DD had the oddest experience last week. It’s only just occurring to me to wonder if it was even real. Are there people out there pretending to be college interviewers who are not?
I just emailed the following to the school and I really wonder whether this was a scam. I delayed contacting the school well first, because I was busy but also because doing so puts one at significant jeopardy I imagine. Parents complaining cannot possibly be a good thing for one’s kid’s application. But as I think more and more on it - and this interviewer never did respond after failing to appear or after learning that “rescheduling” was not possible - I think this was off-color. I am glad I did not let the kid drive to the meeting place alone (at least).
So how badly is kid hurt, either by the non-happening interview or nosey-parent’s letter?:
I am the parent of an applicant. I would like to note a rather unusual event, one that makes me not a little bit uneasy about your school, its reputation notwithstanding, quite frankly.
My child was contacted by a local interviewer. This representative arranged with my child to meet alone. My child was told it was important that this meeting be sooner than later, before the New Year or else it was unlikely her application would be considered. It was said she would be “at a significant disadvantage” if this interview were not conducted immediately.
My child arranged (all without my knowledge) to meet this interviewer, though the arrangements were difficult between juggling her commitments as a competitive swimmer and also her finals schedule. Agreeing in advance to scratch her swimming finals (not a good thing to do from her coach’s perspective), a meeting was setup at a local McDonald’s. On the day of this interview after significantly impacting her schedule and mine, too, she texted the interviewer simply to confirm the appointment. An hour before the appointment the interviewer inquired, vaguely, by text as to whether it might be “possible to reschedule for next week”.
Next week was not possible as it happens, because our family was traveling for the holidays.
Contacting an interviewee so close to the appointed time, and with such an indefinite statement - the meeting was never specifically canceled, just inquired as to whether it was “possible” to reschedule it - is simply unfair. It was not even clear whether the meeting was being canceled and no further clarification was sent in this regard.
On reviewing the whole situation then, my husband even suggested the entire meeting sounded suspicious (we live in a big city after all). I therefore accompanied my child in the driving rain to this ill-fated meeting, not to hover over an interview but because it had suddenly started to sound quite illegitimate.
The interviewer did not appear.
Indeed I am left now wondering whether in fact this contact was even from one of your staff.
At the very least it seems improper to conduct a business interview in the space of another, unrelated and uncompensated business. Does McDonald’s approve of conducting … interviews in their dining room? Was the interviewee expected to purchase a Big Mac in exchange for the use of their facilities? As a rule our family does not visit McDonalds although it is true that we ate at one once in response to my kid’s direct request to sample this iconic staple. My distaste for the chain does not extend to believing they deserve to be turned into an interviewing locale for an unrelated commercial concern unbeknownst to them.
I would appreciate a response at least assuring me that this interviewer is known to you. If not, then perhaps the security of your application system is compromised? It had never occurred to me to worry about all this but arranging strange, inconvenient meetings in slightly “sketch”, if public, places just doesn’t seem like the sort of relationship you would condone among incipient students. I suppose it is possible this process could be destabilized and you would surely wish to know this. Perhaps it is important for all of us to warn our students to be wary of arranging a meeting with unverified “interviewers”?
I can be contacted …
Thank you.