Hi CC! (This is my first time posting but here goes nothing)
I am a 8th grader on the west coast applying to some boarding schools for 9th grade and today I had my first interview. It was in a quaint coffee shop and around 40 minutes long (is this a good time?) However, I don’t think the interview was anything special. It was just a back and forth of question and answer and my interviewer’s affable smile seemed a bit forced. I think I did ask some good questions at the end but should I be worried about an average interview? I really like this school and would appreciate some tips on my next interviews. Thanks in advance!
Well the interview time doesn’t matter that much, some interviews can go from 20-1 hour. For me when I had interviews they were usually 40 minutes so you’ll be fine.
You don’t have to worry about preparing anything for the interview. Just prepare the interview questions they say they would ask you, and try to be your genuine self. Don’t pretend to be someone else you’re not.
Heres some tips:
-Research the school beforehand. Like try to research the school like 2-3 days before it and try to see what programs or any current events that happened in the school. For example some schools publish their newspaper or look at their instagram account and if they had a huge party 3 days ago, ask about that party.
-Dress like what students from that boarding school would dress like. If the boarding school dress code is a blazer, wear a blazer.
-Body posture and eye contact. Try to be confident and try to make yourself seem casual. Think of the interviewer as a friend. Don’t be nervous and look wildly at everything and just maintain eye contact to seem confident even if you’re not.
-Prepare for common questions. If you search up “Common Questions Asked In Private High School Interviews” there will be a lot of questions that pop up that most schools ask.
-Once you like research and learn about the school and find out what qualities they like, for example sports or music, talk about the achievements you have in them. Talk about relevant achievements and experiences.
-Most importantly be yourself. Interviewers are basically trained to know if you’re lying about what you do or if you’re not being yourself by body language or word use.
These are some advice I would’ve told my old self before interviews so I hope this helps!
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I’m sure your interview went well - 40 minutes sounds about right.
They just want to get to know you. The most important thing is to be yourself (BTW, it’s a two way street, you should be looking for a good fit as well), be attentive and send a thank you letter that hits on the topics that resonated with you. Sounds like you are on the right track!
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Thanks for the replies! I will keep all of your tips in mind for my next interviews.
Send a follow up thank you note to the interviewer for their time and reiterate your interest in the school and pull out 1 thing of interest they told you or something you both talked about even if not related to the school.
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I think the point about being yourself is most important. Remember, some interviewers are seasoned veterans, while others are newbies. My son interviewed with an AO who was new to the job that Fall - the questions the AO asked were clearly scripted…Why boarding school? Why this boarding school? What activities/classes/sports do you like best? Another AO he interviewed with had been with the school’s admissions office for years. His questions were more unique…What do you think of Shakespeare? What qualities make an animal a good pet? Our advice to our son was enjoy the conversation and try to convey to the AO what makes you tick as a student, friend, musician, athlete, etc.
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Hi, thank you for the replies. I’m going to the east coast for my campus tours and interviews soon in mid-December, should I bring snow boots? What are some interview questions I could practice? Thanks!
For questions, obviously know what, specifically, it is about the school that you connect with and makes you think it is a good fit for you. Also, questions my daughter got a bunch last year were: What qualities would make for a good roommate? What do you hope to accomplish after four years at boarding school/how do you hope to grow or change over the next four years?
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Hopefully you can monitor the forecast (and recent weather) to see. Not sure where you’re going but there’s no snow on the ground at Andover right now for example and probably won’t be based on the 5-10 day forecast.
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The possible pool of questions is very large and ranges from the expected (e.g., “why boarding school?” or “why our boarding school?”) to the unexpected (e.g., “what three books would you want with you if stranded on a desert island?” “how would you decorate your room at boarding school?”) and everything in between (e.g., “what is your favorite subject in school and why?” “talk about a time where you failed at something? what did you learn? how did you respond?”).
Be prepared with some questions of your own for the interviewer. You want questions that will get them talking about their school…“What made you want to work at…?” “What are some of the fun traditions that aren’t captured on the website?”
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Thanks everyone! Tomorrow is my Andover interview and I’m in the east coast now. I had dinner at a pizza place and I have to say, the east coast pizza can do no wrong! Even though I’m not a big eater, the pizza was so good, as were the mac and cheese balls. Ah, the blissful ignorance of delicious food before a morning filled with anxiety. Any last tips?
Have fun!
I finished my interview and tour with Andover, it went really well. I talked a lot about philosophy and empathy; it was a really fun conversation, overall. I also went on a Choate tour afterwards, and I have to say I really like Choate! Tomorrow is Loomis!
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Hi y’all! I finished all my in-person interviews, and I think they went okay for the most part. Just thought I shared my experience and advice. (warning: contents in this post may be uncomfortable to read for some)
For Andover, we talked about my personal strengths rather than my academic ones. For this interview, definitely practice the given questions and have specific answers with examples. Went well, the tour was not the most informative but it was cool. Also, I thought I would be having my tour THEN interview, but nope! Andover was unique in that way, I was caught off guard and panicked a bit.
Loomis’s interview was okay, nothing special, which is disappointing since I really liked Loomis; the tour was amazing.
Umm, Exeter’s interview was interesting. I stumbled, talked about Taylor Swift & gender stereotypes, and I think I got my period during it (horrific: I was sitting on a white couch and had completely forgotten about my cycle!) I only asked a few questions and hurriedly left… just, if you have female genitals and are nearing/on your cycle, learn from my experience, this is embarrassing to talk about my unpreparedness (I strive to be organized, but nevertheless) but hopefully others will benefit. Too bad this incident occurred because I also liked Exeter.
All my interviewer’s laughed at some point and said that I seemed like a really genuine human being, maybe that’s a good sign? Idk it could be read either way. I made blunders, was too honest on some occasions, and realized while interviewing that I’m bad at holding up a conversation & keeping eye contact. The end.
I didnt want to be cliche but I prepared some points about Taylor Swift too 
You shouldn’t be embarrassed talking abt your period but it rlly is scary on a white couch, but you received positive feedback from your interviewer so maybe it was a good sign! my interviewer just remained chill and it went more like a q&a rather than a convo
Yay, Taylor Swift! Sry, should’ve clarified, I’m not embarrassed I got my period (proud to be a women!) I was embarrassed that I was incompetent enough to forget my cycle was coming up and not prepared enough (everyone I know is always so prepared) which led to my messing up my Exeter interview 
I’ll edit that. Where I live, if we talk about menstruating in public, its frowned upon. It sucks sm, I’m hoping BS will provide a more welcoming environment.
Lol, my Exeter interviewer just said “Fantastic!” after every one of my responses, idk, it sounded soooo forced especially after I bared my heart out and talked about some vulnerable stuff.
Thats so sad to hear about the place you live in right now… hopefully you will already be in a
supportive BS community next year! I think interviewers try to be nice on all occasions and I’m really stressing when they force a smile or praise me too much💀
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Any schools that you’ve visited stand out?
I liked all the campuses, but I really loved Loomis and Exeter’s campus. Just the vibe was there, everyone was so friendly and seemed so lively! I heard Exeter is really hard-core in academics and has been compared to a jail-like environment but courses like bioethics, the library, and writing opportunities like The Exonian really spoke to me. As for Loomis, I already knew it was one of my top schools from reading their entire website, but visiting just proved and assured me of my thoughts! Choate was so cool too but there wasn’t the same vibe, maybe it was the weather or something.