DS has MIT as his top choice, and will apply to other schools that require interviews. He is well qualified academically, but I’m worried about the interviews. He’s reasonably social in school and has a number of friends, but with adult strangers he’s very shy, quiet and formal. I have suggested a coach to prepare him for the interview (we don’t use any private consultants, thank you CC!), but he bristles at this and says “it’s cheating” and “I’ll do just fine”. I really don’t want this to sink his application. Did anybody hire a coach just for the interviews? and was it a college consultant, a speech coach, anybody else? And how do I talk him into this without hurting his pride too much?
Tough one. Maybe make the point that is studying cheating for a test. No it’s called preparation. Presidents practice being interviewed before debates etc. but unless he goes in and tackles the interviewer he should be fine. MIT will have hundreds of students just like him already. It’s not an uncommon set of characteristics.
Worse case have someone you respect with some hiring and or educational background interview him as a favor. You don’t have to pay for this.
MIT is going to be really focused on grades rigor and tests. If he has published research or an invention and or other signs of brilliance like a national award etc etc. that’s way more important than the interview.
He’s not quite there (good research, but not published, state-level awards but not national), so I feel this can go either way depending on little things.
It may be that any major prep could make him more nervous/insecure for the interviews. My D found that her interviews were generally conversational in tone.
My D prepared for interviews by doing these things…
–She prepared a resume (with the help of her guidance counselor) and brought it with her. At some interviews she felt it was a good springboard for conversation.
–She researched the school and understood why it was a good fit for her, how she could fit in etc.
–She prepared a few questions in advance that were specific to the school and/or her interests and which were not answered on the website (she put the questions on index cards in case she “froze” but I don’t think she used them - still it was a good security blanket).
If you have a good guidance department in the HS perhaps you could ask the guidance counselor to help him a bit in a low key manner.