<p>“As some have already pointed out, college application interviews are not FAVORs or privileges stowed upon the students. They are “hoops” that students are expected to jump through, as one interviewer put”</p>
<p>LOCAL ALUMNI interviews ARE most certainly FAVORS or PRIVILEGES, not RIGHTS for prospective candidates. At least that’s the case with my alma mater. On-campus interviews are a different matter altogether. </p>
<pre><code> “Apparently some interviewers here think very highly of their volunteer work. But these interviews should not be about YOU, the interviewers. The students and parents don’t know YOU. It is just beyond me why a simple request of venue change to a public location is treated as such a personal insult by some here.”
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<p>The local alumni interviews absolutely are a COURTESY provided by volunteer alumni and in some cases parents. I have stated that I will offer any prospective candidate assigned to me the option of interviewing in a public place. Beyond that I owe the candidates and especially their parents nothing besides my time and service to my alma mater. </p>
<p>Candidates have the right to participate in these optional interviews or to take a pass. </p>
<pre><code> “So, I am frustrated now that people are bemoaning my volunteer work as an alum interviewer and now someone like you is bemoaning that some like me have many posts on CC, and many of these have also been volunteering helpful type posts, given for free what I do for pay.”
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<p>Let’s be very clear—Someone like me is not “bemoaning” about certain individuals having too many posts on CC. I resent it when people misattribute motives to me. Re-read my post. I was making an observation and reflecting on the dynamics of individuals who spend a considerable amount of time, at least in my estimation, posting on CC. I’m sure you have your reasons for posting as often as you do, but I was interested in the thoughts by those who are not serial posters about whether these are in fact “helpful-type posts” or perhaps serve some other purpose.</p>
<p>If the volunteer does not feel having the authority to coordinate with a school, the university represented should make the coordination for a student to be interviewed there instead of the “Interviewer’s house”!</p>
<p>ClarkAlum…I do not feel my posts on this thread are of the “Helpful volunteer” sort. Sometimes I post on CC as a parent or get engaged on an issue. This is one of those threads. But if you search my thousands of posts on CC, I can assure you that I have thousands that are volunteer type posts offering answers to college admissions questions. Pay a visit to the Musical Theater Forum, where I frequently contribute. I receive many thank you notes of appreciation for giving volunteer time to help people with the admissions process. Admittedly NOT ALL my thousands of posts on CC are of this sort. Many are just for my own interest about a topic. This thread is one of these and I am NOT helping on this thread, so I am NOT volunteering here, no. My posts are not meant to “help” on this thread. But many on this thread, like myself, DO have many helpful posts on CC for those who have questions related to the admissions process. For instance, Northstarmom participated on this thread and has thousands of posts in her post count but if you search her posts, she has so many posts aimed at helping students and parents with college matters. But that doesn’t mean she, nor I, ONLY participate in a helpful volunteer mode. Sometimes we may hang out like any other parent and engage in a conversation that is not aimed at trying to help anyone. This thread is such an instance. I reacted as I did because I know that I, and some others where with high post counts, DO volunteer time on CC to help others. You may not be familiar with us in that capacity if you only read THIS thread.</p>
<p>@Greenery: Wait what? A university is suppose to fly a student to their campus for give them an interview? This is getting more ridiculous by the minute.</p>
<p>The parent drives two miles each way to a charming village and there is no coffee shop other than ones that serve liquor? No McDonalds? Where does the parent go for a cup of coffee whle they are waiting for the interview to end? I have lived in charming villages, and have never seen one without a coffee shop, bookstore plus coffee shop, etc. What do people do for coffee in your village? There is no place to gather for coffee?</p>
<p>“ClarkAlum…
You go off on a tangent but I’ll respond and try to relate it to the topic at hand. I indeed have thousands of posts on CC. I have been here almost 8 years.”</p>
<p>Your profile indicates your joined CC in Aug 2004. So unless you have changed your screen name you might want to sharpen those math skills a little. By your join date you’ve been on CC for 5 1/2 years. You have over 15,000 posts, an average of 7.5 posts per day over this period of time. By my calculations, using 5 minutes per post as a conservative estimate (the length of many of your posts clearly exceeds that amount of time, plus I’m not adding time you spend actually reading others’ posts), you have spent over 31 40-hr work-weeks posting on CC over the past 5 ½ years. I find that very interesting.</p>
