More advice needed. We are visiting what is for now D’s first choice college next week. She has reached out to professors in two departments asking for a few minutes of their time to see a lab or talk about their programs. With regard to the Classics department, the chair reached out to offer a meeting and to set her up with a class visit. D is very excited but nervous. We have told her that she needs to treat it like an interview and assume the chair will provide feedback to the admissions office. We do know it is a school that recruits hard for Classics students, but tbh she wants a career in the sciences and is double majoring only because she adores the classics.
With that in mind, any experience with what this might look like? Questions she might be asked? One of her key questions will be how hard is it to balance a humanities and natural sciences major at this school. She also is hoping to learn more about whether within the program she must pick a subspeciality, and even potential for something like paleobiology or another cross disciplinary opportunity.
She’s a very articulate and friendly kid, comfortable with adults, but in such a brief meeting we want to help her put her best foot forward.
Be careful here - in that, if a subspecialty is required, it should be listed on the curriculum page - so she should know that in advance. Now, if she has an interest not listed, sure she should ask about it.
She could ask about the balance of two majors - but the professor will likely say, we’ve had people do it or haven’t had people do it - since that’s an individual thing.
I’d say - anything you can find on line - no reason to ask but you can talk about it further.
At these, the professors or advisors often run the meetings, giving you a folder with the curriculum and they’ll ask you about you, etc.
I don’t think they are giving notes back to admissions - and does your school even have an interview for admission purposes?
She’ll be fine - she should be inquisitive, look up, and relaxed. She doesn’t need to dress formally or anything - it’s just an “extra” as part of her visit.
It’s always nice to put a best foot forward but it’s unlikely to impact admissions is what I’m saying.
But showing her enthusiasm for the sub areas of interest is great - but she should know what is rquired and not required academically in advance.
I agree she should treat it like an interview in the sense that she is being evaluated…IMO this will give her a more appropriate mindset. If this school recruits for Classics (interesting!), it’s also fair to think the prof could give feedback to admissions.
IMO, I might not talk about double majoring. Rather, I might get the prof talking about the department, what are the dept’s don’t-miss-classes, and highlights of faculty research. She should make it clear she has read the website by not asking questions easily answered there…anything else, including clarifications, is fair game.
I agree it should be treated as a reportable conversation, but at the same time I wouldn’t put too much performance pressure on her. Obviously, she should have good manners and be energetic and engaged, but otherwise I don’t think it hurts at all to really just ask about things that matter to her, and be honest about any concerns.
In terms of preparation, I think the “Why?” questions are the main ones. Why this school? Why this department? What led to you being interested in having this conversation? Again, I don’t think she needs a profound answer, just an honest and enthusiastic one.
By the way, if it helps, my S24 is a possible MD, PhD, or MD/PhD in Bio, but he is also double majoring in Classics (this is at WashU). He doesn’t want a career in Classics, but he loves Latin and finds the classes really interesting, and enjoyable.
I don’t think this is really a shock to Humanities departments like Classics–of course some of their majors will be doing it for possible PhD programs and such, but some really just love it. And I don’t think they mind at all having some of those sorts of secondary majors (or minors, or just kids taking multiple classes), in addition to the ones where it is actually their primary major. As long as your interest in the classes themselves is sincere, I think they are happy to have you in their departmental community.
More likely, they are probably thrilled to have the double majors - so they have some heft, that is likely lacking in most places given the shift away from the humanities.
Our kids both sat in on classes, and met current students in their prospective majors. They dressed nicely, were polite, and in most cases, they were included in the class discussion if there was one.
Your student simply needs to put her best foot forward.
It’s hard to know without knowing what school you’re visiting – because very few schools count an interview as anything more than informative or demonstrations of interest. Only a handful of schools have evaluative interviews, and those would be normally conducted by someone in admissions, not a faculty member. Admissions departments have almost no contact with academic departments in most cases (this isn’t like grad school admissions). So – your D is visiting? She reached out to academic departments? She’s attending classes? Fantastic. She’s interested in Classics purely out of curiosity and hopes to double major in a STEM field? Most schools would trip over themselves to attract students like this. Not knowing anything about your daughter’s grades or scores, or about the school in question, it seems to me she’s doing everything right.
I doubt the interview will be like a job interview. It will be a conversation, and there shouldn’t be any “gotcha” questions. For most colleges (again, there are exceptions), the point of an interview is for the students to ask questions, not to put the student on the spot. So intelligent and informed questions – like your question about the likelihood of double-majoring, maybe about the kinds of capstone projects Classics majors do, or the most popular classes, or what the community of Classics majors is like, or whether there are any study-abroad opportunities for Classics majors. etc. – would be perfect. At most, she might be asked what interests her about the Classics major and/or the college, so have ready answers for that.
I would be less worried about an evaluation and more focused on learning about the program. She should read the requirements for the major and see if she has questions. Such as:
Do you advise using AP credit for a higher placement or do most majors repeat the material?
Is there anything in particular you recommend for preparation?
How does this work with study abroad? (Often smaller departments have classes that are offered only every other year or just in one semester, so going someplace else can be a real challenge to fulfilling requirements/prerequisites.)
She can also about anything from advising to theses topics.
Anything and everything along those lines shows she is thinking about how to get the most from the program.
Both of my kids set up meetings with their departments or important people. It’s not an interview in the true sense. Don’t make her nervous by suggesting this. Just talk
Have 3 questions to go that the answers are not on the website. They gained so much information just talking and “listening”. Get ready for the “Why do you want to attend this College”… More importantly make sure a thank you email is ready to go and what her experience going to class was etc. This can be used in her essay!
I think an open-ended “why do you like teaching here?” is a good, all purpose conversation starter. And certainly a more productive use of a professor’s time than asking to explain the course sequence (it’s on the departmental website) or asking how the department treats credits from study abroad (it’s on the “FAQ” page under “credits from other institutions”).
No, don’t ask questions that can be answered from the website!!
In the event you were responding to my proposed question about Study Abroad, mine (which may not be relevant and should definitely follow a review of department requirements, guidelines, etc) was essentially “if the department does not offer all of the upper level classes every year, what strategies do students who study abroad use to meet all requirements and get the electives that fit their concentration if the want to study abroad?” (A friend’s kid ended up studying abroad in the summer for this reason.)
Being off campus for even one semester can really trip up someone when the courses aren’t offered every semester or year. Then again, this student who wants to double-major may not even be planning this.
As for AP, at some schools and in some disciplines, what they give credit for is quite different from what they advise. An English major might be delighted to get credit for AP Econ for a social science requirement whereas the Econ major might be advised to take Econ 101 as a foundation because it differed enough from AP Econ to leave students skipping it shaky at the next level.
But yes, the sentiment that this is a conversation is most important.
I think the student will be fine. It’s a conversation. The professor may not even be aware of the academic stuff like credits or classes from specific countries.
It’s unlikely to impact admissions in any way. Just show a curiosity, ask about the subjects that interest her, research opportunities if it interests her and let them talk about themselves - which people like to do.
Look up and smile. This is two friends having coffee (without the coffee). That you are even showing interest to begin with already puts you in the winner’s circle.
We did a few of these. They can go in many directions. Just go with the flow - sometimes they are just open floor, sometimes it’s a folder with info they walk you through and other times it’s let me tell you about us or give a quick tour.
It’ll all be good in the end. No need to be nervous or over think.
I would recommend that the student take a look at the university’s web site, so they are not asking questions that they could have already found the answer to, and so that they appear to be reasonably knowledgeable. However, just being polite and intelligent goes a long way.