<p>There will be a TSAO event in our town on Sunday, does anyone know how it is structured? Do they interview the students on that day or is it only informational session? What would be the normal attire for these events? Since it is Sunday and after 6 p.m. is it okay to wear nice khaki pants and a dress shirt or a Polo? Or does my DS need to wear a jacket/blazer and a tie? I am also concerned about what should I wear? I am thinking along the line of good pair of slacks and a nice dress shirt. But reading CC about the interview attire makes me wonder if we all should go there with a jacket or a blazer and a tie.</p>
<p>Also, does any one know if Nortwest is well represented at the NE Boarding Schools? Really appreciate any feedback.</p>
<p>My son and I attended this event a couple of years in a row in my region. It is an informational session. However, you would normally need to make arrangements (an appointment) in advance for an interview.</p>
<p>The dress attire you mentioned is appropriate – khaki pants and dress shirt or polo is fine. Most people were not in a coat and tie. However, if your son interviews on campus, I would suggest a coat and tie.</p>
<p>I’d guess that the northwest is not well represented - so score one extra point for your son for geographic diversity!</p>
<p>Now, about interviews, go to the admissions sites for the schools your son is interested in and check out their travel schedules. Most, if not all, schools have the schedule posted somewhere in the admissions section of their website. If they’re going to be in your area, contact the school ASAP to see if it might still be possible to set up an interview with the traveling admissions officer. Depending on their schedule, sometimes it’s possible and sometimes it’s not. But do not delay - if you want to set up an off campus interview, call the admissions office now!</p>
<p>Outside of New England, and certainly west of the Mississippi, representation falls off sharply. There are only two kids from our SW state attending our son’s school right now. We, too, attended the TSAO event in our area last year, but fewer than 15 kids attended (boarding schools are not well known here). We didn’t see anyone besides our son interviewing before or after the event that evening, but perhaps the AOs conducted interviews outside of that evening’s schedule. Dress was casual (khakis and polos). Director of admissions of one of most elite schools wore an athletic pull-over.</p>
<p>Thanks to everyone who has given me a lot of information. @Kali3000, I have RSVP’s while ago to attend this session. Dodgersmom, that is a great advice. I am calling all the schools on my sons’ list and trying to set up an appointment during the TSAO event. I have already received few positive feedback. @ChaotieMom, it is good to know that the participation west of Mississipi is not big. As Dodgersmom has indicated, that will probably favor my sons. I am not sure how much it will favor them though. I have two sons who are interested in going to BS. I wish they have told me this some time before. I am now researching different schools and not enough time for me to visit the NE schools since their school is already in session and they can’t take extended time off now.</p>
<p>@WCMOM1958, are any of your kids currently attending BS? if so can you tell me what school he/she is attending now? I may have some questions for you once my sons have narrowed down on their school choices. At present they want to go to the most elite schools. After going through lots of posts, I realize that the elite schools are really tough to get in. Since they are already going to a good private school, they are not intrested in going to tier2 schools at all. But they want to be independent and make their own decisions. All the BS schools discussed on this board seem to fit their profile.</p>
<p>After attending the TSAO event, they may add a few more to their list. I am here only to guide them in the process.</p>
<p>From experience, I’d like to alert you that even if you (and your children) interview at the TSAO event, the admission officers will strongly encourage you to visit. I got the message from three schools that it would effectively be a waste of time to apply and not visit the school. So the interviews didn’t do much for us logistically (as I had hoped). After the TSAO session I had to book flights, hotel rooms and a rental car – and, at each school we made it a point to have the interviewer know we actually made it to campus. I thought they were in league with the airlines and hotels because I really wanted to skip that expense (and time drain). If someone had simply given me the advice to visit the campuses, I would have ignored it. But when you’re in the parent portion of the interview and three different admission officers tell you that it would be a mistake to blow off a campus visit, you may feel boxed in, like I felt. So take my advice: it’s better to visit the campuses than to apply to them blind; now, if you wish, reject my advice. If you schedule interviews to coincide with the TSAO event, you’ll have much less latitude to reject that advice.</p>
<p>Here’s another – perhaps better – reason to not bother with combining the TSAO session with interviews: it probably would help to have the interviews after touring the campus and hearing the TSAO talks and maybe an information session at each school.</p>
