Life Is About Learning: My Educational Journey

How To Help Your Child Prepare For Private High School Interviews

Some private high schools in highly competitive neighborhoods will insist on making all applicants come in for a formal interview. This can stress out your child and make him or her not perform as well. In order to give your child the best possible chance of getting into the private high school of his or her choice, you will need to help your child prepare for these interviews. This will make him or less nervous and more likely to perform better. Here are some tips for doing so.

1. Make Sure That He or She Has the Right Clothes

Nothing can make a teenager feel more uncomfortable than feeling as though he or she is under-dressed for an occasion. Take your child shopping for formal interview clothing a few weeks before the date of the interview itself. This will allow your child to find clothing that he or she likes, feels comfortable in, and feels confident in. By doing this, you will show that you value your child enough to get him or her the tools that he or she needs to do well, increasing your child's overall confidence levels and increasing the chances that he or she will perform well in the interview.

2. Practice Common Interview Questions

The next thing that you should consider doing is helping your child practice the interview questions. Many school interviews ask similar questions. Be sure that your child has answers ready for any questions about problems with his or her transcript from middle school. This could mean explaining that a low grade in English during the 7th grade was because he or she was very sad about a grandparent passing away or drawing attention to the fact that a C in math in 6th grade improved to a B+ in math the following year. Make sure that your child knows how to spin any perceived academic issues that he or she might have had.

Also make sure that your child can talk candidly about his or her greatest strengths and weaknesses. This means talking to your child and helping him or her brainstorm answers to these questions ahead of time. Finally, make sure that your child can talk about his or her leadership in the various extracurricular activities that he or she participated in.

For more information, talk to a private high school, such as Queen of Peace High School. They will have advice on how to prepare.


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