<p>As an international applicant from Asia who only applied to the top, top boarding schools (all household names on CC), my experience tells me that an on-campus interview is CRITICAL. The schools will NEVER admit it, but I have come to believe it is a requirement. ALL those that I know who were accepted to the top boarding schools did on-campus interviews. Since so many people are now flying from Asia to do the interviews, the playing field has simply been changed for the applicants from Asia. I expect the schools could easily fill their slots with the applicants that take the time (and expense) to interview on campus, so not doing so will all but eliminate you from consideration.</p>
<p>I also had an alumni interviewer tell me they interviewed 15 people locally last year and none of them were accepted.</p>
<p>From my own experience, I was denied by the three schools where I did a local interview with an alumnus, and accepted by both schools where I was interviewed by an officer from the Admissions Office. Frankly, there was a world of difference in how professionally the interviews were conducted too. For example in my alumni interviews, the interviewers:</p>
<p>1) Did not speak English very well (despite being an alumnus from an elite school)
2) Took over 5 minutes to decide what beverage to order in the cafe where we interviewed
3) Took a cellphone call and arranged a lunch appointment in the middle of our interview
4) Repeated questions verbatim a few minutes later. After the third time I had to start gently pointing this out
5) Interrupted our interview to introduce me to their new fiancee who just happened(?) to walk by our table
6) Used mild profanity during the interview with me (yet no profanity at all in front of my parents)</p>
<p>Naturally, I was very discouraged after these interviews and lost much of my passion to attend these schools after these incidents. And frankly, had a hard time believing the schools would take any opinion from my interviewers very seriously. On the other hand, the Admissions Officers I met with were very professional yet friendly, engaging, and charming and consequently these schools were bumped higher on my preference list.</p>
<p>I did not fully comprehend the importance of the interview until I completed this entire process. The interview is extremely, extremely important. That being said, if you are an international student and serious about attending one of the top boarding schools, you need to go to the trouble of doing an on-campus interview.</p>