jdb10c Posted January 22, 2016 Posted January 22, 2016 Hi everyone! I received an email from University of West Georgia yesterday that I was selected to interview with them. This will be my first time having an interview with a grad school, and I was wondering if anyone has any tips or some advice they can share with me? Last year when I applied to schools, I didn't get in anywhere. I'm hoping this interview will go well! I'm not sure what to expect! I know I will have a writing sample before my interview, then my interview will be about 20 minutes long. It is a little less than two weeks away! I appreciate any help!
thespeechblog.com Posted January 23, 2016 Posted January 23, 2016 20 hours ago, jdb10c said: Hi everyone! I received an email from University of West Georgia yesterday that I was selected to interview with them. This will be my first time having an interview with a grad school, and I was wondering if anyone has any tips or some advice they can share with me? Last year when I applied to schools, I didn't get in anywhere. I'm hoping this interview will go well! I'm not sure what to expect! I know I will have a writing sample before my interview, then my interview will be about 20 minutes long. It is a little less than two weeks away! I appreciate any help! I've not done any grad school interviews yet, but I would say... Dress Up - don't make the mistake of not looking completely professional Anticipate questions and practice answering them! Think of what you're interviewing for and what they might ask you. Google practice questions for grad school interviews. Look for weaknesses in your profile and be prepared to talk about them. Same for your strengths Have some questions prepared for them about their program, faculty, etc Be genuine SLPgradstudent 1
copaceticbroad Posted January 23, 2016 Posted January 23, 2016 I haven't had any interviews for SLP grad school, but for my prior master's, I made sure to: Project confidence- look up power poses (or positive posture for sitting and standing), firm handshakes, eye contact Have a good answer for 'What are your weaknesses?' and 'What challenges do you anticipate?' It should be truthful, but also not harm their perception of you. Practice stalling for time without sounding foolish. This can be through rephrasing the question to make sure you understand correctly or breaking the question down into smaller components and then answering them. SLPgradstudent 1
SLPgradstudent Posted January 24, 2016 Posted January 24, 2016 20 hours ago, copaceticbroad said: I haven't had any interviews for SLP grad school, but for my prior master's, I made sure to: Project confidence- look up power poses (or positive posture for sitting and standing), firm handshakes, eye contact Have a good answer for 'What are your weaknesses?' and 'What challenges do you anticipate?' It should be truthful, but also not harm their perception of you. Practice stalling for time without sounding foolish. This can be through rephrasing the question to make sure you understand correctly or breaking the question down into smaller components and then answering them. This is a highly undervalued skill. When you get thrown a curveball in your interview (or just a question you didn't think to prepare for), and need time to think of a good answer, you have to know how to do it gracefully! It's awkward if you sit there silently, or are obviously unsure how to answer, but generally looks good if you are obviously giving the question thought. It's a mistake to try to answer interview questions without understanding what they are asking you. Much better to take the time to figure it out, either with a direct question, or thinking it through out loud. jdb10c 1
twinguy7 Posted January 25, 2016 Posted January 25, 2016 This is just my experience and also experience of helping out with 3 different grad school interview rounds while I was in grad school so take it for what its worth. It's also just what my grad school was looking for so again take it for what it is worth. My grad school did off-site externships for every semester of grad school so they were looking to see what the applicants were like a far as interpersonal communication skills. Since every semester the students would be working with other professionals within the community, they wanted to find applicants who can easily get along with others and who are down to earth. They also wanted to see how the applicants would respond to adversity and different situations that might come up in their off campus externships. So to sum it up I think grad schools want to see how the applicant is in person and how personable they are. Hope that helps! jdb10c and Gingiestrong 2