<p>If some interviewers (like the poster above) believe that interview are FAVORS or PRIVILEGES, it just means that applicants not doing the interview will be at a disadvantage. Therefore not interviewing is not really a good option.</p>
<p>I ran out of steam trying to catch up on this thread about 20 posts ago (though found the Brown interview story link incredible!!) Bottom line— if the interviewer/interviewee cannot find a convenient location that is comfortable for all , DO A TELEPHONE INTERVIEW If you don’t want to decline the interview. These are considered perfectly acceptable and in no way cast any negative light on the applicant.</p>
<p>Greenery…the university doesn’t arrange the nitty gritty of the interviews with each applicant. They provide THOUSANDS of these interviews for applicants to my college all around the world. The university assigns certain applicants to a regional alum who gives out the assignments to individual alum interviewers who line up the details. There is NO way the university could do all that arranging. A significant reason for alum interviews is that the university cannot accommodate all applicants for interviews on campus given the high numbers. So, they do alum interviews instead. Another thing is that allows most students to get an interview without traveling to the school. The student fills in on their application if they wish to have an interview or not. It is an option. The college has a network of volunteer alums. The college does a lot to coordinate this but cannot arrange the specifics of each meeting. </p>
<p>I do not expect our high school to give me space to do things unrelated to their students. It is also not that close to where I live. It is also not open on weekends and evenings.</p>
<p>I disagree. I think interviews can only help. I applied to 11 schools and could only interview with 6. 5/6 I interviewed with I got into. 3/5 of the schools I did not interview with I was accepted to. I believe that interviews help. The only way an interview could hurt is if the applicant digs herself/himself into a hole by insulting the school or the interviewer or things brought up in the interview don’t really line up with the application (like lying about achievements and being caught in that lie).</p>
<p>You are new to CC and so I forgive you for accusing me for not having sharp math skills. I joined CC in the summer of 2002. CC changed over to a new format in August of 2004 and so everyone who was on CC prior to Aug. 2004, had to have their profile start at August 2004 and the post counts started over. Just so you know. </p>
<p>I do have a lot of posts. As I said, I spend time on CC. I read to increase my own knowledge base. I spend time giving back as I learned so much here when I first looked into colleges for my kids. I also am a college counselor as a profession and so reading here is like reading a professional journal but even better as personal experiences are shared. Sometimes, I just hang out on CC as entertainment as I don’t watch TV and I have made many friends on CC over the years and have met many CCer’s in person in fact. I feel that many of my posts (not the ones on this thread) are helpful and I field questions by parents and students. I do this pro bono even though it is exactly what I do for fees for other families.</p>
<p>First of all, driving the less than two miles to the village takes five minutes. There is one cafe that is open until 5:30 PM. But there are shops to browse or there are general stores where one gets coffee here. No, we don’t have Starbucks or McDonalds or any “chains”. Even if I met their kid at a cafe, the parents would have to kill time, no different than if they bring them to my house. In either case, they have to either drive around, go into shops or errands, or wait in a car. Most kids drive themselves here, but the others who have parents bring them, seem to go into town. I don’t know where they go in town but I can tell you that it is a town where many enjoy browsing around when they come here for a vacation…many artisan galleries and that sort of thing. Maybe they go to the general store in the village and get a cup of coffee and the paper and read the paper in their car. (By the way, if you understood rural life in VT, you would know that the general store type places are where people get coffee and stand around and chat and see everyone else in town) I don’t know what the interviewees’ parents do, but that is what I might do if dropping my kid off.</p>
<p>ClarkAlum,
You asked a “non-serial” poster to respond so I will. I hope I fit your definition, by the way. People like soozievt have been incredibly helpful to me and others, especially those of us with children who have a passion for theatre. I may never have asked her a direct question on one of these threads, but I have read MANY of her incredibly informative threads on the musical theater and theater majors forums.</p>
<p>I spend time posting on forums where I think I may be of help to others. For instance, I have tried to be helpful on the forum where my son#1 went to college as I know much about it and I can also ask him to reply to specific questions.</p>
<p>I also like the “entertainment” value of CC. Living on the east coast in an area where college apps and the process are a non-stop business, it’s interesting to see how the rest of the world lives. ;)</p>
