sophieisticated said:
I got an email yesterday saying i've been "shortlisted" for two scholarships at engineering, although I have to do an interview.
I was wondering if anyone's done an interview before and could shed some light on general tips for the interview or what questions they might ask?
Also, what my chances are like for an RTA scholarship if I want to do a combined degree?
Hey sophieisticated,
Congratulations on getting shortlisted!
I was shortlisted for 3 scholarships and was offered 2 ( at different institutions!!)
Here are my tips for scholarship interviews:
1. be yourself - don't try to be someone you are not. When i went, i just wore what i normally wore as a student, and i spoke in the way i normally spoke. I didn't try to burden myself with using fancy words or anything like that.
I think scholarship interviews are different from job interviews, people don't expect you to be adults, you're a student. so just be one
2. be happy
smile! - there is nothing working in a corporate job, listening to heaps and heaps of scholarship applicants all walking in like a nervous wreck.
If you've got a smile on your face and a spring in your step, you are going to get bonus point before you even sit down!
3. TALK - sometimes we get so nervous we give really lame one word/sentence answers. sometimes they sound memorised. The point of the interview is for let them KNOW YOU. so TALK! I think one of the biggest let down for engineers and sometime boys in general is the lack of ability verbal communication (in comparrison to girls who never stop talking really). My brother-in-law recieved a UAI of 98.9 was shortlisted for 2 scholarships and failed BIG TIME at the interview. He just doesn't talk.
My school friend who got a UAI of 89.5. got offered 2 scholarships! she does worthwhile stuff and talks about it!
4. Draw from YOUR EXPERIENCES - scholarship people know LOTS of people put HEAPS of stuff down in the applications that they may not have done or have only played a minor role. The only way to single you out of the crowd is to actually tell of your EXPERIENCES.
If you did student leadership - what went wrong? how did you deal with it?
If you did volunteer work - who did you meet? how did they affect your life? what was new/different about the experience that you learnt?
5. Be passionate and actually sound like you want this - Even if you are straddling deciding what you want to do with your life, try to be passionate that you actually want this scholarship! it will make a MAJOR difference.
Here are some typical questions you might get asked
a) so, why do you want to be a ...blahblah? (be passionate about this one)
b) who is someone you admire and why?
c) what has been the most difficult struggle in your life so far? and how did you cope with it (don't say "this interview")
d) where do you see yourself in 5, 10, 20, 30 years time?
e) in this (bad situation) what would you do? (draw from your past experiences for this one)
Good luck!
and email me if you have anymore questions or you want to hear more specific stories from my experiences!