The short answer: a private school interview is a guided conversation, not a test. The child's portion typically runs twenty to thirty minutes and follows a predictable arc: get-to-know-you questions, then school experience, then interests, then your child asks questions of their own, and parents typically have a separate conversation of about twenty minutes, often right after. Plan on about an hour for the interview portion. Nothing in the design is meant to catch anyone off guard.
What happens when you arrive for a private school interview?
Start with arrival, because the day begins before the door. Most schools bring families into a waiting area, and many offer a tour with a current student or parent first. Take it. It's the best warm-up in the building. A child who's already been asking questions on a tour walks into the interview room warmed up instead of cold. Plan to arrive about fifteen minutes early and not much more; a child sitting in a waiting room for half an hour has nothing to do but get nervous.
Does my child go into the interview alone?
Then the separation. From the middle school interview on, your child typically goes in alone, and that's a feature, not a hazard; kids routinely do better without a parent's reactions to read. For the younger grades, the visit is shaped differently from school to school, often more observation and activity than sit-down conversation, but everything here about the interviewer's intent holds at every age. Keep the goodbye light: "Have a great chat. See you in a little while." No last instruction at the door; a reminder there lands as pressure.
What is the order of questions in a private school interview?
Inside, the conversation typically follows a formula, and knowing the shape is itself a kind of reassurance. Get-to-know-you and background questions first. Then questions about your child's school experience. Then the interest questions: what they do and care about outside class. And near the end, the part families don't expect: your child gets to ask the interviewer questions about the school. That's the whole architecture. Your child will not be asked to solve anything, defend anything, or perform anything. They will be asked, in several different ways, to be themselves out loud.
A good interviewer makes the shape visible from the first minute, previewing what to expect and how long it runs, and the best ones add the line that settles a nervous kid completely: you already know every answer, because the questions are only about who you are. There is no material your child can have failed to study.
What happens in the parent interview?
You'll also have your own portion, around twenty minutes, and since the parent and student interviews rarely run at the same time, the parent conversation typically follows your child's in the same time slot. It's a conversation about your child and your family, and what lands well is simpler than families expect: parents who clearly know their child, how they learn, and who are aiming at the right school rather than the most prestigious one. Fit, not performance: the same standard the room applies to your kid.
What should I say when my child comes out?
And when your child comes out: resist the pounce. No "How did it go? What did they ask?" in the hallway. A warm "I'm sure you did a great job" is enough. The debrief can wait for the car, and only if your child starts it.
Jennifer Hines spent twenty years as a Dean of Admission at Noble and Greenough School. Her free guide, What They're Really Asking, decodes fifteen interview questions from the other side of the table, and shows why the quiet kid is often the one who lands them best.