How to prepare for a scholarship interview?

[dramanaut9518]

I'm very fortunate to have been nominated for a merit-based scholarship at a school and am looking for advice. Other than standard interview questions and being able to explain why I believe I'm a good fit for the school, what kind of questions should I prepare for? Any advice would be greatly appreciated

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[Mr.Smile12]

What additional information do you have about the scholarship? Are you meeting a donor or benefactor?

EDIT
Geez autocorrect

 

[Conics98]

I can't say I have experience earning a merit based scholarship at this point, but I do think the adcom had to like you enough to give you an II, acceptance, and now a nomination for a scholarship. Presumably they know you will be a good fit at the school and that you will be successful, but good on you for wanting to prepare for that anyway. I think the vision shifts, however, from "why us?" to "do you think a scholarship will help you/how do you think it will?"

When I applied for scholarships after my acceptance this cycle for the new med students, the prompts I had were:
- describe your professional goals and how a scholarship would help you meet them.
- please describe talents/skills/etc that you can use to advance our mission (probably something you already had to answer in your secondary and interview)
- are there any other attributes you'd like to share regarding your application? (also probably not something new to you. It's different when you're applying for the scholarships as oppose to the school coming to you instead with a nomination - they love the attributes you have enough to extend it to you but it's always worth practicing to reiterate it in the interview)

 

[voxveritatisetlucis]

Is it with a school committee or the benefactor? If the former, it may be more formal. If the latter, it may be more conversational.

 

[KnightDoc]

I can't say I have experience earning a merit based scholarship at this point, but I do think the adcom had to like you enough to give you an II, acceptance, and now a nomination for a scholarship. Presumably they know you will be a good fit at the school and that you will be successful, but good on you for wanting to prepare for that anyway. I think the vision shifts, however, from "why us?" to "do you think a scholarship will help you/how do you think it will?"

When I applied for scholarships after my acceptance this cycle for the new med students, the prompts I had were:
- describe your professional goals and how a scholarship would help you meet them.
- please describe talents/skills/etc that you can use to advance our mission (probably something you already had to answer in your secondary and interview)
- are there any other attributes you'd like to share regarding your application? (also probably not something new to you. It's different when you're applying for the scholarships as oppose to the school coming to you instead with a nomination - they love the attributes you have enough to extend it to you but it's always worth practicing to reiterate it in the interview)

Agreed. For a scholarship interview, the focus shifts to why should we give you this money instead of one of the other worthy candidates. Your cake is pretty much baked at this point, given that you have made it this far. The key is probably just getting the interviewer to like you. Good luck!

 

[dramanaut9518]

What Adirondack information do you have about the scholarship? Are you meeting a donor or benefactor?

Is it with a school committee or the benefactor? If the former, it may be more formal. If the latter, it may be more conversational.

It seems like there are several interviews and they are with faculty members. It appears ~1/3 of nominees get the scholarship, so I'm assuming its a pretty intensive interview process.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

It seems like there are several interviews and they are with faculty members. It appears ~1/3 of nominees get the scholarship, so I'm assuming its a pretty intensive interview process.

Have your talked with students who received the scholarship?