Interview Season

The months of October and November comprise prime campus tour and interview season here at Andover, and it’s easy to see why. The fall foliage is at its peak, so the campus is just gorgeous with bright oranges, reds, and yellows. It’s not too cold out yet, so walking around campus is enjoyable. And families are using the various autumn holidays—Columbus Day, Election Day, Veterans Day—as time to visit boarding schools without having to miss too much school or work.

For those of us in the admission office, we don’t get many holidays in the fall! Admission counselors and faculty interviewers are busy conducting an average of three interviews per day. Interviewing is one of my favorite parts of my job—I get to meet all sorts of people, from literally all over the world, and get to know them in a one-on-one setting. I’ve interviewed students from Hong Kong, Singapore, Concord and Longmeadow (Mass.), New York City, Pelham (N.H.), Seoul, and my hometown of Princeton (N.J.)—and that’s just in the past two weeks!

For many of you prospective students, the thought of interviewing might make your palms sweat with nervousness. You’ve probably had people tell you, “just be yourself!” And that’s absolutely true—please be yourself! While most of our applicants have really good grades and high standardized test scores, the interview is one of two opportunities (the other being the application essay—more on that in a later entry) for us to get to know you as a real person—not just how you perform in class or on the SSAT.

When I interview a student, I try to make him/her as comfortable as possible, so that I can really get to know who he/she really is. I will ask you a bunch of questions, some yes-or-no questions but mostly things that you can only talk about in a few sentences. I won’t ask you about your SSAT scores or your grades in school—I actually don’t want to know about that until I read your application. What I will ask are things like, “What is your favorite subject and what do you like about it?” “How and when did you become interested in boarding school?” “Which extracurricular activities do you enjoy the most and why?” And, of course, you should expect me to ask you, “Why are you interested in attending Phillips Academy next year?”

The interview is also a great opportunity for you to ask me questions. Yes, it’s a two-way street! Now while I am happy to answer just about any question you might have about the school, I hope that before your interview, you will have taken the time to browse through our website and/or read our admission brochures so that you can get the basics down for yourself. “How many students do you have?” is a simple question that’s simply answered, but I would much rather answer questions that aren’t easily answered by our website or catalog. All of the admission counselors at Andover have had experience as house counselors or complementary house counselors in various dorms on campus, as academic advisors, and as coaches of sports teams or advisors to student clubs. Some of us are Andover alumni. For instance, I am the house counselor in the largest ninth-grade girls’ dorm on campus—ask me about what dorm life is really like! Mrs. Joel, an associate dean of admission, is also one of our five residential deans—ask her about Abbot Cluster events. My colleague Mr. Carr, also an associate dean of admission, is the head coach for boys’ soccer and lacrosse—ask him about sports at Andover. Mr. Abe, who is new to our office this year, also teaches an English class—ask him which book he’s teaching and why. Ask us about our personal experiences with the school—you’re bound to learn something new!

One last piece of advice—if you’re interested in applying to Andover, you should schedule your interview soon! You must complete your interview before the application deadline (January 15th for day student applicants/February 1st for boarding applicants). You can either call our office at (978) 749-4050 to schedule an on-campus appointment or, if you can’t get to campus, you can interview with one of our alumni admission representatives in your local area.