Private school interview tips

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Be honest and be yourselves because first and foremost you should be looking for a good fit for your family. if you try and be something you're not, you will suffer long-term because it's not the right environment for your family.

This assumes that the admissions team is aligned with the school. That is not always the case.

What does that mean?!

I had this experience applying to a private. Admin/board is in a different place from the admissions team. Meaning, you can get lots of ideas from admissions that your student is a good fit, but if the board or admin does not want your DC, you do not get offered admission.

I didn't think the board or admin had any say in admissions of most kids, do they?

They sure do when it comes to the all-important hooks of big donors and legacies and athletes. And the well-connected.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:At our former school our head of outplacement/6th grade, who previously worked for one of the 7-12 private schools in admissions, gave all of us parents a list of 32 prospective questions they asked at said former school (which is the most competitive school in our area - no, not in DC/East Coast).

I emailed a word doc of the questions to DS, he wrote all of his own answers to each question, printed the list and studied it in the car to/from school for a few weeks before any of his interviews started up. He knew the answers well enough to respond to them with a thought out, real answer but not in a robotic, memorized way. This sounds intense now that I read this back but going through this exercise made him feel very confident walking into every interview.

And the questions were...?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Dress up

She should wear a dress then?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Be honest and be yourselves because first and foremost you should be looking for a good fit for your family. if you try and be something you're not, you will suffer long-term because it's not the right environment for your family.

This assumes that the admissions team is aligned with the school. That is not always the case.

What does that mean?!

I had this experience applying to a private. Admin/board is in a different place from the admissions team. Meaning, you can get lots of ideas from admissions that your student is a good fit, but if the board or admin does not want your DC, you do not get offered admission.

I didn't think the board or admin had any say in admissions of most kids, do they?

They sure do when it comes to the all-important hooks of big donors and legacies and athletes. And the well-connected.

Maybe, but I really doubt that they are overruling admissions on individual, regular candidates.