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Advice for Interviews/Scholarship Competitions


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Does anyone have advice for on-campus interviews and scholarship competitions? Dd has an on-campus scholarship competition at the end of the month. Five students will be awarded full tuition. She may also be interviewing this month for the honors program at another university. We don't know what to expect.

 

Thanks!

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Does anyone have advice for on-campus interviews and scholarship competitions? Dd has an on-campus scholarship competition at the end of the month. Five students will be awarded full tuition. She may also be interviewing this month for the honors program at another university. We don't know what to expect.

 

Thanks!

 

Exciting!!!

 

Dress sharp - comfortable (she won't want to be tugging at her neckline, or find out that she's unable to sit down easily in a pencil skirt during the interview!), but sharp.

 

If your dd is shy or introverted - practice mock interviews a LOT before she's in a conference room or someone's office having to talk about herself - a LOT.

 

Read through all the mumbo-jumbo (FAQs, "brag" pages) to ensure that she doesn't ask "obvious" questions and so that she will sound informed about the school itself as well as the scholarship she's competing for.

 

Good luck!!!

 

My dd wishes that ALL the college applications for admission/scholarships/honors could have been done in-person. In-person interviews are so comfortable for her. Those essays nearly did her in, though! lol

 

Edited by hopskipjump
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Treat it like a job interview. Dress nicely, drill them on polite conversation, and PRACTICE.

 

I had mine read up on interview skills and then we did some mock interviews. He's a very sharp kid but soft-spoken, so I drilled him with a more rapid-fire approach. You don't know what kind of interviewer you'll get. He's another who hates essays, but did fine in interviews.

 

My second one probably will do fine with both, but we'll see. LOL.

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I agree with practicing. Kids are going to be judged on poise and confidence more than having the right answers. (and their accompishments, but that is usually written in the application) Schools want to award money to kids who are going to stay at their school. 

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Your student should be psychologically prepared to deal with whatever is thrown at him. The questions may be WEIRD -- one of my kids' most memorable scholarship interview questions was, "If you could be any item in Walmart, what would you be?"

 

Like an earlier poster said, much of the time it isn't WHAT you say but HOW you say it. Go with confidence and poise, knowledge of the school, and a sense of why he wants admission to that school, and he'll do fine.

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Be prepared to answer questions about both general questions (community service, leadership, goals) and things that are more unusual (unique extra curricular, homeschooling). Have some ready answers about homeschooling and what that looks like for her. She might get questions because people are less familiar with homeschooling, but they may just be trying to understand what her experience was.

 

I also agree with being somewhat familiar with the school in question.

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Congrats and good luck!  My suggestion for students is to always treat the whole day like an interview. Realize that it isn't just when you are in the formal interview portions that matters. Many schools that award just a few full scholarships are really looking for young people who work well in a group and will represent the university well. These major scholarship students may be asked to meet with guest speakers or donors. So, try to be a good overall participant in the day - introduce yourself, smile, good eye contact, handshake, good listening skills. This stuff is more important than having the "right" answer in an interview.

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Congratulations!  Sometimes at the end of interviews, the interviewer will ask, "Do you have any questions for me?"  Make sure she has several questions prepared.   Saying you don't have any questions looks like you don't care as much.  Or it could look like she already has done her research and is well-versed.  I would err on the side of appearing curious.  People love to talk, so come up with something.  

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Sometimes interviews are conducted by panels. If this is the case and the answer is more than just a couple of words, I instructed ds to begin answering the question by looking at the person on the panel who asked it. Then making eye contact with each person on the panel and returning to eye contact with the questioner as he finished up. This is an old beauty pageant interviewing tip! ;) ha ha!

 

I agree with others about being prepared for anything. My ds was asked at more than one state school special program interview what he would choose if he was accepted at Ivy League school as well as receiving the big scholarship at their state schools. He replied that he didn't know and was waiting until all his choices were in and that cost was a factor. In both cases either of the state schools would have been one of his most affordable (don't say "cheap!") options. For our own state flagship he was able to speak about his family's ties to that institution (dad went there, both grandfathers went there, etc.). If you have a high stat kid, they know they are likely applying other places. They want a high yield from their offers of scholarship money.

