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Original poster

Interview questions - Harrow/eton/indies in general

51 replies

nokissymum · 29/01/2012 14:35

ds will be sitting harrow interview/pretest this michelmas term. As he is quite "monosyllabic" dh and i plan to think of some good questions to ask him that will not only allow for a more lenthy discussion butmore importantly make him to think out of the box a bit more.

So far we have come up with " if you could be any famous person on earth, who would it be and why ?

Ds is actually enjoying this little excercise but we are runing out of ideas for questions. Could you help ?

OP posts:
Original poster
nokissymum · 02/02/2012 13:49

Yes i know colleger Grin but i what i'm getting at is they've learnt about the two wars, the romans, tudors etc, but honestly feel DS would not like any of tnem either than the time he is in due to his age, i know im not making this very clear!

But i've havent asked him so perhaps he is more perceptive about history than im thinking.

OP posts:
Original poster
nokissymum · 02/02/2012 13:51

Sorry aboutmidtakes! I'm doing so many things at once here.

OP posts:
Annelongditton · 02/02/2012 14:22

Harrow question that has arisen a few times in various forms is "if you didn't have enough players for a game of football/tennis etc how would you persuade someone who doesn't want to, to join in".

ChazsBrilliantAttitude · 02/02/2012 14:37

Nokissymum - What can I say. I know my son of a similar age is quite interested in knights so getting him talking about that would bring out his enthusiasm.

Please be aware he will be up against boys who will not be as phased by the idea as you seem to be.

It appears to me that you have chosen to misunderstand my post in order to take the micky. Therefore, I will bow out of this thread and wish your son all the best.

Original poster
nokissymum · 02/02/2012 14:44

chazsbrilliant i understood your post perfectly and glad you posted it. I was taking the micky out of myself! Why do you think its aimed at you ?

There are lots of very clever boys who will be doing these interviews, i'm just surprised at how tough the questions seem, like i said ds may well have a period in time that he likes.

Please dont "bow out". Sad

OP posts:
lupinn · 02/02/2012 14:54

does anyone have any experience of the king's college wimbledon 11plus interview? my ds has an interview coming up there, any tips gratefully received

ChazsBrilliantAttitude · 02/02/2012 14:56

nokissymum - apologies for being so sensitive. I misunderstood the tone of your post. One of the joys of t'internet.

My son goes to a London prep that sends boys to St Pauls, MT, Harrow, Westminster etc and I am under no illusions how over prepared some of the boys will be. I think one of the key things is to find out how to let your DS's spark / enthusiasm show because the schools will see through the layers of prep school polish - they have seen it all before.

I remember many years ago going for an interview for a scholarship at one of the Inns of Court and possibly giving the best interview I ever have because it turned to a subject that I was really interested in and knew more than some the people interviewing me. Interest and enthusiasm are infectious.

propatria · 02/02/2012 14:56

The questions arent meant to be "tough" , ,they are designed actually to get the boys talking about things they are enthused about,they want to see bright,interesting boys who will make the most of the opps the school will give them and will bring something to the schools,if the children have nothing they are enthusiastic about then perhaps these schools arent for that child,has your prep school given you no guidance?,the interview really isnt a big deal,in my experience my boys did a couple of trial runs with the Head and off they went,we certainly didnt try them with questions,just let them be themselves,remember this isnt an exam,there are no right or wrong answers.
Im sure your boy will be fine.

yesbutnobut · 02/02/2012 15:06

Annelongditton - my son was asked that at Harrow!!! The point being that they all have to play the Harrow football game and the question is intended to ascertain whether the boy is willing to give things a try/recognises that in life we don't just do things that we like/is a team player. In fact the latter aspect is very important for boarding school life, hence these schools like it if boys are already tried and tested boarders.

Mainly though, as already said, they are looking for enthusiasm.

Original poster
nokissymum · 02/02/2012 15:07

Chazs, that's okay, it can be very difficult to get "tones" over the internet, I'm just getting "jitters" because this year is THE year!

