Questions asked in a Parent Interview by Pune Schools?

By Madhurie Singh, November 02, 2009

Butterflies, frogs, mouse, and all kinds of insects and animals made their rounds, jumped and crawled years after I completed my engineering. But trust me when I was waiting to meet the principal of St Mary’s a few years back for my son’s admission, I was tightly holding my son’s hand till he pulled his hand out because there was too much heat !!!

My husband was as cool as a cucumber, busy on his cellphone.

It took 30 minutes before our time came and we were taken to the principal’s room. By this the butterflies and frogs were whizzing madly in my tummy as if they had taken a deep gulp of my adrenaline.

I can still remember the whole event lasted only 5 minutes, including out entry and exit ! 🙂

A year later again I was experiencing the same zoo-like feeling in my tummy during my younger son’s admission into DPS.

Now I cannot promise any one of you that, these questions will in anyways alleviate your stress. My effort here may provide you with more confidence to face any question in the interview. I have always found that when I am well prepared, up to my satisfaction which may reach a perfection level at times, I am extremely confident to face any challenge. How silly, isn’t that we all are aware of and know it too well?

So without getting into my off-late job as a motivational talker, I will get into the Q&A session right away.

Section 1: The approach to filling up the admission form.

The online / paper admission form is the first step to your kid’s admission into a school. Kindly fill up neatly in black ink with all true information only.
Kindly fill out the form together (both parents) so that you are aware of the content and keep a photocopy of the filled-up form. The form is the only thing that the school has with them to judge you and your child. So make sure, you know what you are writing.

The educational qualifications are important and you can write all that you have done professionally, both parents. All schools love to have highly literate parents, though literacy does not ensure being educated :).

There is other basic information like address and other communication details that must be filled in correctly as the database once done will be rarely updated easily. ( My personal experience says so…)

One important question all schools ask is, why do you want to get admission of your child into their school? Please write it carefully as when all other answers are similar to other parents’, this is the only deciding answer.

My reply to this question was ” I am not looking at any school which will make my son into an Einstein, but a school which will make him a good human being who knows his responsibility towards the society.”

There will be questions about your marital status which a few schools are very critical of. I have known parents get together for the sake of their child’s admission into a good school when otherwise they were living separately.

Section 2. The Interview round.

After you get the second round call, the following set of questions will be of great help to you and definitely ease your tension to a great extent.

Q1. Can you tell me about your child in brief?

Q2. Tell me something about your family?

Q3. Where do you work?

Q4. What do you expect out of the school?

Q5. What is the role of a school in a child’s life?

Q6. How much importance do you give to the school in building a child’s career?

Q7. Do you believe in live in a relationship?

Q8. What religion do you follow?

Q9. What religion would you want your child to follow?

Q10. What do you think of Christianity?

Q11. Why do you want to put your child in our school?

Q12. Which is the best education board in your opinion?

Q13. Why do you want your child to commute so far every day?

Q14. Who will be taking the homework of the child?

Q15. Who takes all decisions in your family?

Q16. What time do you come back from your work?

Q17. How much do you travel?

Q18. How do you manage alone?

Q19. In your absence, who takes care of your child?

Q20. Do your parents live with you?

Q21. What is the language spoken at home?

Q22. What is your qualification?

Q23. What is your opinion about the CBSE board opting for the grade system?

Q24. What is your opinion about Co_ed?

Q25. Do you think it matters if a school is co-ed or not?

Q26. What is your opinion about national holidays?

Q27. Who cooks in your home?

Q28. Who will attend PTA?

Q29. What is your opinion on swine flu and school being closed?

Q30. How do you think schools can cope with loss in school days?

Q31. Do you have a live-in maid?

Q32. What are your child’s interest/hobbies?

Q33. What are your hobbies?

Q34. What are your plans in India?

Q35. What activities do you do with your child?

Q36. What is your child’s favorite cartoon character?

Q37. Do you think a housewife makes a better mother than a working mom?

Q38. Why are you not working?

Q39.How do you plan to balance work and home and school needs?

Q40. During the school holidays, how will you manage work and your child?

Q41. Do you think a maid is capable of bringing up your child as efficiently / effectively as you?

Q42. Where is your hometown?

Q43. How many times a month do you eat dinner out?

Q44. Do you have another child in this school?

Q45. Why are you keen on only this school?

Q46. What would you look for in a good school?

Q47. How much weightage would you give to home and school in bringing up your child?

Q48. Why do you want to move your child from that school?

Q49. How will you contribute to the school?

Q50. Which is your next option after this school?

Initially, I was thinking of providing the answers to these questions but I have now decided against it, as I think each parent is capable of answering them best to their ability. In case anyone still needs my help, I am always here for you :).

In case you have any specific school-related questions, kindly write them down in the forum, under the appropriate topic head. It will be a great help to other parents in the future.

Also, may I request all of you to come back and share your experience and the questions asked to you and your child after you are done with the admission of your child? I am sure years down the line, it will be a great pleasure and fun to read what questions and what answers were actually the foundation of your child’s future…:)

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I wish all you parents ALL The Very Best for the journey ahead.
Happy Living 🙂