D is applying to a super-reach school (<20%) after a recent visit. Should I recommend that she seek out an interview, and how does she do that? We have a friend who is an alum. Is it too late to ask for an interview?
I haven’t intervened in any of this process, which is why I’m asking.
Also, I hear kids/parents use the term “dream school”. Curious out there who has kids with a top choice. D doesn’t seem to preference any of her choices over another.
You can look at the CDS to see if interviews are recommended. If so, the admissions website usually explains the procedure for requesting one. At the school I interview for, I’m prohibited from interviewing kids I know or whose families I know.
If you want to arrange an interview it has to be done through the admissions office. And I agree with the above, interviewing with a family friend is a no-no.
That’s a good thing!
Every year we get students on CC who are crushed because their dream schools rejected them or gave them insufficient financial aid packages. It’s especially unfortunate when they don’t like their safety schools.
the is always an official process for interviews (if the school offers them). Sometimes on campus, sometimes with a local alum (who has registered through the alumni office), sometimes either or both. As an alumni interviewer myself, the office makes it VERY clear to us that it is absolutely forbidden to interview someone with whom you have a personal connection.
At some schools you can’t even request an interview until the application is submitted. At others, there’s a deadline in November or so to request an interview. You’ll just have to check the website for the school.
And final point, for many schools (particularly those that fall into the “reach” category) – the interview is often more for the alums to feel “important” rather than having a huge effect on the applicant, unless they come across as a complete jerk 
And at others, the applicant does not request the interview - the college will make the interview request. As others have said, the procedures are generally outlined on the website, so she should simply follow what they say.
If the school requires an interview, or is striving to reach 100% interviews with students, then yes, you should request one.
If they don’t require it, but your child is very good at interviewing, then yes, you should request it.
If your child isn’t good at interviewing, and it’s not a big consideration, then no, I wouldn’t request it.
Just look at the admissions page and look to see what they say about interviews.
A “dream school” is a bad thing. A list with a range of selectivity where she feels she could happily attend any of them and they are financially workable is your goal.
“Also, I hear kids/parents use the term “dream school”. Curious out there who has kids with a top choice. D doesn’t seem to preference any of her choices over another.”
The so-called “dream school,” when it comes to reach schools, is largely formulated by prestige or popularity factor. Just count each year’s applications piling up sky high in the admission office of Stanford or UCLA.
Most 17 year-olds don’t have a clue as to what colleges are out there, how they differ from one another, and how to make a list for submitting the application. Like most 17-year olds, my son had heard of a certain set of “legendary” names floating around – “Ivy League,” “Harvard,” “MIT,” “Stanford,” etc. – all throughout K-12. When time came for drawing the list for application submission, though, it was all about finding those schools that’d be the best “fit” for him based on a set of criteria, starting with his GPA/test scores, teacher-to-student ratio, size of undergrad students, endowment per students, availability of specific programs and facilities (music-related, for instance), urban/bucolic settings, financial affordability (based on NPC), etc. This thorough process gave my son a great opportunity to learn to differentiate one school from another. Ultimately, when the drawing the list was completed, he came up with the list of schools with a few “dream fit” schools sitting at the top. I hope that all applicants learn to find their “dream fit” schools as opposed to their “dream school.” There are more “fit” schools out there than the “dream school,” resulting in less cases of “crushed dream.”
Sadly, my daughter does have a dream school, which is a reach. She knows it’s unlikely as an acceptance, but still plans to apply early and hope. She also has several other schools that she really likes, however. The dream school was where she just felt most at home. I think it has a lot to do with the tour guide and those intangible connections.
Alum interviews are generally part of the admissions process, scheduled by admissions with assigned interviewer after application is submitted.
You can generally request a meeting with professors in your intended major. This is a more in-depth approach to a visit and helps chose a major, solidify or dismiss an ED school selection and get information supplemental essays, Why do want to attend ‘X school’?
Don’t be surprised if your D is asked for all of her stats prior to scheduling a meeting at a super-reach. We viewed the search as a two way process. Our children learned a lot about opportunities and themselves by meeting professors, investigating departments and labs and attending classes.
@intparent makes a very good point. Especially for highly selective schools, the “dream school” is a dangerous concept as admissions are quite unpredictable.Think about why that school is the dream and find several others that your kid could be equally happy with.
S didn’t get in to his top choice but many of of his positive results had much in common with the dream school so he is quite happy with his choice and experience. Turns out, in many respects it’s actually a better fit.
My son just did his alumni interview with his reach school. Since it wasn’t hard to do (in our hometown), I figured it might inspire him more to work harder on his essays. Most interviews happen in the summer or fall, so you are not too late, but she is applying EA/ED those deadlines are coming up fast. Just google school+interview and you’ll see the options. They range from on campus only for US students, to Skype, to local alumni interviews in your area.
Over the summer I drove son to interview at a lower reach, but still a reach. We were also visiting another school in the area. This worked out, because the interview went very well and I think it will, again, motivate him to work hard on that essay.
My D interviewed for four of the schools she was applying to. She was initially quite nervous, but the first two were so relaxed and informative that she began to look forward to them. This in itself was a good thing - now she has some interview experience under her belt, and will be less stressed for future interviews. She looked at the common data set for each school she was applying, to see if they considered an interview important. Some considered it very important, and some did not consider it at all. She requested interviews through admissions at the schools who rated it as important.
She did have a school that was a clear favorite and applied ED there, but it has a less than a 10% admittance rate, so she turned most of her attention to schools with higher acceptance rates, and found a range of schools she felt really happy to be applying to. We never used the term dream school, and she realized that there is no one perfect school and that all schools will have both strengths and challenges. She tried to find ones that would feel like a fit, both academically and student body wise, as well as considering location and campus. She was both stunned and surprised when she got into the ED school, and is now a happy freshman there.