Places to interview

February 2, 2006 12:20 PM

SanFranciscoFilter: I'm an interviewer for my college. I'd like to meet my interviewees downtown but am looking for help on nice, quiet locations. Hotel lobbies, like the Hyatt Regency? Some cafe with quiet, plush seats where we can talk. No bars, as my interviewee will be a high-school senior. Thanks!
posted by vacapinta to Grab Bag (12 answers total)

Best answer: The Hyatt Regency lobby is a good place - I had an interview there once. It's conveniently located too, right near the Embarcadero BART station. The Rincon Center lobby a few blocks away is pretty quiet outside the lunch crunch. The Main Library at Civic Center might be an option - you should check with the librarians first but the Deaf Services room has comfy chairs and is usually pretty quiet, and your chat probably wouldn't disturb the deaf patrons.
posted by Quietgal at 12:39 PM on February 2, 2006

Does anyone else think asking high school seniors to meet for an "interview" for getting into college in a hotel lobby sounds like a terrible idea?

Other than that, I'm sorry but I have no suggestions.
posted by pwb503 at 12:41 PM on February 2, 2006

Best answer: When my mom does interviews she usually meets with people at Border's. When I had my (one) college interview, we met at Barnes & Noble. So I'd go with a big very public bookstore type place that also has a cafe. I agree that meeting in a hotel lobby seems sort of sketchy, although I don't know anything about the particular lobby you mentioned. (I'm not sure if I would have felt comfortable with that two years ago when I was a senior.)

Hm -- in terms of San Francisco specific places, maybe a quietish corner of somewhere like the Metreon?
posted by puffin at 12:47 PM on February 2, 2006

Have you considered the Ferry Building? It gets crowded during weekday lunch hours, but it's fairly quiet at other times. It has a tea court and a Peet's, it's an interesting space generally, and it's easy to get to on mass transit.
posted by ambrosia at 1:22 PM on February 2, 2006

I have to agree. When I had my college interview, it was at Caribou.
posted by matkline at 1:23 PM on February 2, 2006

While almost all of my college interviews took place at the college itself, I did have one interview in a hotel lobby, and it didn't feel sketchy.
posted by jacobw at 1:27 PM on February 2, 2006

Best answer: On a completely different note, have you considered museum cafes? I know that you can get into the cafe at SFMOMA without paying the entrance fee. There's also a cafe at the Palace of the Legion of Honor, but I think you have to pay admission to get there.

This may sound strange, but there's a sort of cafe on the top of Nordstrom's in the San Francisco Center that is plush and quiet most of the time.
posted by ambrosia at 1:34 PM on February 2, 2006

Response by poster: Thanks for the feedback. What b1trot said, re: hotel lobbies. But thanks for the feedback, pwb503 - thats valuable to me too.

A cafe where we can be guaranteed some privacy sounds ideal. Due to some logistics issues I cant do this one interview either at my home or workplace (all my college interviews were at the interviewers workplace)
posted by vacapinta at 1:43 PM on February 2, 2006

Response by poster: Hmm..ok. A friend just recommended to me having tea at the Mandarin Lounge (the lobby of the Mandarin Oriental) which I am putting here for others to comment on/reference.
posted by vacapinta at 2:18 PM on February 2, 2006

The Hyatt Regency has lots of space, but it's very big and echo-y. Never been to the Mandarin, so I can't say anything about it. If cafes are ok, there's the E&O Trading Company which has been pretty quiet and relaxed when I was there (years ago).
posted by jasper411 at 4:30 PM on February 2, 2006

The Fairmont has a wonderful lobby cafe/restaurant.
posted by meerkatty at 4:31 PM on February 2, 2006

Best answer: As a San Francisco high school senior who has done a bunch of these interviews "from the other side" recently, I'll tell you that about 95% of your collegues use Starbucks for college interviews. In general, I think that downtown is a fairly bad location. I realize that it might be inconvenient/impossible for you to do afternoon/evening interviews elsewhere in the city if you work downtown, but I think that a downtown hotel interview would be somewhat offputting to a lot of seniors. If you can handle it logistically, a café or coffee shop that's closer to where students live might be easier. Also, the Hyatt Regency is fairly deep downtown; maybe something in the Union Square area would be better. When the weather is nice, you could even do it outside.

Whether you do the interviews downtown or not, a place with tables is really nice. It can be awkward to sit and talk for a long time without a table to lean on, especially when you're nervous. Having some sort of beverage/snack available is a nice plus too.

Of course, considering the school that, based on your blog, I presume you interview for, I suspect that most seniors would be groveling at your feet and are unlikely to complain about the location.

Best of luck finding a good place. I hope you enjoy doing interviews; I've had some great conversations with really interesting people that have gone far beyond college.
posted by zachlipton at 5:50 PM on February 2, 2006