thespeechblog.com Posted January 25, 2016 Posted January 25, 2016 On 1/22/2016 at 4:11 PM, jdb10c said: Hi everyone! I received an email from University of West Georgia yesterday that I was selected to interview with them. This will be my first time having an interview with a grad school, and I was wondering if anyone has any tips or some advice they can share with me? Last year when I applied to schools, I didn't get in anywhere. I'm hoping this interview will go well! I'm not sure what to expect! I know I will have a writing sample before my interview, then my interview will be about 20 minutes long. It is a little less than two weeks away! I appreciate any help! Another idea for interview tips that I just thought of... Try to talk about experiences / real things you´ve done. I like to use the "STAR" method which stands for Situation: Sort of the background Task: What you had to get done (probably the part most related to their question) Action: What you did (maybe go into why you made that decision as well - advice from a mentor, inspiration, trial and error, etc) Result: Finally, how did it turn out. Were you successful? Did you fail? What did you learn? etc etc jdb10c 1
jdb10c Posted January 28, 2016 Author Posted January 28, 2016 Thank you for your advice! I have found some mock interview questions online, and have been going over them. I just bought some nice pants, blouse and jacket from The Limited. I think I will be looking professional enough . I am just trying to calm my nerves. Once I get antsy and nervous, I tend to be all over the place with my responses. I'm hoping to go in prepared, so I won't be as nervous! I just wish I knew what type of questions they were asking! Again, Thanks for the advice!! Quote I've not done any grad school interviews yet, but I would say... Dress Up - don't make the mistake of not looking completely professional Anticipate questions and practice answering them! Think of what you're interviewing for and what they might ask you. Google practice questions for grad school interviews. Look for weaknesses in your profile and be prepared to talk about them. Same for your strengths Have some questions prepared for them about their program, faculty, etc Be genuine
Rose Garden Posted January 28, 2016 Posted January 28, 2016 58 minutes ago, jdb10c said: Thank you for your advice! I have found some mock interview questions online, and have been going over them. I just bought some nice pants, blouse and jacket from The Limited. I think I will be looking professional enough . I am just trying to calm my nerves. Once I get antsy and nervous, I tend to be all over the place with my responses. I'm hoping to go in prepared, so I won't be as nervous! I just wish I knew what type of questions they were asking! Again, Thanks for the advice!! Drink chamomile tea to calm your nerves. It really does help. Good luck with your interview! jdb10c 1
jdb10c Posted January 28, 2016 Author Posted January 28, 2016 On 1/25/2016 at 8:51 PM, twinguy7 said: This is just my experience and also experience of helping out with 3 different grad school interview rounds while I was in grad school so take it for what its worth. It's also just what my grad school was looking for so again take it for what it is worth. My grad school did off-site externships for every semester of grad school so they were looking to see what the applicants were like a far as interpersonal communication skills. Since every semester the students would be working with other professionals within the community, they wanted to find applicants who can easily get along with others and who are down to earth. They also wanted to see how the applicants would respond to adversity and different situations that might come up in their off campus externships. So to sum it up I think grad schools want to see how the applicant is in person and how personable they are. Hope that helps! Thank you your response! I am working on going over some mock interview questions I found online, so I am hoping that will be helpful! I consider myself very personable, so I am hoping I will do a good job presenting myself that way. I hope you had a wonderful grad school experience! Did you happen to have a writing sample before you interviewed? I need to arrive about 30 minutes early to do the writing sample, then I will have my interview. I'm not sure what to expect for that! On a side note, I have seen you post in the thread for "less competitive grad schools" and am very impressed with your journey to getting into grad school, and advice you have shared with everyone! I didn't have the best GRE scores (this is my second year applying) and didn't have a ton of work experience, so I was feeling pretty lost last year. I'm hoping this year will turn out better! An interview is a step in the right direction . Thanks again for your help!
twinguy7 Posted January 29, 2016 Posted January 29, 2016 Thanks for your comments. As far as interview questions I had 2 different interviews. One was a phone interview and another was a Skype interview. Some questions I can remember are: 1- Why our school? 2- Think of a time where there was a conflict at work/etc., how did you handle it? 3- Grad school will be tough, how do you plan on managing studying, personal life and work? 4- What go you into the field? If I can remember more I will post them but thats all I came up with right now Gingiestrong and jdb10c 2
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