<p>@GreatNW Dad. I have PM’d you. You are right that it has become very competitive. We looked at top tier schools as well as schools that are not considered top tier, even with top tier SSAT scores. After looking around and applying both kids are not in the top 10 and that is JUST FINE. I think most kids want top tier because of status, but ultimately it is not nearly as important as they think it is. Perhaps a sign of maturity is acknowledging that the best fit is not always the most prestigious.</p>
<p>@D’yer Maker, I have read quite a lot of CC posts that certainly recommends school visits. I am at present planning our trip to the NE. That said, I just came to know of the TSAO Event. Even if we were able to schedule an interview, there is no way I am sending my DS1 & DS2 across the continent without me visiting the campus and talking to the AO’s and the current students. Thanks for your advice. I will post details after our visits. </p>
<p>@wcmom1959, thanks for your pm. i have replied you.</p>
<p>Question to other parents who are on the West coast. How many times you visit your DC at the school? My DW and I make it a point to go to all the concerts, parent meetings over here. Do you go to all the events or only for the parent teacher conferences? Also, how many times in a year your DC comes home (other than Thanksgiving, Christmas and summer)? if they don’t come home for extended weekend holidays, what do they do?</p>
<p>Haven’t gotten PM yet but will keep looking.</p>
<p>Visits are crucial, and preferably when school is in session. That said, with my first child it was all very last minute and rush rush, but re-visit day clinched it. Child 2 was a late admit but again, the visit told us this was the place and time has shown this to be true. With first child we went to parent’s weekend but have not felt the need to continue this. There are long weekends when it’s too far for kids who change time zones to go home. The dorms stay open and my oldest child has made new friends with international students on these breaks. So far, our experience is that the first year there is more travel back and forth for both parents and kids than in subsequent years. There are plenty of opposite coast AND international kids at most of these schools to keep each other company when the locals leave for long weekend breaks. I will say that the fact that both parents are from the area where the kids are in school helps in many ways. We know the area and have lots of connections. It was one of the reasons we thought sending the kids so far away could work. It’s still not easy, and air fares are proving to be a problematic expense, but the kids are thriving in a way they couldn’t at home.</p>
<p>We were able to find a school within a 100 mile radius of child one, with the foreign language we sought and lots of creative writing enrichment. These were, ultimately, more important criteria than “rank.”</p>
<p>I have two children at Exeter and we did not visit until after my first son was accepted. Both of my children applied and interviewed with multiple schools and never once were we asked about visiting campus. We waited to visit until after acceptance letters were received and financial aid packages had been offered. I think once again, individual schools and AO’s have different thoughts on this. With admissions being so selective, we didn’t see the value of getting our childs heart set on a school he wasn’t ultimately accepted to.</p>
<p>It’s not mandatory. Many parents can’t bear the expense in this economy. We economized - flew Southwest, rented a car - hit five school over a long weekend. But it was still not cheap. So I sympathize for parents who can’t whip out a credit card or add to the family burden.</p>
<p>MY D had one local interview and it didn’t hurt us in the least. </p>
<p>The advantage of visiting a campus is to get a feel for personality so you don’t waste time writing essays for schools that are clearly not a good fit.</p>
<p>But if not possible, go to revisit days.</p>
<p>I suspect the issue with TSAO - is that many of the students at the info sessions haven’t done in-depth research on the school before the meeting. So an interview isn’t helpful because we wouldn’t have a sense of “why” you selected “our” school. Still - I would advise setting up time to talk with Adcoms casually about the school, then follow up later. You can ask if any of the schools will do it by SKYPE. More and more are becoming open to it.</p>
<p>Has anyone heard of boardingschoolexpos.com? I just received a flyer in the mail advertising an online admissions “fair” where you click your way through interactive school booths, chat live with admissions reps, watch videos about the BS experience, download viewbooks, etc. Supposedly includes North Americas “finest” prep schools and enables you to explore schools in a free, no travel way. The mailer is from The Association of Boarding Schools (TABS). If this is legit, it might be another good resource for prospective students and families to gather information. The “live” date is Sunday, Oct. 23rd, 4-9PM Eastern time after registering on their website. Does anyone have any experience with this venue? It can’t replace visits, but it sounds like something our family would have taken advantage of early in the game last year if we had known about it.</p>
<p>Sorry, everyone. I just realized this date has passed. (I was reading through the pile of mail that awaited me last night after our Parents Weekend trip and didn’t realize it was “old”.) However, if anyone has any information about this event good or bad, it might be useful for next round if it recurs.</p>
<p>Ok, I’m really a bad poster. I just checked the website; they have three more events scheduled, and you can see which schools are participating. The list is not very long, but it may be worth checking into.</p>