School admissions teams are not only building academic cohorts of students. They are also working to foster thriving school communities that are aligned with their mission and values. Gaining an understanding of applicant families through parent interviews is essential to the overall development of each school’s community.

Additionally, the relationship between families and schools is extremely important to a child’s individual success. Teachers and parents will work closely together to support each student’s learning over the years, so ensuring that families will be positive, collaborative partners is a high priority. 

While these factors are significant at all stages of your child’s education, they are often a particularly high priority in the lower grades, because the parental role in a child’s school life tends to be more involved in the younger years. 

The most important guidance to keep in mind for a successful parent interview is to convey warmth, positivity, and an authentic desire to be thoughtful, open-minded partners in your child’s education. Keep reading for our top tips on navigating successful parent interviews. 

We also recommend checking out Smart City Kids’ guidance on helping your middle or high school child shine in their student interview!

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Top Tips for a Successful Parent Interview

• Be Your Warmest Self: It is important to be authentic in your parent interview. Schools are genuinely interested in getting to know your family. That said, as noted above, you also want to be your warmest, friendliest self. Schools need to know that you will be pleasant to work with as partners in your child’s education. Keep your tone upbeat and remember to smile!
  
  
• Avoid Comparisons: Interviews are certainly a place where you should feel comfortable sharing your child’s strengths. If there was ever a time to sing their praises, it is in a school interview. However, be careful to do this in a way that does not make negative comparisons to other children. Speak honestly about where your child shines! But keep the focus on them, not on their peers.
  
  
• Be Honest but Focus on the Positive: When schools ask about challenges, it is important to be honest and not appear as though you are trying to dodge the question. However, the focus should be on growth. Emphasize how you have supported your child in managing the challenge and the progress you have seen.
• Keep Your Questions Informed & Open-Minded: When given an opportunity to ask your own questions, try to avoid asking questions that could easily be answered in other parts of the process, such as on the website or on your tour. Also, try to avoid framing questions in a way that may come across as aggressive. For example, ask how the school supports students who need different levels of challenge, rather than asking how they will manage your child’s uniquely gifted learning profile. The first framing positions the school to speak to the strengths of their program, whereas the second sets up a potentially adversarial dynamic, which may be offputting to the interviewer.
• Everyone Counts: Remember that every member of the school community counts. It is not only important to be gracious and warm in your interactions with your interviewer. Every interaction you have while visiting a school reflects on the kind of community member you will be, and the admissions team is paying attention! Treat everyone from the security officer at the front door to the receptionist to any teachers or fellow parents you may encounter as if they are part of the admissions team. We have seen schools decline to make an admissions offer to a family based solely on these seemingly small community interactions.

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