Propatria - yes prep gives them a few mock runs before the intetview. We're not trying to coach ds with questions so he can regurgitate them iyswim, we're just trying to get a feel for what level he should be aiming for the questions and since we have a couple of months ahead (mock runs will be much closer to the time ) start having discussions with DS at that level, like you said no one knows exactly what will be asked, if only!

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spendthrift · 03/02/2012 09:11

I think the point is less to discover what they don't know as whether they are enthusiastic and will both get something out of the school and fit in.

Don't know about harrow but at winchester Ds' housemaster's interview at the same stage covered a couple of books he had recently read and what he thought about them, the rules of winchester football, the chances of various teams in the premier league and issues about the cost of footballers and other football obsessed subjects with some maths thrown in but I think only because both housemaster and Ds are football maths obsessive.

The oxbridge style questions eg the similarity of maths and Latin as thought systems, the purposes of education, religion, politics and whether the English population took any other than a prurient interest in politics happened at the headmaster's interview

Amaretti · 03/02/2012 09:43
Shock

The headmaster's interview of you, or of your child?

Tell me you're not serious?

spendthrift · 03/02/2012 09:57

Of our child. Ds gave as good as he got! We sat on the sofa in stupefaction.

spendthrift · 03/02/2012 09:59

But to be fair it was when he was 11!

happygardening · 03/02/2012 10:01

Our interview with the head at Win Coll was an altogether more relaxed affair!

spendthrift · 03/02/2012 10:48

Happy, how fascinating! DS and head had major disputes about the benefits of rugger versus football and what it was that made them good games for players and/or spectators - they eventually agreed to differ; the language used at DS's school v the language at winchester - the head used and expected ds to know or understand the word demotic; whether Wikipedia was reliable and whether that depended on who had an interest in contributing and how many of them and what would be their agenda, (in relation to Winco football but then applied more generally) and, as I say, whether the Great British Public was only interested in MPs' sex lives and it was only the upper chattering classes who thought about politics or whether the trust in the parliamentary system had shuddered as a result of the expense scanda and most people were interested. DS took the latter view. + all the other stuff. It was only marginally tempered to the shorn lamb, IMHO. Sorry to go on at length but you can see i still bear the scars, though DS took it all in his stride. Perhaps they wanted to put him through his paces.

spendthrift · 03/02/2012 10:55

oh, and the merits of snappy interviewing technique on radio 4 and the today programme...how could I have forgotten?

we all had to go to the pub afterwards to recover.

Amaretti · 05/02/2012 11:40

Blimey. The hardest my two got was "if you could change one thing about the world, what would it be?"

spendthrift · 07/02/2012 18:58

Yeah well it was hammer and tongs. Was that for winchester, amaretti?

MaMerry · 07/02/2012 20:46

If you were Prime Minister, what would you like to be remembered for?

Preceded by the obvious - who is Prime Minister?

Iwasagnome · 08/02/2012 07:49

The funniest answer I`ve heard :-

Q What will you bring to the school?

A Ummm .....my pencil case?

Amaretti · 08/02/2012 12:17

No, we are further north than that

banditqueen · 08/02/2012 16:31

Love it Iwasagnome!

domesticgodessintraining · 08/02/2012 17:45

DD was asked what books she enjoyed it provoked a full on conversation with the head (which she seemed to be enjoying) about writing style, was the book as good as the play/movie etc. It was a very natural conversation I don?t think the head would have enjoyed it as much if it had been rehearsed. Way back when DS was sitting he was asked how many 1p it would take to fill up the heads office floor. I don?t think prepping the children for interviews is a good idea, I would be petrified if my parents were bombarding me with questions before meeting with a scary headmaster. I am sure your son is a lovely boy who could answer questions honestly without having the stress of remembering the right answer to the right question.

Abitwobblynow · 09/02/2012 16:59

'if you were an animal, what would you be?' Eton, to 10 year olds

Why do you want to come to ....? all of them!