<p>I am really worried about the interviews.
Even if I don’t do very good in SSAT, I thought I might as well have chance in interview, which I’m planning to fly over to US from vancouver. I know that interview is very important, but does the fact that I had to fly all the way over to eastern US make any difference positively? It is very costly, so I might do phone interviews. But I heard it isn’t as effective as the one-to-one interview. Is is worth flying over?
And, plus, if I need to fly over, I have to take my final exams earlier than anyone else (which means more study times + interview prep).</p>
<p>Yes, it make a considerable difference. They will know you’re a serious candidate. Tons of kids fly in from California, from Asia, etc., so unless you truly can’t afford it, it’s important to go.</p>
<p>It’s true that a face-to-face interview with an adcom is more valuable than a phone one. If you can, go to the East. It’s an advantage for you, too, to see the schools. If you can’t afford it, you can’t afford it (plenty of kids can’t; I wouldn’t have been able to go if I didn’t have a lot of family in the East), but if you can, it’s a good idea.</p>
<p>Unless you have a particularly good reason not to fly out to interview, I would recommend it. </p>
<p>With my D playing hockey every weekend during the winter (I provided the admissions office with her schedule), we were not able to interview at one school, although we did informally tour the school (signing in on the guest register) while we were in the region over the Xmas holiday. We even explained to them how we fit the SSAT testing in between games at a hockey tournament. My D ended up having a phone interview with an Adcom while in the car enroute to a hockey game. It didn’t cost her in this particular case (she was admitted although we did not accept at this particular school). </p>
<p>The school she did accept at (and is now attending) was able to interview her over the Xmas holidays and I think it made a difference in the quality of the FA package and our overall feeling towards the school.</p>
<p>I highly recommend making time to interview in person on campus, if at all possible.</p>
<p>That’s funny your daughter had to have her interview traveling to a hockey game, goaliedad. Phone interviews seem to frequently have peculiar circumstances. When I had mine for St. Paul’s, it was at 6 a.m., and immediately after it was done, I had to leave for school, so I had to be all ready by 6. :rolleyes: It actually wasn’t that bad; it worked out quite well for me.</p>