scholarship interview tips + tricks

for the year 12s - part 2 <3

Sep 25, 2021

this blog will cover: WHAT: the purpose of an interview, HOW: answering the questions, HOW: ways to prepare days before, and HOW: ways to prepare for the day of the interview

yay, congrats u made it to the interview stage! so, what’s next - how can we make sure we absolutely nail our interview?

ideally i thought oo i’ll find a cute quote to start off this blog… and the first thing that came up when i searched “interview quotes” was: "If you're going through hell, keep going." — Winston Churchill. not sure what entirely this has to do with interviews, but i guess i can start out this blog by assuring u.. interviews are NOT like going through hell. so let’s break this down what are scholarship interviews and how can u ace urs?

WHAT: the purpose of an interview

now a lot of my friends call me crazy for this, but i LOVE interviews! why? because it’s an opportunity to talk to someone about all the things i’m rlly passionate about and they want to hear about it, listen + ask me more questions about it.

when ur going into the interview, u want to make sure ur being ur authentic self… while this may seem self-explanatory, some ppl feel like they have to go into a fake mode of trying to answer the questions “right” or trying to act how they think the interviewer wants them to. however, i can promise u that if u instead just show off ur fun personality and be urself, the interviewers will be much more impressed! remember the interviewers want you to do well!! they aren’t trying to trick u up, rather they are just trying to get to know u, to make sure u would be someone who would contribute to the scholarship program well and be a great representative of the university (this is particularly the case for co-op scholarships where u will be going into a workplace as a student representative from the university - they don’t want their uni to get a bad rep for having students who don’t participate well, as the uni may lose recognition and funding). so think about what the scholarship is for and how the attributes they are looking for relate to u and ur experiences + focus on these when answering the questions i.e. how u enjoy learning through practical experiences, such as when *blah* happened, and thus link this to how u would enjoy the internship placements as they are practical learning experiences.

summary:

interviewers want to get to know you
be ur authentic self
talk specifically about the attributes and experiences u have that relate to the scholarship

HOW: answering the questions

snapshot of yourself - the elevator pitch

sometimes the hardest question can be an initial open-ended “tell us about yourself”. so to prepare for this, going into the interview, u want to know what specific attributes and experiences u want to talk about and highlight to the interviewer. otherwise before u know it, ur time will be up and all u have talked about is a random competition u did when u were in year 7! something i suggest u do is practise what’s known as an elevator pitch this is a good way of figuring out how to give a snapshot of urself to the interviewee so they can quickly get to know u + u can highlight some of ur skills/experiences. here’s a starting point for understanding what an elevator pitch is here. also remember, don’t be afraid to 💫show off💫 - they are there to hear u talk about urself… so, flex as much as u can 💪

examples of questions the interviewers may ask relating to this:

Tell us about yourself.
What makes you unique?
What motivates you?
What are you interested in?
What are your hobbies?
What do you regard as your strengths and areas for improvement?

relating to experiences

try to use the STAR method as i mentioned in my last blog, u can find more about the STAR method here. overall, u want to have concrete and relevant examples that u can relate to positive characteristics they are looking for in candidates - e.g. being passionate, the ability to learn quickly, enthusiastic, eager to learn, having dedication, putting in ur 100% effort, being ambitious, having strong communication and interpersonal skills. try to go above and beyond other candidates in focusing on how ur unique experiences have shaped u, and how they have given u skills that perhaps others may not have.

examples of questions the interviewers may ask relating to this:

Describe what you gained/learned from your extracurricular activities.
What has been the best leadership role you have had and why?
Do you work better with a team or independently?
What do you do if you don’t know the solution to a problem?

presenting urself well

there’s a few parts to this.. but overall, u want to project ur best, most passionate and confident self to the interviewers. here are my suggestions of how to do this: wear clothes u feel confident in, that are comfortable and professional + smile!! (a contagious smile can make all the difference and leave interviewers with a great impression) + speak clearly and slowly + ask clarifying questions if ur unsure + if ur struggling and want to think through the question, practise rewording & repeating the question back to them to allow urself extra time to think - e.g. Q: How have you demonstrated leadership skills at your high school? A: At my high school there were many opportunities to get involved with leadership and pick up various skills…

something that i think is also important when answering questions and presenting urself well is relating to ur interviewers. ppl love talking about themself and feeling like they’ve been heard - if u can somehow authentically try to relate to ur interviewers this leaves them subconsciously with a great impression of u e.g. in my interview, i learnt that one of my interviewers was french so i related to her through my love for learning french when i had been in year 7 and 8 + with the other interviewer, i related with her passion for breaking down the stereotypes surrounding tech.

quick summary:

wear clothes u feel confident in
smile!!!!! :)
relate to the interviewer

HOW: ways to prepare days before

review what u wrote in ur written application

just a reminder that ur interviewers will have read ur written application and will likely ask u questions based on this - so take the time to briefly review what u wrote down!

writing a list of ur passions/extracurriculars/hobbies/sporting activities/volunteer work/projects

personally i like to have an A4 page that no matter what happens, i can refer to it. this is also important if u have various different experiences u want to mention - it’s a good way to remember it all & make sure u cover everything u want to. u should also be taking advantage of the fact interviews will be online this year… if they ask u a tricky question, u can seemingly be looking into the distance to think about it, when in actual fact ur frantically looking at ur A4 sheet to see which extracurricular u can refer to in ur answer hehe.

within this… something i’d also suggest is mentioning if there are any projects/societies/opportunities ur excited to get involved with at university. this rlly shows how u will contribute to the culture well and have gone above + beyond in researching and being excited about uni. e.g. i mentioned how i was excited to join the tech society and become one of the women in engineering and it gender equity ambassador when joining UTS. they want ppl who will be good role models and ambassadors for the uni (after all the uni is paying u to go there haha).

writing a list of personality traits/skills

similarly to the above point - next to the extracurriculars i liked to write an attribute i could specifically pinpoint. i.e. i would write innovative next to an interesting project i worked on, and next to my F1 in Schools experience i wrote strong leadership skills. this just helped me remember which skill i wanted to highlight to the interviewer and made sure all these skills covered what i thought they would want in a potential candidate for the scholarship.

writing questions to ask the interviewer

the last thing to include on this A4 page, or maybe on another A4 piece of paper, is to write down a few questions for the interviewers. likely at the end of the interview they will ask if u have any questions, and it’s a lot more memorable if u engage with the interviewers and ask them a question or two. make sure when they are answering u engage with what they are saying - ppl love talking about themselves and feeling like they are being heard/understood.

practising answering questions

in this blog, under the “HOW: answering the questions” heading, i’ve included a few example questions, try answering these with ur family and friends. even just every morning get a family member to ask u a potential interview question and practise ur response. this will make u feel a lot more comfortable and allow u to practise expressing ur ideas + thoughts clearly.

reading this blog

hehe yay, u can tick this off the list 😉 i would also recommend checking out if there is some tips written about the scholarship interview ur going for on the university’s website, e.g. the Bachelor of Information Technology Co-op Scholarship at UTS has this interview advice.

HOW: ways to prepare for the day of the interview

quick and simple tips:

wearing an outfit u feel comfortable and professional in
review the notes u have written
review ur written application
smileeee ;)
breathe - u got this!! u have already made it this far yay 💕

if u still have questions or want to practise answering questions with someone i’m always happy to help…

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