My daughter (HS Junior) did a Zoom interview with a well regarded, Test Optional college the other day.
In the interview, her interviewer (an Admissions Officer who is responsible for our geographic region) asked, without preamble, what her ACT/SAT test scores were.
My daughter replied that she had not taken the exams yet.
Her interviewer said, “Well, when you take the exams, let me know the scores and I will let you know whether or not to submit them.”
What do you make of this?
Taking a positive view, her interviewer could be said to be looking out for her best interests.
Taking a negative view, her interviewer could be pushing for early access to information that it is the student’s choice to disclose.
FYI, my daughter is unhooked-the school probably has no special incentive to want to land her.
I was actually going to ask you about the timing of the interview. Is it common to have juniors do an interview with an AO a year in advance? This seems different than the usual informational interview with alumni. I am genuinely curious about this.
I was surprised too. It seems like the schools are in “high season” with applications and perhaps interviewing HS seniors. Why interview HS juniors?
But we recently did a school info session and tour with a different school and they asked if we wanted to interview during the online sign up process for the tour.
We were surprised that the interview gates were open. We checked with perhaps three other schools and, lo and behold, another one (who asked the question above) was open for junior interviews, this time on Zoom with no info session/tour.
Pretty small sample size. I am not sure that junior interviews are a widespread phenomenon at this time of year.
Thanks for the clarification. It’s great that it was with an AO who also offered continued communication (sending test scores, etc.) I’d think that this connection would be a positive thing during the app review season.
Although I am always a skeptic, I find the question to be a bit odd and possibly inappropriate. I guess it depends on the context, college and your child’s actual score (when taken). If stellar scores much higher than the school’s average no problem. But what if the score is at the bottom 25%, and the grades and ECs are average? If your daughter applies TO, would or could the AO keep the score completely out of his or her mind, memory, or notes? I doubt it. Although the AO could be sincere, I’m glad your daughter didn’t show her hand too early (though she wasn’t even delt her cards yet)!
I agree with this. Am surprised the AO asked. Can your D email the AO/ interviewer, thank her for the interview (thank you notes are ALWAYS good) and ask what scores (at least if it were this year) would be worth reporting or not.
To me, that’s not an appropriate question. If the AO is trying to be helpful in this regard, they should tell the student “generally, we recommend submitting score that are above xx.” In my view it’s not ok for a test optional school to ask for scores.
While I agree that the question may not be appropriate to ask, it’s very possible that the intention behind the question was harmless.
AOs are human, and he/she may have simply been trying to help. My daughter went on an interview once and the interviewer would not stop talking about her sorority, how my D really needs to join one etc….despite the fact that my daughter stated multiple times that she had no interest. AOs are human.
I agree it’s a good idea to ask what scores are worth submitting.
Absolutely. But at the school for which I conduct interviews, it is clearly spelled out what types of questions about a student’s record are permitted. I expect it’s the same at other schools.
jym626…many, many times I have seen parents and students ask (in info sessions and Zoom calls) what scores are appropriate to submit. I have NEVER seen an AO give a numerical answer. Usually the answer is something like…“submit scores that you are proud of.”