David Baker, Director of Admission and Financial Aid, and

Dean Clayman, Assistant Director of Admission, St. Mark’s School, TX

You have assembled your admission committee. There are nearly 20 candidates for every interviewer. Everyone in the admission offi ce knows that Tom, a senior volunteer member of the team, is a real “softy.” Tom thinks each candidate he interviews is the best kid he has ever seen.

Sound familiar? Then you will be interested to learn about a new approach developed by St. Mark’s School of Texas to give new purpose and meaning to the interview for their middle school candidates. The new strategy employs an on-campus interview that includes a reading passage, followed by a personal response essay, and concludes with a small-group discussion/interview led by team members. Given the format, 18 boys can be interviewed in a little over an hour!

David and Dean report that their admission team not only has a suitable circumstance to observe candidates demonstrating their reading level, but they also see writing skills and gain an insight into the candidate’s ability to interact socially. A candidate rating rubric helps to standardize the process.

The new technique has led to signifi cant reductions in the number of required interviews and human resource efforts and has produced better information about their candidates. For sample materials and a copy of the rating rubric, email David Baker at baker@smtexas.org.