7/15/2020 Preparing for Interviews | College Center for Research and Fellowships | The University of Chicago

College Center for

Research and Fellowships

Preparing for Interviews

If you apply for a nationally competitive scholarship, fellowship, or experiential learning opportunity, it
is likely that you will be expected to interview with one of our CCSA faculty committees.  For certain
opportunities like the British Marshall, Rhodes, Mitchell, Gates-Cambridge, Scwharzman and Truman,
you may be invited to interview at the national level.  If so, well done in being selected; it is honor to
be invited to interview with the national review committees.

It is important that you treat any scholarship interview – be it campus, regional, or national – with the
same seriousness and adequate preparation you would a job interview.  Interviews are an
opportunity to put your best self forward and, with planning and preparation, will also give you the
chance to have a meaningful dialogue about the things you care most about.  There are a variety of
resources available to you to help prepare which will also help minimize the nerves, affording you a
certain level of confidence and courage.

If invited to interview for a nationally competitive opportunity, the CCSA will coordinate individual
practice interviews as well as a series of mock-interview with a faculty committee.  These are meant
to re-create, as best able, the experience of an actual interview, which can be very challenging and
certainly requires a good deal of forethought and advance preparation.  Your campus mock-
interviews will likely be with a highly-educated, non-expert audience though in some cases, you may
have faculty from your own discipline represented.  You can expect be pushed and pressed about
anything and everything in your application (hence the necessity of carefully considering what you
include in your personal statement.  Everything is fair game if written down).  CCSA staff and your
faculty interview panel will provide follow-up guidance and feedback, all in effort to make sure you
feel as best prepared as possible for your national interviews.  All UChicago students invited to
interview with a national committee will be expected to participate in mock-interviews. 

Here are some ideas on making the most your interview preparation:

1. First, and foremost, remember that in the case of national scholarship interviews, this is your
chance to ‘be at the table’ with a panel of experts genuinely interested in your work and your
future.  Make the most of it and, remember too, that you are the expert in the room on the
subject at hand – you! So, be confident, intellectually agile, and well prepared to have a
challenging and potentially rewarding experience;
2. The interview will be largely guided by all of the materials in your application.  So, review it
carefully and anticipate questions focused on your proposal and personal statement, as well as
your CV and transcripts;
3. Be as well-educated about the specific scholarship opportunity as possible and especially
informed about the purpose and people behind the opportunity.  For example, know something
about Truman when preparing for a Truman interview; have an opinion about the Marshall plan

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if pursuing a Marshal Scholarship; find out about  Cecil Rhodes; read up on Senator Mitchell’s
views on US-Irish relations; and so on;
4. Anticipate difficult, challenging questions that may feel confrontational or intended to ‘trip you
up’.  That’s not the purpose, but difficult discourse is meant to give the committee a sense of
your intellectual agility and ability to cope with differing points of view.  If you don’t know the
answer to a question, acknowledge that fact and try to redirect it toward something you are
comfortable speaking about.  There is nothing worse than getting backed into a corner because
you’ve made false claims about what you actually know;
5. Practicing with friends, colleagues and even your faculty advisors will only help you to develop
the skills and confidence requisite in these particular types of interviews.  Find ways of
improving your communication skills, increase your vocabulary, and breadth of knowledge. 
Read, read, read.  The more you expose yourself to by way of current events and other kinds of
literature, the more you will have to draw upon in an interview;
6. Take control of the interview by taking time to pause, think, and even re-state the question. This
allows you a moment to collect your thoughts and helps you to avoid rushing through answers
and, by default, going down an unintended path of discourse;
7. Time your answers (in mock-interviews, CCSA will make a point of timing you).  You want to err
on the side of brevity.  Often, when we get nervous, we tend to ramble and speak too quickly. 
Make a point of practicing directness and stop talking when you’ve answered the question.
  There may be as many as six members of your interview committee; keeping your answers
short and to the point makes it easier for everyone to engage in dialogue;
8. Practice makes perfect.  It is hard to adequately give voice to your accomplishments,
experience, and preparedness whilst not sounding overly self-absorbed.  Much as you did in
your personal statement and even project proposals, find a way to always come back to specific
examples.  This keeps the conversation from being lost in the abstract and grounds the
conversation in actual experience.
9. Learn to say you ‘don’t know’ graciously and effectively.
10. Finally, be excited!  You are passionate enough to have come all the way through the process;
now is your chance to really give voice to the dreams, ambitions and cares you have.  By being
well prepared you can transfer that nervous energy into a kind of engaging, energizing
conversational style.  Don’t be deferential or apologetic but rather excited and evidently
committed to the work you are proposing to undertake.