<p>momof3sons, I also have been enriched reading and conversing with those all over the country (or out of the country) and have learned so much about other experiences. </p>
<p>To bring that back to this thread, if I had not read this thread, I would never be aware that any parent was upset that alum interviewers interview at their homes, something I’ve done for a dozen years without a question ever raised about it in the past. So, thank you to those on this thread for opening my eyes. Really…the perspectives one encounters on CC from people of various backgrounds is enlightening.</p>
<p>Oh, sigh. What is the big deal about driving around for an hour in an unfamiliar area? How old are we? </p>
<p>My D has a set of friends through a particular activity who live in a different area of Chicago, about an hour or more away from where we live. Amazingly enough, when they plan get-togethers, I have been fully capable of driving there, dropping her off, and figuring out how to occupy myself with finding coffee shops, bookstores, etc. until the time I pick her up.</p>
<p>When she was at the age where her friends were having bat mitzvahs, I drove her to Indianapolis (4 hours away), got her to the party, found myself a Barnes & Noble and ensconced myself there til it was time to go get her. I’d never been to Indianapolis before, but I figured it out. Same thing with a bat mitzvah of a friend of hers in St. Louis (6 hours away) – I hung out at a nearby mall and then drove around a bit til it was time to go get her. It just doesn’t strike me as the kind of thing that should faze a grown adult. A teenager / newer driver, sure. But not someone old enough to have a hs / college age kid.</p>
<p>“oh sigh. How old are we”. (are you aware how condescending this is?). My S and I got lost on our trip to the interviewer’s house <em>during the day.</em> Do you think I would risk driving around to kill time at 7:30 at night? </p>
<p>Btw, I’m pretty sure I’m a heck of a lot older than you are. (sadly :)).</p>
<p>I haven’t experienced driving 2 miles on rural roads in 5 minutes, though. Have to try that some time.</p>
<p>But Mummom, you have to drive around and kill time (or sit in your car) even if you drop your kid off at a cafe and not a private home, no? What do you do then? How is dropping them at a private home affect the need to kill time finding something to do in that town or city? </p>
<p>When I dropped my kids off at the admissions office or to meet with a faculty member as an applicant, I found ways to kill time. When I dropped my kids off at dance class, I found ways to kill time. When I dropped them off at a rehearsal an hour from home where I had to stay for three hours many times a week given the 100 mile roundtrip so I could not go home in between, I found ways to kill time. </p>
<p>An alum interview at a house is no different in that way for a parent, in my opinion. I didn’t or couldn’t accompany my kid into every meeting, lesson, activity they did and had to find ways to kill time every single day when they grew up given the long distances to each thing they were involved in. It really is doable. </p>
<p>If you don’t want to “risk driving around to kill time at 7:30 at night”, what do you do to kill time as son has his college interview in the evening at a public venue that you should not accompany him INTO?</p>
<p>Mummom, one thing puzzles me. (Well, a lot of things puzzle me in life, but here’s something you can help me with!)</p>
<p>You were, per your earlier posts, a bit nervous / unsettled / whatever about the fact that your son was interviewing with a “single thirty-something male” at his rural home for the Bowdoin interview – with the implication that you were concerned that something might happen in an in-home situation (a pass, inappropriate behavior) that wouldn’t or couldn’t happen in a public situation.</p>
<p>Yet, by the same token, you hid. I would have thought that if you wanted to send the signal to the interviewer, “Hey, you know, a parent is here within striking distance, and if I catch any wind that monkey business is going on and you’re doing anything inappropriate with my son, I’ll be in your house in two seconds flat,” that you would have made your presence known to the interviewer – at least by having him aware that you were sitting on the driveway in the car.</p>
<p>Maybe I’m mixing up two different stories here, but that’s what I thought your reaction to the idea of the in-home interview was. Apologies in advance if I’m confusing you with someone else.</p>
<p>Do you think the interviewer is obligated to hold interviews only during the daytime, so that you don’t have to drive at night? (I’m assuming that your dislike of driving at night isn’t an inability due to a medical condition, but simply a dislike.)</p>
<p>If you’ve <em>landed</em> at XYZ destination, what’s so hard about driving around to kill time? You drive in one direction, then you retrace your steps back.</p>
<p>If you work outside the home, do you ever go on business trips? Because I do, and it’s common that you get to a strange city, you find your hotel, and then you drive around and figure out a place to eat and then retrace your steps. Sometimes you might find a shopping mall or movie theater or other place that interests you, so you go. I just don’t get the unease with driving around.</p>