ball park.</p>
<p>“Love the school that loves you.” How true…how true.</p>
<p>^Agree entirely. When one of the AOs saw that S played trumpet in honors band, he strongly encouraged him to submit a sample with his application because he knew their school was looking for trumpet players. So, perhaps a stellar student who plays violin was passed over for a trumpet player at this school last year? S does not consider trumpet his strong point and did not submit, but I’m thinking it could have made a difference. All hindsight now, and S is very happy where he is. I am curious about the rejections, but decided not to pursue admissions for insight as S does not care, and it really does not matter at this point. I liked what Choate’s admin director said in his speech to attendees at revisit days, that the adcom “saw something ‘big fish’ in each one of you”. Not much specific help in that, but it does go to your point that exactly what makes any candidate “big fish” for eny given round is in the eyes of the committee and unknown to applicants.</p>
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<p>Worth repeating. Schools are “building” a class. So it’s not just grades and scores that count. They’re balancing each student’s strengths and weaknesses, personality and experiences against others in the pile. And ultimately a rejection is not a reflection of the candidate - just a reflection of too many qualified students for too few slots. There is only space for approx 9-10% of the students who want them.</p>