<p>Hi–I’ve been browsing CC for awhile but have just joined so this is my first post, pls. bear with me if I don’t have the right terminology! I have a Jr. S (first and only) and we’re taking our first big college visit trip this spring break, looking at 3 schools. To be honest, I believe these are reach schools, but it’ll be a good adventure for us anyway. I am not planning to try to schedule official interviews at any of the 3 schools we’re visiting, mostly because I’m not keen on the extra stress I believe the interview would add (performance anxiety–maybe on my part moreso than his!) Does it count in the student’s favor if they do an official interview, or does it depend on each school? These are CA schools that we will probably only visit once so if an interview helps his chances of admission, I guess we should try to arrange one, but I don’t want to…Instead, we’ll do the official tour, eat at cafe, etc and most important, I think, we’re trying to arrange for him to meet up with at least 1 student we know at each school. Can “we” skip the interviews? Thanks!</p>
<p>Personally, I think it’s a little early for Jrs to be interviewing. We’re planning some visits for my D and she may speak to some professors or coaches but nothing evaluative at this point.</p>
<p>Hi mom in virginia, and welcome!
My instinct would be to have your S have the interview while on campus. If you are doing an “official” tour and have to sign up for it in advance, or sign in on the day you are there, it might look “peculiar” if your S doesn’t take advantage of having an on-campus interview. If you really believe they are reach schools for him, he can use the interview(s) as “practice.” An interview won’t really get him accepted or rejected from a school, unless he does something absolutely outrageous. 
Have you checked to see whether these schools offer on campus interviews and whether they offer them for juniors?</p>
<p>I am father to a college sophmore and a HS senior. Both took college tours with me during their junior year spring vacations and both sought interviews at any school willing to grant them. Not all schools will interview juniors so if offered I say take it. Interviewing is an art and it takes practice to get good at it. The more interviews a HS student has, the less stressful they’ll become. Both my kids felt that interviewing was helpful to sorting out whether or not a school was a fit for them.</p>
<p>Thanks for good advice, momof3sons and latern5. If they offer, we’ll do it. On a related note, we have a good family friend who knows a professor or 2 at these schools. Our friend said that he might be able to set up a chat between professor and our S. Again, this seems a bit intimidating to me (S said fine…); should we go for that, too, if the details can be arranged? Even if the professor isn’t directly in S’s area of interest (econ professor, which S took and liked, but S’s his real interest is physics/comp sci)? Thanks very much.</p>
<p>Visit with the profs! My S spent an hour with the Financial Aid Director of a school he visited who was the friend of my sister. The Financial Aid Director told son the inside story on the school, kept an eye on his application and sent an e-mail to him the day he was admitted. S wasn’t eligible for and did not get aid…we were there to hear more about the school. He goes to that school today and still says “hi” around campus to Fin Aid Director!</p>
<p>Got it–we’ll talk to anyone who will talk to us! Thanks very much again.</p>
<p>mom, “we” 
took the same approach as recommended above, i.e., my son interviewed on campus whenever interviews were offered. This was during the summer before senior year. He started with the less favored schools to gain practice and by the time he got to his super reaches he was actually enjoying the process.</p>
<p>The on-campus interviewers were often top people in the admissions department or, barring that, recent graduates of the college who had joined admissions. In several cases my son made excellent contacts with whom he communicated throughout the application process. The personal connection was invaluable.</p>
<p>I’d also note that the opportunity to talk to alums made his safeties more palatable – they all seemed like such nice, interesting people.</p>
<p>In the end, he only applied to one college ED and that one was one that doesn’t interview so he’ll never know how influential the interviews were, but from his point of view they really helped him understand the personality of the colleges.</p>
<p>Absolutely schedule an “interview” with the admissions office if possible and with the faculty for your kids intended major. This will be more valuable than anything else on the tour. The purpose of these “interviews” is to gain knowledge about the college and the programs. It might help with admissions, but don’t count on it. I think you will find that these interviews are very low stress. Typically these interviews consisted on a family meeting with the admissions officer and then a brief private discussion with the student. These are not high stress events. If talking privately with an adult is a high stress situation for your kid, then this will be a valuable experience. The departmental “interviews” usually consisted of a tour, discussion of available programs and educational approaches and rarely a one-on-one talk with the student. If you do decide to do the interviews, expect to do some work to set these up. You will probably need to make some phone calls and emails to schedule appointments.</p>
<p>I agree that your son should schedule the interviews, both in admissions and with any profs in departments he’s interested in. My daughter did that on college visits starting her junior year.</p>
<p>She also sat in on classes and ate in the cafeteria and did overnights if we knew a student who could put her up – all starting her junior year. We found the information sessions to be pretty useless, so started skipping those and spent time on campus doing other things.</p>
<p>My son wanted to do a few visits without interviews first and that worked well because we toured east coast schools in Feb and most of them wouldn’t interview Jrs. In April we toured midwest schools and most of them did offer interviews so my son did those. We did some practice sessions together because he wasn’t used to talking about himself. I read a book on the subject and asked him questions I thought might come up. I also suggested he research on the website and in guidebooks about each school and come up with a question or two to ask. His first was with a very friendly admissions person who set him at ease right away and he never was really nervous after that. I think it is a big growth experience.</p>