In your campus interviews and in national interviews questions will largely be focused on your
application materials.  As a part of your mock-interviews, you will be pressed on those questions and
compelled to entertain seemingly unrelated questions as well.  Here are a few ideas to help you think
about what you might expect:

1. Be able to articulate, briefly your story.  In other words, to be able to answer the who (are you),
what, where and why type questions;
2. What are your greatest strengths? Weakness? Challenge you’ve had to overcome?
3. What do you do for fun?
4. What books are currently on your bedside table?
5. If you were currently the President of the U.S., what would you change first?
6. How have you adapted to a challenging situation? Give examples;
7. How will this experience get you closer to what you hope to do five or ten years from now?
8. Why said host-country? What do you hope to gain from being in a foreign country?
9. Can’t you do the very same work at ‘X’ institution in the U.S.? Why should you receive support
to pursue advanced studies abroad?
10. What is the great problem currently facing the U.S.?
11. How do you feel about current policies on gun control in the U.S.? On immigration policy?

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12. What are your prejudices?

Here are some additional resources to help you in preparing for campus and national scholarship
interviews:

Jane Curlin’s article - "National Fellowships: Interviews: Preparing for Interviews"

(http://expd.washington.edu/scholarships/current-undergraduate/tips-and-tools/national-fellowships-
interviews-preparing-for-inte)
Article by Carol Madison Graham - "Show Me Loyalty: The Hidden Scholarship Agenda"
(http://expd.washington.edu/scholarships/current-undergraduate/tips-and-tools/show-me-loyalty-the-
hidden-scholarship-agenda.html)
Tips from Kansas State University - "Interviewing for Scholarships"
(http://expd.washington.edu/scholarships/current-undergraduate/tips-and-tools/interviewing-for-
scholarships.html)

A few words of advice on interview attire:

Treat campus and national interviews with the same professionalism as you would a job interview. 
Guys and gals, if you are comfortable in a suit, wear one.  Guys, if a blazer, tie and trousers make you
feel best, go with that.  And, ladies, wear attire that causes you absolutely no concern in terms of
length, cut, and comfort.  In many cases, you will be at conference table but in some interview
situations, you may be in a parlor-type setting and should be comfortable sitting in chair without a
table in front of you.    Of course, don’t wear hats, sunglasses, or anything else that would be
distracting.

In other words, don’t be memorable for your fashion.  Be memorable for what you had to say and
what you plan to do.

In addition to a formal interview, you may be asked to participate in a dinner the night before you
interview that could include scholarship alumni, administrators and interview committee members. 
Or, it may be a cocktail reception (general rule of thumb, leave the ‘cocktail’ out of it).  Consider this to
be a part of your interview; dress the part appropriately and remember that you are being assessed
on how you interact with other candidates, the committee members, and others involved in the
process. This is not the time to be memorable for things you say, or don’t, for what you do, or for you
shouldn’t have done.  Be prepared, gracious, humble, and mindful that this particular part of the
interview process gives an indication to the selection committee of your ambassadorial merit.  This is
true regardless of whether or not you are interviewing for an international experience or for
something state-side.  In all cases, it is about how you will come across as an ambassador and
representative of the scholarship program.  

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College Center for Research and Fellowships

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Phone: 773.702.7157

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