JUNIOR YEAR TIMELINE FOR ON-CAMPUS INTERVIEWS

Spring
Most colleges don’t offer formal interviews to students until the summer before and fall of their senior year. However, a few colleges are open to interviewing applicants during the spring of their junior year. If during Spring Break you and your family take a college trip and you know a lot about the schools already and are prepared for interviews, call ahead to the various admissions offices to see if you can schedule interview appointments. If you are unfamiliar with a school, it is probably better to wait for an interview until the fall when you are more knowledgeable and better prepared.

Summer Before Senior Year
While the summer may not be the best time to visit a college to see it at its best, this may actually be one of the better times to request an admissions interview. In general, fewer students ask for interviews during the summer. Moreover, summer is a “down” time for admissions staffs, so you might find them fresher and less hassled during this time than during the regular school year.

For colleges that only offer group interviews, summer might be a time when you end up with a small group, or even be the only person who shows up, thereby providing yourself an inadvertent one-on-one session with an admissions officer when none is usually offered.

√ In order to assure yourself of an interview for the fall, summer is the best time to call admissions offices for appointments.

SENIOR YEAR TIMELINE FOR ON-CAMPUS INTERVIEWS

Fall
Most students go on the interview circuit during the fall of their senior year. Admissions offices generally offer appointments during working hours Monday through Friday, and sometimes on Saturdays. Virtually no colleges offer appointments during Thanksgiving weekend, or after school closes for the holidays in December. Since Winter Quarter/Semester through the beginning of Spring Quarter/Semester is the application reading and decision time, few if any colleges offer interviews during those months.