Questions re: interviewing

Prep School Admissions Prep School Parents
1

<p>I want to thank everyone for helping answer my questions on the other post re: good music programs. The answers were really helpful.</p>

<p>I had a couple of other questions that came up in the process of thinking about applications and interviews for next year:</p>

<ol>
<li><p>It seems like the schools combine visits with interviews. But what if you haven't actually decided if you plan to apply for the school at the time of the visit? Can you do the visit and tour but defer to do the interview until a subsequent visit? Or do the schools get annoyed if you try to visit twice? It seems a bit strange for your child to do the interview when he or she is still evaluating which schools to try for (e.g., "why do you want to go here? gee, I really don't know yet").</p></li>
<li><p>Because of travel schedules, the best time for us to do the interviews would be either in the summer or at the beginning of the school year. Do most schools allow you to do interviews so early? Is there any advantage/disadvantage in interviewing so early in the process?</p></li>
</ol>

<p>Thanks for any further guidance on the above!</p>

2

<p>1) I think visiting the school a 2nd time to do the interview shows keen interest in the school, especially if you have to travel from very far away.</p>

<p>2) A number of families do visit/interview in the summer. The disadvantage is that the school is on break, so you will not get to see observe a typical school day and the typical students. Some schools have summer sessions, but the dynamics are different because it’s more like a summer camp atmosphere, and the summer students are often not the regular students.</p>

3

<p>Baldingguy, we visited a LOT of schools (14) and, due to travel issues and the sheer expense of all that driving, even coming from NE, we decided to interview at each school, irrespective of whether we ended up applying. We just couldn’t do the visits twice. </p>

<p>I don’t think schools do school-year tours/interviews until October, but you can usually set up appointments over the summer, which will give you a better choice of time slots. I concur with GMT - I don’t recommend visiting outside the academic year (or on Saturday, if the school doesn’t have Sat. classes that week) – if you are going to go to the trouble of visiting, it will be much more informative to do it on a day when classes are in session. It’s the only way to get at least an initial sense of school vibe.</p>

<p>Good luck in your search and planning!</p>

4

<p>We did preliminary visits to 4 schools in the Spring of D’s 7th grade year, just visits, no interviews. Then in the fall of 8th grade we made another trip, again to 4 schools and did tours and interviews. 2 schools were repeats.</p>

<p>As it happened, one of the repeat schools was on break for our 2nd visit but since we had already had the full tour experience they allowed D to come for just her interview. The other repeat school had not given us a formal tour the first go-round, because it was their revisit days. We went with a family member alum and met up with his former houseparent who gave us a personal tour. So on our 2nd visit to that school we got the “official” tour and interview.</p>

<p>I found out later that at least one of the schools we visited in the spring would have interviewed D at that time, so check with each school as to timing of interviews. My D was definitely not ready to interview at that time, she was still feeling out the whole idea of boarding school.</p>

<p>I believe most schools do offer summer interviews. If you have previously visited when school was in session, there’s no reason not to later have a summer interview.</p>

<p>If you end up having to combine visits and interviews before your child really knows which schools they want to apply to, you’ll need to bone up on each school and have answers ready as to why they want to go there. So much is available online–maybe they have a great Computer Science department, or 88 art courses, or your child really likes the idea of the Harkness system. We made up flashcards to help memorize a few pertinent facts about each school and not get them mixed up. We were only dealing with 4 schools at a time. I don’t know how people keep 8 or 10 schools straight. </p>

<p>Doing research ahead of time will allow you and your child to benefit so much more from your actual visit and of course during the interview. At some schools the tour is pretty cursory because of the size of campus. The guide might wave off into the distance, saying, “the new science center is down there.” If you have an idea of things you’d like to see, you may be able to check them out on your own, or the tour may be flexible enough to include your interests.</p>

<p>20 years ago, doing the same process with another child, we toured and interviewed only once, in the summer, because it was all we could do. He ended up in the perfect school for him.</p>

5

<p>DS interviewed at 8 schools, and ended up applying to 6. I was surprised to hear about the process - interview before application, but it worked out well. DS was interested in the schools, and the why-do-you-want-to-go-here was applicable, even for the schools that ultimately got crossed off his list. Just find something that matches up with her interests - arts, music, math, sports, etc. We live close enough to the schools he was considering that we spread out visits, but some of his friends did multiple schools in a day. </p>

<p>Talk to the schools - some have interviews/tours over the summer, especially for people traveling. But you do miss the feel of the campus if school is not in session.</p>

6

<p>alooknac and ma2012 both make good points and note that you CAN interview over the summer. Unless there is some real reason that you cannot get to schools during the school year AT ALL (unlike the situation alooknac posited, where you’ve already visited while school is in session, then choose to interview over the summer), I really do not think you SHOULD interview over the summer.</p>

<p>@baldingguy: We found the tour/interview process both exhaustive and exhausting, not to mention expensive (and, in many ways, exhilarating. But enough about e…). From your OP, it seemed like your time was not inexhaustible.</p>

<p>Also, as for “why do you want to go here” questions when you haven’t decided that you definitely do, I think it’s legitimate to simply discuss what <em>interests</em> you about a particular school, enough that it made visiting and interviewing worth the time and effort. You don’t <em>really</em> <em>know</em> where you want (or don’t want) to go till you have actually seen the place, even if you think you do. Or don’t. Even the interviews can shed quite a bit of light on a school, especially for you as a parent, since you’ll be able to ask direct and pointed questions when it’s your turn with the AO.</p>