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Advice please!  Clemmie will be participating in back to back scholarship competitions.  The schools are very similar and she thinks it is likely that she might run into some of the same candidates at both events.  Advice on how to handle the situation, please.  Her biggest fear is that at event 2 one of the other candidates might mention all the folks who were at event 1 (in some sort of attempt to curry favor) and that the committee will then ask pointed questions of all those who have yet to be interviewed.  The events are more than just interviews-there are meals, tours, lectures, panel discussions, etc. involved so many opportunities to interact with both school representatives and fellow candidates.

 

I've told her I think the latter scenario is a bit paranoid and probably unlikely.  However-before I mention any of the advice I have given her she would appreciate any advice you have for her.  

 

(PS-She requested I ask the hive their opinion on this situation after I shared some of the earlier responses in this thread so please go for it-she is eager to hear what you all think.)

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My kids participated in two different kinds of scholarship weekends -- one where they were flown in, kept off-campus at a hotel, and let on-campus for chaperoned events only, some of which were solol (interviews, etc.) and some of which were group (interviews, talks, etc.)

 

The other kind is I think much more common -- the kids were let to run around the campus all they wanted, with a tight schedule of talks, 1-on-1 interviews, 1-student-and-a-group-of-upperclassmen-inteviews, and some group-of-prefrosh-group-of-profs interviews. The students were housed with upperclassmen, and the upperclassmen were supposed to provide a slight amount of entertainment for them. The supervision is light enough that one year a prefrosh got alcohol poisoning and needed to be hospitalized! Supposedly all the "non-official" time was off-limits for being considered for the scholarship, but dd found out later that a prof she whom she sat with at a group lunch ran up to the admissions people and raved about what an awesome person she was, so even the "off-time" isn't completely off. And you never know who is going to talk with who about you!

 

Another example -- one prefrosh was REALLY off-the-charts weird, and several upperclassmen did go to admissions and say that this kid was super-weird. (Dd knew this since as an upperclassmen she was involved in a few of the group interviews.) So as an interviewee she does need to remember that no matter what they say, ultimately whatever she says or does on campuss may end up being considered in the scholarship decision.

 

I would REALLY not worry about the interview people putting her on the spot about attending another scholarship competition. They understand that students need options and scholarship money! I would just make sure that your dd has a solid answer to "why do you want to attend this school?" and "what (skills, characteristics, EC's, etc) would you bring to this campus if you came here?" (In other words, how would this campus be a better place if you attend?"

 

 

 

 

Edited by Gwen in VA
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Advice please!  Clemmie will be participating in back to back scholarship competitions.  The schools are very similar and she thinks it is likely that she might run into some of the same candidates at both events.  Advice on how to handle the situation, please.  Her biggest fear is that at event 2 one of the other candidates might mention all the folks who were at event 1 (in some sort of attempt to curry favor) and that the committee will then ask pointed questions of all those who have yet to be interviewed.  

 

 

I'm not exactly sure how a student will curry favor with admissions by mentioning other students who attended other events.  Is it a good thing or a bad thing if you attend another scholarship event?  Why?  And how would that even come up in conversation?  

 

In any case, I would suggest her to stay away from the petty back stabbing or gossip or whatever else is going on and take the high road.  Focus on reiterating her accomplishments and her enthusiasm for the program to which she is applying.  If the subject of other applicants should come up, speak of them positively about them if vaguely.  Don't dis other candidates.  It only makes you look bad.  

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I would REALLY not worry about the interview people putting her on the spot about attending another scholarship competition. They understand that students need options and scholarship money! I would just make sure that your dd has a solid answer to "why do you want to attend this school?" and "what (skills, characteristics, EC's, etc) would you bring to this campus if you came here?" (In other words, how would this campus be a better place if you attend?"

 

:iagree: ITA! They do understand - and, yes, make sure dd has solid answers to the above questions. 

 

If they happen to find out that she's up for other scholarships at other schools - that should make her even more appealing, not less! :coolgleamA: Each university will have to fight to win her favor!  :D 

 

Good luck to her!!!

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