My theory on interviews

neatoburrito
Sun, 28 Sep 2008 19:14:05 +0000

Here’s my theory about interviews. I’d love some feedback, especially from those of you with more experience. This is what I think the staff wants to find out.


what is the kid’s attitude towards this school in particular and BS in general? How impressed was he/she with the tour and what is the interest level. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the interview is immediately following the tour.
whether the kid is interesting or not, i.e. Does this kid have a personality?
if the kid is capable of having a meaningful conversation with adults. So many of the classes are discussion based, that this seems like a really important element.


My son was asked why he wanted to go to BS, why the particular school, what other schools he had looked at and whether he would miss his friends or not.

I know everyone says that the interview is really important and I do believe that it is. But my theory is that the interview is a means of making the first cut, so to speak. I don’t believe for a minute that a kid can be admitted on the basis of the interview alone; but it wouldn’t surprise me at all if a bad impression keeps a child from being admitted. I really think that, at the most competitive schools anyway, almost all of the applicants are academically qualified. I think it comes down to personality in the end. Is this a person we want around for the next four years and how will his/her background contribute to our community?

Probably the best response from an interview is, “Wow, I like this kid. Let’s see how the rest of his application stacks up.” The worst is probably something like, “Boy, no personality. It was like pulling teeth to get this kid to speak up.”

I’m glad we didn’t “coach” our son or anything. I hope the interviewer didn’t think we did. Son comes up with some doozies all on his own! According to his interviewer, he did “very well,” but I have no idea what that means. He didn’t try to sell us on the school or anything. He just made it clear that our son would be with kids who were like him.