This article shares data, insights, and visualizations meant to help you get a sense for the scope and nature of interview questions. It is organized into four sections: (i) qualitative insights; (ii) grounding stats and themes; (iii) a few visualizations; and (iv) assumptions / examples.
It is important to note that the 'themes' around which interview Qs are organized were devised by me (and not the schools).
Qualitative Insights
Eight schools; 98 interview questions; First-hand, real-time data from live interviews; Five thematic categories.
Interview questions were documented during and/or shortly after each interview (i.e., these are not from any existing online forum or published on a school's website). Questions include practiced questions, as well as follow-ups that can only come from Admissions Officers who are actively listening and reacting to responses. The number of questions per school ranges from 8 - 19, with the average sitting around 12.
Interview questions themes are balanced across all 98 questions. School Fit & Motivation leads at 27%, with the rest each landing between 17-19%. No single theme dominates; the interview seems designed to be genuinely exploratory, and covers the whole applicant, rather than probing any one area.
The 'tell me about yourself' opening (or a close variant) appears at five of eight schools, making it the most universal question in the dataset. The 'why boarding school' and 'why this school' questions appear in some form at nearly every school.
Two schools directly asked where else my daughter was applying. During interview prep, although this question crossed my mind, I did not think Admissions Officers would ask, so was personally surprised to learn it was asked. Personally, I don't love the question; but see its value as a function to offer an early indication to Admissions Officers about enrollment yield.
One (and only one) school sent three questions in advance. In addition to other questions asked by Andover, the Admissions Officer covered the same three questions that each applicant was encouraged to prepare for.
At some schools, Admissions Officers had several follow-up questions in queue based on information provided as part of the 'Candidate Profile' (which was completed in order to schedule an interview / tour).
Grounding Stats and Themes
Student Essay Prompts - By School, and Theme
Visualizations
Interview Questions - By Theme
Interview Questions - By School
Assumptions / Examples
Theme - Example Prompts
Two to three anonymized questions per theme, drawn from live conversations across the 8 schools. School names withheld; prompts lightly paraphrased where needed to prevent direct attribution.
