<p>Some of the boarding schools we'll be looking at with my daughter this fall offer open houses, in addition to the usual visit/tour/interview process. It seems that they have at least some interview slots available on those open house days too. My thinking, though, is that it may not be a great time to do the interview, because I would imagine that the open house day would be a high stress, busy day for the AOs. Given that we live close enough to the schools to easily come back another day for the interview (none of them are more than an hour drive from our house), do you all think that's the best way to go? Plus I was thinking that it would give my daughter a bit of time to reflect on what she observed/learned at the open house, and her answers to interview questions might be more informed and polished.</p>
<p>Since you live close enough, I would schedule another day for the interview, for all the reasons you mentioned. In particular, Your D will have had time to process the information from the open house, formulate some opinions/questions, and be potentially less stressed than she would be with only the whirlwind tour/interview option.</p>
<p>I agree with above. In our experience, the interviewers were not AOs but were members of faculty due to many interviews needed on the open house day. They wrote reports and handed them to AOs. </p>
<p>We did both…interviews on open house days and interviews on separate visiting days. Always had our interview with the AOs. We actually liked having our interviews the day of the open house since everything was fresh in our memories. Going back to some schools just for the interview was ok too but we then and to look at our notes. </p>
<p>I interviewed at Emma Willard at the OH. We live too far to make a separate trip, so I didn’t have many options. I interviewed with someone outside of the admission office–he was in development–but I doubt that’s the reason I was rejected. If you can do another day, it can’t hurt, but if it’s not possible, don’t worry. </p>
<p>Don’t worry, be happy! :-bd </p>