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156 How to Write a Winning Scholarship Essay Laura DiFiore FreSch! Free Scholarship Search “A huge mistake is what I call the crush, when we’re getting 40 to 50 percent of our applications in the last three days. I think a lot of students would be better off if they didn’t apply in the last two weeks before the deadline. The ones rushing to get in by the deadline would probably be better off spending more time on their essays and applying next year.” Wanda Carroll National Association of Secondary School Principals “Spelling. You should use your computer’s spell check. We wouldn’t disqualify an applicant solely on spelling, but the committee does see the mistakes and it does distract from the quality of the essay. If they had a choice between two equally well-written essays, they would choose the essay without spelling errors.” Leah Carroll U.C. Berkeley Haas Scholars Program “The most common error I run into is people who are trying to say what the foundation wants to hear. It ends up sounding inauthentic. I tell students to write as if they are trying to explain something to a friend. Just write from the heart. They seem to always come out better that way. Another mistake is that students, at Berkeley in particular, often sell themselves short. You should not be afraid to call attention to all of your achievements.” Michael Darne CollegeAnswer “When approaching the essay a lot of students are eager to dump a huge laundry list of achievements—a list of everything that they’ve done. But what scholarship providers are looking for is to get an understanding of who this person is and where they’re going in life. They don’t just want a list of accomplishments. If you can paint some picture of yourself, where you’re going and how you’re going to get there, you’re going to be in a much better situation.” Chapter 7: Judges’ Roundtable: The Scholarship Essay 157 Georgina Salguero Hispanic Heritage Youth Awards “We’re not giving the award to the best sob story. We’re not looking for someone who can write the best woe is me story. Please don’t give us this kind of essay.” Participating Judges & Experts Trisha Bazemore, Program Assistant, Coca-Cola Scholars Foundation Tracey Wong Briggs, Coordinator, USA Today All-USA Academic and Teacher Teams Leah Carroll, Coordinator, U.C. Berkeley Haas Scholars Program and former program coordinator, U.C. Berkeley Scholarship Connection Wanda Carroll, Program Manager, National Association of Secondary School Principals Michael Darne, Director of Business Development, CollegeAnswer. com, the website of Sallie Mae Mario A. De Anda, Director of Scholarship Programs, Hispanic Scholarship Fund Laura DiFiore, Founder, FreSch! Free Scholarship Search Let’s Get Creative Short Story and Poetry Scholarship Contest Kimberly Hall, Peer Program Manager, United Negro College Fund Shirley Kennedy Keller, Program Director, American Association of School Administrators 158 How to Write a Winning Scholarship Essay Jacqui Love Marshall, Vice President of Human Resources, Diversity and Development, Knight Ridder Minority Scholars Program Georgina Salguero, Senior Manager, Programs and Events, Hispanic Heritage Youth Awards CHAPTER EIGHT Winning interview strategies In this chapter: ■ The two types of interviews ■ How to ace the interview ■ Who are the interviewers ■ How to dress and act What to do if you have a disaster interview ■ 160 How to Write a Winning Scholarship Essay Face-to-Face with the Interview Let’s start with some good news. If you are asked to do an interview for a scholarship competition it means that you are a serious contender. Most competitions only interview a small number of finalists who make it through the initial round based on their application and essay. The bad news is that you will now undergo the nerve-wracking scrutiny of an interview with one or more scholarship judges. If the thought of this makes your palms moisten or you get a sinking feeling in your stomach, you are not alone. The best way to overcome a fear of the interview is to know exactly what to expect and to be prepared for the questions you might be asked. In this chapter, we discuss what scholarship interviewers are looking for in your answers, and we will share some strategies to help you prepare. Many students wonder why they have to do an interview in the first place. While some scholarships are awarded solely based on the written application, many scholarship committees like to perform face-to-face interviews to make the final decision. Particularly, if the scholarship is for a significant amount of money, the selection committee wants to be sure to give it to the most deserving student. Having sat on both sides of the interview table, we can attest to the fact that an interview can shed significant insight on an applicant. Before we discuss how to make the most of the interview, let’s cover the two situations you may face. Friendly & Hostile Interviews There are basically two types of interviews: 1) friendly and 2) less than friendly or even hostile. The friendly interview is fairly straight forward with the scholarship judges asking easy to answer questions that will help them get to know you better. While most interviews fall into the friendly camp, others especially for highly competitive and prestigious awards such as the Rhodes or Truman are far less pleasant. In these interviews the scholarship judges want to test you to see how you react to stressful and difficult questions. A hostile interview creates an environment for the judges to be able to evaluate how you react to pressure. Chapter 8: Winning Interview Strategies 161 Whenever you encounter hostile judges or interview situations, keep in mind that they are not trying to personally attack you or diminish your accomplishments. Rather, they are observing how you respond to the situation. It is really a test of your ability to deal with difficult questions. Also, keep in mind that they will act the same toward all applicants. How to Ace the Interview Regardless of the type of interview, the keys to success are the same. First, remember that scholarship interviewers are real people. This is especially true for hostile situations in which you may have to fight feelings of anger or frustration with the interviewer. Your goal is to create as engaging a conversation as possible. This means you can’t give short, one-sentence answers and you certainly should not be afraid to ask questions. Most interviewers enjoy conversations over interrogations. The second key to the interview is to practice. The more you practice interviewing, the easier and more natural your answers will be. Practice can take the form of asking and answering your own questions out loud or finding someone to conduct a mock interview. Consider taping your mock interview so you can review your technique. Having someone simulate a hostile interview is very good practice and will give you a tremendous edge over applicants who have not experienced this yet. Transform Any Interview from an Interrogation into a Conversation The reason most people volunteer to be scholarship judges is because they are passionate about the organization or award they support. Being an interviewer is hard work. In most cases, interviewers have a few questions to begin with but then hope the interviewee can help carry the conversation and direct it into other interesting areas. In fact, it is very difficult to interview an applicant who quickly and succinctly answers the questions but offers nothing else to move the conversation forward. 