The superstar who’s just like us

Proving she’s a lot like her peers, when Cosgrove performed at the South Shore Music Circus in Cohasset last week, she sat down for an interview with students from local school newspapers. Cosgrove is 18, not too far removed from the age of her interviewers, a fact reflected in her answers. Here is an edited transcript of that conversation:

Q. You just graduated high school, and there are so many great schools around here. Did you ever consider college in Boston?

A. It’s funny, after I applied to my colleges, I came to Boston for the first time, and I was like, Darn it! Now I’m having a hard enough time picking between USC and NYU, so I still don’t know what to do. It probably would have been even worse if I had gotten in somewhere else.

Q. You postponed college for another season of “iCarly.’’ Do you feel like that was a good decision?

A. Yes and no. I’m going to do next season’s shows and then go to college in the fall. But putting it off for another year, I felt like I’d be bummed if I didn’t because I really want to finish the show, and there are a lot of things I want to be able to do. But I’m excited for college. I can’t wait to go and have the whole college experience.

Q. Since you grew up with the actors on “iCarly,’’ is it going to be hard to end the show?

A. Yeah, definitely. I really have grown up on the show. I have been on it since I was 13, and now I’m 18 and Nathan [Kress] and Jennette [McCurdy] are two of my best friends, and I feel like Jerry [Trainor] is like my brother. So it’s going to be really hard, but I’m really happy I got to have the experience.

Q. Was it hard keeping up with school on the set and on tours?

A. For sure. I think that’s one of the hardest things. I had a lot of great tutors in every subject, and I would spend all my spare time meeting with them. It kind of feels funny now that I don’t have to do it. I kind of miss it a little bit. I thought I was going to be so happy, but I got to know my tutors really well, and I kind of miss them now.

Q. We heard that you are a big foodie and that you are traveling with your mom. Have you been to any good restaurants?

A. I’m really excited because when I’m in Florida, I’m going to go to this famous crab place, so that’s going to be fun. It’s cool because one of the guys on the tour - his name’s Stan - he’s good about finding the main spot that everyone loves in town. Like I went to a biker bar in Hershey Park, so that was interesting.

Q. How do you feel when you walk into places and see your face on things like T-shirts and backpacks?

A. It’s definitely funny. I think the weirdest thing that’s happened to me is going into Target when I didn’t know that there was an “iCarly’’ doll [laughs] and seeing that doll for the first time. That was really weird. My friend Nina was actually running around Target holding it, laughing at me.

Q. Were you ever in public school?

A. Yeah, I went to regular school until I was in fifth grade.

Q. And how was that?

A. It was good. I went to elementary school with two of my best friends.

Q. So you got to keep in touch with them?

A. Yeah, well, I’ve lived in the same place my whole life, so one of my best friends is my next-door neighbor, and the other one I went to kindergarten with all through [elementary] school. Once I started being home-schooled, we stayed best friends.

Q. Do you get to sightsee on tour?

A. A little bit, yeah. Some times I’ll have more time in certain places than others. But mainly I’m into the whole food part of being on tour, so most of my sightseeing time involves restaurants - and a little sightseeing, too. [Laughs.]

Interview conducted by eighth-graders Kayla Furbish and Charlotte Vitti of the Watertown Splash and fifth-graders Renee Sutherland and Isabella Vitti of the Cunniff Kids News.