Attending Private Appointments and Interviews

When American boarding schools travel internationally, they conduct a wide variety of activities into the time they spend in each city. In addition to the school fairs they attend, and any receptions they schedule, many schools take the opportunity to conduct in-person meetings and interviews with potential students.

It might seem overly obvious, but try to keep some key basics front of mind when scheduling one of these meetings:

• Do your homework before the interview: this isn’t a good place for basic questions that are answered in abundance on the school’s website. In this conversation, we’re looking closer – at details about the school and mutual fit, and about your student as a candidate and a learner.
• Commit to your time slot: interviewers at school fairs and visits are likely meeting a lot of people, all day, without much time in between appointments; they may also be jetlagged. Don’t make them reschedule unless it’s absolutely unavoidable.
• Be ready for a two-way conversation: your interviewer will want to know things about your student, to be sure; but they also want to see that your child is curious about and interested in attending, too – and not just that you’re interested in their attending. Your child should come ready to ask questions, talk about themselves as a student, and otherwise learn about the school and whether school and student are a good match for one another.