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| 1. |
What are my options during a campus visit? |
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- Individual or group admissions interview
- Guided tour of the campus
- Meetings with individual professors, coaches, club advisors, students, from your home area
- Stay overnight in a dormitory with a student
- Attend classes, lectures, social and athletic events
- Eat in campus dining facility
- Preliminary visit (tour, interview) with parents, followed by a lengthier visit aloneóstaying on campus, attending classes, etc.
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| 2. |
How do I prepare for a campus visit? |
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- Advanced preparation is the key to a successful campus visit.
- Call rather than write the Admissions Office to schedule an individual appointment. Several months in advance is not too much advance notice. Three to six weeks is usually sufficient, barring Saturday, late Friday and holiday requests.
- Request an individual interview at any school that really interests you, even if the school doesnít seem to emphasize individual interviews. A good personal interview can be a real plus in the admissions selection process at any school in the country. If there are no personal interviews available on your visiting day, sign up for a group interview. It is still an indication of your interest in the college.
- Ask the Admissions Office to schedule your additional appointments for tours, meetings with professors, coaches, and classes and to confirm these times in writing. You donít need to be a top brain or superstar athlete to meet with these people. Most of them enjoy young people and really welcome a chance to meet with you. Request a catalogue, application and campus newspaper at this time if you donít already have them. Also ask them what the driving time is from her to there.
- Check with your guidance office to find out what students from your school attend the college and try to arrange a meeting with them, in advance.
- Decide on what role your parents will play during a campus visit, long before your scheduled appointment.
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- If your parents plan to accompany you, find out from the admissions office the role they play during the interview. Are they invited in to speak with the interviewer or are just the students seen?
- Practically any type of parental involvement is fine with admissions office if the student and family are comfortable with it.
- Parents need not even accompany their children but most parents are genuinely curious and interested in the college selections of their children and welcome the opportunity to visit.
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G. Do some background reading. |
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- Be familiar with the collegeís available literature.
- Acquaint yourself with the appropriate chapters on campus "visitations" and "interviews" in the "How to" college books.
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| 3. |
What happens on the day of my college visit? |
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- Keep an open mind, take notes and relax. Even if your parents, brother or sister went to the college, or if itís in your own backyard, keep an open mind and form impressions for yourself.
- Dress comfortably and neatly- "neatly" is not a popular but you get the picture!
- Allow extra driving time- most admissions offices run tight schedules. Again get an estimated driving time and suggested routes from the admissions office in advance. Call the office if you are delayed or must cancel an appointment.
- Arrive for your interview with time to spare and review your notes before meeting with the interviewer.
- After your interview, complete the rest of the scheduled activities. Note especially the general attitude on campus of students and faculty. Read the bulletin boards.
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| 4. |
What to expect during the interview? |
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First of all, relax yourself. An interview is not an inquisition but a basic exchange of information. Your interviewer is there to find out about you, particularly qualities and information that won't show up on paper. It's not time to be modest and be prepared to talk about yourself. |
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- Get your interviewers name correct. Write it down and use this person as your contact to the school.
- Academic interests- You are not expected to have decided on a major but we would like to discuss your academic likes and dislikes, strengths and weaknesses. Donít give excuses for poor performance but do qualify unusual situations.
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1. Having an unofficial transcript with you can be helpful but not required. |
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2.Do you know your SAT scores, Achievement test results, rank in class or grade point average if available. Official copies of scores, etc. are unnecessary at this point. |
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- Extra curriculars should be covered- academics are only one part of your application. Discuss in detail your most time consuming and important activities, summer jobs, unusual interests, hobbies, volunteer work, sports, music, drama, special awards, family backgrounds, etc.
- Depending on your interviewer, in some cases the responsibility rests on the student for introducing subjects for discussion. Prepare in writing before hand certain subjects and facts that you wish to cover during your interview and then bring them up.
- If your interview occurs after the application has been submitted, your interviewer may already have some of this information. Obviously, in such cases the need for detail is eliminated and you might search for new areas of conversation.
- Have a written list prepared, well thought out questions to ask of your interviewer, getting away from the "size of the library" "questions. Your parents might desire certain information that you could obtain for them.
Be a good listener! Itís okay to write down answers but really listen to the answers given and feel free to challenge, question or agree with our interviewer. |
| 5. |
After the campus visit, is there anything more to be done? |
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- A thank ñyou note, if sincere, to your tour guide, student host, interviewer, professor or any other contact is always appreciated.
- Get the names of young graduates from the college living in your area from the admissions office. Attempt to contact them. They are probably some f the best sources of information about career counseling and job placement.
- If you were unable to have an individual interviewer on campus or could not at anytime visit a college, request an Alumni Interview in your home area. At many colleges you are automatically assigned an alumni interview. In that case, after reading the catalogue, wait for the alumni to contact you. Donít wait too long, however. If there is no alumni contact my mid-February, call the Admissions office.
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- An alumni interview lasts about 1 hour and can be conducted by one or more graduates from the college
- Questions can be somewhat more general in nature (how did you find out about my college?) and often focus on what your interest is in that particular school compared to your other choices. Again know your grade point average, SATís etc. The interviewer/s will be very interested in your extra-curricular activities and community involvement.
- Alumni interviewers are not professional interviewers so the more information and initiative you can provide usually the smoother the interview will progress.
- Do you have questions prepared in advance which will probably differ considerably from your on campus questions.
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| 6. |
Two Final Options: |
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- Be sure to attend and presentation given at your local high school by colleges that interest you (either day visits or college night formats.)
- Instead of visiting all of the colleges that interest you in the fall wait until after you have received all of your college acceptance letters and then visit only those schools in late April. This cuts down considerably on the time and expense but does sacrifice the impact of a positive interview on the application process. It is however one last option.
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ANNOUNCEMENTS
PowerSchool
The PTSA is sponsoring a reception honoring John
Aitken on Wednesday, May 21 at 2:30 in the Circulation Library.
Everyone is Welcome.
Congratulations to the Knowledge Bowl Team for
an outstanding year as News Channel 3 Knowledge Bowl finalists.
5/18 Baccalaureate at Grace Evangelical at 1:30
5/19-20 Senior Exams
5/22 Graduation Practice
5/24 Graduation at 10 a.m.at Hope Presbyterian
5/24 at 11:30 p.m. Project Graduation at Germantown
Athletic Club
8/5 Registration
8/11 First Day Students
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