Some admission questions!

  1. I’m genuinely confused on who to ask for a personal recommendation
  2. Should essays be formal/informal?
  3. Is doing an alumni interview a disadvantage?
  1. a coach, a teacher other than English/math with whom you have a special connection, a community service mentor
  2. essays should be well written, beyond that whatever fits with your story works
  3. don’t know. I have a slight twinge that it’s better to interview on campus but that is based on nothing. I’m fairly sure that if a school offers off campus interviews they work to make them “equal.”

I also have a follow up question if anyone minds answering!
For andover, what transcript reports do they want? I keep seeing different things and I am very very very confused?
My current grade? Or including my previous grade?
SOS!

Our child’s school sends 7th grade 1st and 2nd semester grades, and 8th grade 1st semester grades. My understanding is that this is standard.

Good luck to you!

It should be very clear on the form that gets sent to the school. Through gateway.

No.

@ChoatieMom I have to disagree with you here. I’ve had interviews with (on-campus) alumni interviewers and AO’s, and I found that AO’s are better trained and sometimes able to get more information out of you. Obviously getting chosen to interview with an alumni rather than an AO isn’t going to decrease your chances from an admissions standpoint, but I feel that the quality of the interview is better with an AO.

While often true, that was not what the OP asked. So I agree with @ChoatieMom , an alumni interview will not impact the admissions decision.

  1. no

Doing an alumni is not an advantage for your rate of admission, but I do consider it a personal disadvantage. Picking a school based off of the feeling you got one day when you were there already is difficult, in my opinion, it would be even harder to make a decision without ever physically being there.

Some students visit schools without interviewing and schedule local alum interviews at some other point in the process. You do not have to visit and interview at the same time. There are many reasons for this. Some can only visit a school when it is not in session like over summers or times when the school is on break, or they tour before the student is ready to interview.

An alum or off-campus interview is fine.