Lose Your Parents for Your College Interviews

You definitely shouldn't let your parents try to accompany you into the interview. Although you want them to accompany you into the financial aid and bursar's office so they can pay!!!

In fact, it's better to keep them out of the building altogether. Parents can only hurt; they never help.

Don't Let This Happen to You

We know a brilliant kid who was rejected by a top Ivy League college solely because his mother insisted on being present during his interview. Every time the admissions officer would ask a question, the mother would start yapping.

The college was worried that the student wouldn't be able to survive his freshman year if they didn't admit his mother as well. He ended up at another Ivy League college where he did brilliantly, by the way.

What the admissions officer didn't realize was that the student had figured out that the best way to deal with his pushy mom was to let her do what she wanted and not pay any attention.

He wasn't dependent on her; she was dependent on him. But that didn't come across.

Admissions officers don't like having your mom or dad in the room with you any better than you do. Most will tell parents to sit in the waiting room. But you don't even want this problem to come up.

You won't look good if your first contact with an admissions officer involves the admissions officer telling your parents to get lost. If your parents are adamant about wanting to accompany you to your interview itself, don't sign up for an interview.

Be Yourself at Your Best

Don't try to pretend to be someone you're not during the interview. Simply be you!!!

Admissions officers will see right through your act. But, no matter your personality, to have any chance of being admitted, always use your best manners: be polite, be respectful, be alert, be clean, and be friendly.

Remember something that we've told you over and over again, the key to getting admitted and being happy at college is matchmaking. You want to be yourself so that the person interviewing you can tell if you would be a good fit at the school.

At the same time the admissions officer should hopefully present the college in a true light so you can tell whether it is a place where you'd be happy. Think of this as a time for you to interview the school just as much as they are interviewing you, so come prepared to ask them questions too.

Remember, you'll be there for the next four years!!! Some of you five, six, seven, ok well hopefully not!!!

Save the Best College for the Last Interview

If you have interviews at more than one college, you'll get better as you go along. Try to arrange your schedule so that your first interviews are at the schools you care about least or at any rate the schools you are most likely to get into.

You can even schedule interviews at colleges in which you have no interest at all, just for the practice. This way, by the time you get to your top-choice college, you'll be much more comfortable with the whole interview process.

So save your top choice colleges for your last interviews.

[Article Source: http://www.positivearticles.com]

You definitely shouldn't let your parents try to accompany you into the interview. In fact, it's better to keep them out of the building altogether. Parents can only hurt; they never help.

About author:
Ron Caruthers is the nation's leading expert on how to get into college and pay for it-as well as helping students choose their careers and command top money in their fields. Ron also has expert knowledge of how to prepare for a college interview.

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