I am employed in my current job BECAUSE I sent an email thank you note after the job interview. None of the other candidates did that. After I was hired, the hiring manager told me that my thank you email was what put me to the top of the list.
A thank you note/email after a college interview is a good idea, in my opinion, for the following reasons:
- You (the student/applicant) are asking the college to admit you. Saying thank you for the opportunity to interview with them is one way of putting your best foot forward.
- It's good manners & it's the polite and right thing to do. Teenagers might not care, but the high school senior isn't doing the interview with another teenager. You're interviewing with an adult...with somebody who might have a say in whether or not you get admitted to that university.
- Piggy backing on #2 - if the college is one of your top picks to attend, why WOULDN'T you formally send a thank you to the interviewer?
- There are 2 basic lessons that we all learn in preschool/kindergarten: say PLEASE and THANK YOU. Tell your child that if he does NOTHING ELSE with the rest of his life, he should ALWAYS say 'please' and 'thank you.' He should do it at work with coworkers, at school with professors & grad student-TA's, with fellow students & friends, with family members, and with people he just met. It is far easier to attract bees with honey than vinegar.
- Your son needs to understand that these college interviews are kind of like his first formal steps out into the big wide world of adulting. AND while he's doing this, he is not only representing himself, but he is representing his family. And he is representing his high school. And one of the best ways to honor yourself, your family, and your community is to treat others with respect....which you do in an interview situation by sending a formal thank you to the interviewer after the interview is over. WHY? Because the interviewer could have done a million other things with his/her time instead. He/she could have interviewed somebody else or gone on a walk or done some other work in the Admissions Office. OR if the interviewer is a member of the college's alumni network, then this is all the more reason to send a formal thank you because the interviewer in such cases is basically volunteering his/her time out of the kindness of his/her heart....and you SHOULD say thank you for that.