I interviewed at Peddie and Lawrenceville and they both really seemed to like me. I spent almost an hour with the Peddie person and the Lawrenceville guy really liked me. After the interview, they both went on and on to my parents about how great I was and how I am a great fit for there school. Do they actually like me or do they say that to every parent?
Pretty much a standard response. If an interviewer really thinks an applicant is not a good fit for their school, s/he may gently suggest other schools that the candidate might want to take a look at. Otherwise, the positive feedback/gushing is pretty common. Read absolutely nothing into it.
Seems like there were about 1000 posts last year asking this very question. The above response is the answer each one of those posts got.
It is the AOs job to get kids to apply to their school and most of them live by the “if you don’t have anything nice to say…” rule.
I’ll add to this: we just finished 12 tours/interviews. Some were truly gushing. Some, though, were quite positive, but honestly, not gushing. (No one gently recommended any other schools.) Whether the “gush” versus the “positive but reserved” reaction actually translates into an accurate prediction of admissions decision remains to be seen (in our case; lots of folks have posted that it hasn’t). FWIW, the more reserved responses we all from middle-aged white men, which may speak more to their upbringing and socialization for self-expression than the quality of the interview itself. Maybe they just were keeping their cards closer to their chest because that’s what conservative interview environments dictated a few decades ago. ?? Anyway, it’s certainly isn’t a bad sign that they gushed about you, even if it isn’t a sign of an admission either.
Just for laughs, we did have one response from a middle-aged woman. It made us laugh. She said something like this “ Your golfkiddo really loves you and is such a happy kid. GolfKiddo described life at home, the golfing, playing other sports all year, your DH’s cooking, life fishing “in the swamp” and “beach”, and how great your trips have been together exploring schools…If GolfKiddo goes to school here, can I have Golfkiddo’s room at your house?”
I think you probably need to go on 5-10 interviews to get a stronger idea of what gushing looks like. I went on nine interviews with responses ranging from polite/professional to “you would fit in very nicely here” from multiple school officials (AO, coach, etc.)
We had some very non gushing interviews, to the point where I was thinking “did you even talk to my kid?” Turns out those AOs loved the kid, just weren’t gushers. And yes, they were all middle aged white men.
One in particular was terrible. Worst interview ever. I happen to know someone at the school and asked about it and was told he wrote all amazing things about my older kid. Strange. The interview turned her off enough that she didn’t even apply.
We had one bizarro interview- after kiddo interviewed, the ao called me in with him. No separate interview. She basically asked if I had any further questions and seemed annoyed when I did. It felt like we were wasting her time. Very awkward. I walked out thinking there was no chance. Kiddo was waitlisted. Shrug.
Deerfield doesn’t do separate interviews - they just call parents in at the end, unless they’ve changed their protocol.
@doschicos - that was our experience with the DA interview. Called parental units in at the end. Kiddo was in the room - no separate interview…”So, what brings you to Choate today?”…just kidding.
We had gushing interviews and awkward & cold interviews where we were sure our kid would NEVER be admitted. There was no correlation in the end between how we felt the interview went and whether she was admitted. None.
That makes me thinking how important these interviews are. We scheduled a few for DD just before Thanksgiving.