162 How to Write a Winning Scholarship Essay As the interviewee you are an essential part of determining where the conversation goes and whether or not it is easy or difficult for the interviewer. Your job is to supply the interviewer not only with complete answers but also with information that leads to other interesting topics of conversation. It helps to know something about the interviewers. One thing you know is that they care about their organization. They may be members of the organization or long-time supporters. The more you learn about the organization and its membership the better idea you’ll have about the interviewers and what interests them. This knowledge is useful in choosing how to answer questions that require you to highlight a specific area of your life or achievements. It will also give you a feel for topics to avoid and questions you should ask. Before every interview, do homework on the award and the awarding organization, which includes knowing the following: Purpose of the scholarship. What is the organization hoping to accomplish by awarding the scholarship? Whether it’s promoting students to enter a certain career, encouraging a hobby or interest or rewarding students for leadership, every scholarship has a mission. By understanding why the organization is giving away the money, you can share with the interviewers how you meet their priorities. Criteria for selecting the winner. Use the scholarship materials to get a reasonable idea of what the selection committee is looking for when choosing the winner. From the kinds of information they request in the application to the topic of the essay question, each piece is a clue about what is important to the scholarship committee. Background of the awarding organization. Do a little digging on the organization itself. Check out its website or publications. Attend a meeting or speak with a member. From this detective work, you will get a better idea of who the organization’s members are and what they are trying to achieve. Knowing something about the organization will also prevent you from making obvious blunders during the interview. Chapter 8: Winning Interview Strategies 163 Advice from a Rhodes Scholar Kristin N. Javaras, Oxford University The interview is one of last hurdles to becoming a prestigious Rhodes Scholar. Kristin, who is working on a doctorate in statistics at Oxford University, says about interviews,“The best advice I can offer is to be yourself, as trite as that may sound.” But what happens when you are stumped for an answer? “If you just don’t know the answer to a question, don’t be afraid to admit it,” advises Kristin. Regarding the type of questions that she was asked, Kristin recalls, “Almost every question was at least tangentially and often directly related to topics and experiences mentioned in my personal statement or included in my list of activities and jobs.” Once you’ve done the detective work, think about how the information can help you. Let’s take a look at an example piece of information. Imagine you discovered that the organization offering the scholarship values leadership. In addition, you discover from reading the organization’s website that all of its members are invited to join only if they have led large companies. Knowing this you could guess that the interviewers will probably be business leaders and will be most impressed if you highlight leadership and entrepreneurial activities. If asked about your greatest achievement you can insightfully highlight being president of your school’s business club over anything else. Knowing something about the interviewers beforehand will also help you think of appropriate and engaging questions. Most interviewers allow time to ask a few questions toward the end of the interview. By asking intelligent questions (i.e., not the ones that can be answered by simply reading the group’s website), you will hopefully be able to touch upon something the interviewer really cares about that will lead to further conversation. Going back to the example, you might ask a question such as, “As the president of the business club one of my greatest challenges has been 164 How to Write a Winning Scholarship Essay to get funding from businesses for new projects and ideas. What advice do you have for young business people to secure seed money from established businesses?” This question not only demonstrates that you know the background of the interviewers but also poses a question that they can answer with their expertise, and it could start a new conversation about how to fund a business idea. You Are Not the Center of the Universe Despite what you think, you are not the center of the universe—at least not yet! Therefore, in the interview you need to keep it interactive by not just focusing on yourself. This can be accomplished by asking questions and engaging in twoway conversation. If you don’t ask any questions, it will appear that you are not attentive or that you haven’t put much thought into the interview. Beforehand, develop a list of questions you may want to ask. Of course you don’t have to ask all of the questions, but be prepared to ask a few. To get you started, we’ve developed some suggestions. Adapt these questions to the specific scholarship you are applying for, and personalize them. How did you get involved with this organization? How did you enter this field? What was your motivation for   entering this field? ● Who were your mentors? Heroes? ● What do you think are the most exciting things about this   field? ● What professional advice do you have? ● What do you see as the greatest challenges? ● What do you think will be the greatest advancements in the   next 10 years? ● What effect do you think technology will have on this   field? ● ● Chapter 8: Winning Interview Strategies 165 The Group Interview Key Strategies So it’s you on one side of the table and a panel of six on the other side. It’s certainly not the most natural way to have a conversation. How do you stay calm when you are interviewed by a council of judges? Here’s how: Think of the group as individuals. Instead of thinking it’s you versus the team, think of each of the interviewers as an individual. Try to connect with each separately. Try to get everyone’s name if you can. Have a piece of paper to jot down everyone’s name and role so that you can refer to them in the conversation and be able to target your answers to appeal to each of the constituents. For example, if you are interviewing with a panel of employees from a company and you know that Sue works in accounting while Joe works in human resources, you can speak about your analytical skills to appeal to Sue and your people skills to appeal to Joe. Make eye contact. Look into the eyes of each of the panelists. Don’t stare, but show them that you are confident. Be careful not to focus on only one or two panelists. Respect the hierarchy. You may find that there is a leader in the group like the scholarship chair or the CEO of the company. Pay a little more attention to stroke the ego of the head. A little kissing up never hurt anyone. Try to include everyone. In any group situation, there are usually one or two more vocal members who take the lead. Don’t focus all of your attention only on the loud ones. Spread your attention as evenly as possible.