It is not very uncommon to feel an impending sense of pressure when you are about to have an interview for a scholarship. Many scholarship programs such as the scholarship recently launched by Nihar Gala use interviews as a way to become intimate with potential scholars and appropriately gauge their character as a student.
Scholarship interviews play a massive role in whether or not you get accepted as a scholar which is it is important to leave a lasting impression during them. It is completely normal to feel nervous during these interviews and the best way to beat that sense of nervousness is through proper preparation. The best way to prepare for these scholarship interviews is to familiarize yourself with the most common questions and know how to answer them your way.
To make it easier, we have here some of the most common scholarship interview questions as well as a guide on how you should go about responding to these questions.
“Tell Us About Yourself?”
One of the most common questions and most likely one of the first questions that will be asked from you are describing yourself to everyone in the room. Answering this question takes a degree of skill as you want to be able to explain yourself while also generating interest in your character.
The question that asks about who you are is best answered with brief details about your personal life, values, and achievements. Give a general idea of details about yourself and possible answers to other questions like your ambitions but don’t give out everything. You would want to give a general overview of yourself which can cause other people to become more interested. This not only makes you more impressionable but also makes the interview flow more smoothly in your favor.
Lastly, you would also want to avoid being someone you aren’t and just be honest and truthful about yourself. You want to avoid making things up as false statements can cause you to lose your scholarship and possibly end up having to pay for them.
“What are your Dreams and Ambitions?”
Before your interview even begins, it is important to know what kind of person you want to become in the future. Knowing your dreams and ambitions is key to your scholarship as it not only serves as a reason to get your scholarship but also serves as its fuel and main motivation source.
Not knowing these 2 things will make you look more unreliable and unaware to your interviewers. Be ready to explain what you want to accomplish even if it might seem a bit unrealistic in your current situation.
“Give Us Your Role Model?”
Another common question asked in interviews is giving the name of a person who inspired you and the reason why they inspired you. The reason why this question is often asked is that it is almost impossible to go through life without getting inspired by someone.
The best way to answer this question is to think of anyone in your life that you can comfortably talk about. The person who inspired you doesn’t have to be someone famous or well achieved but it can be anyone you know. You can make someone close to you become your inspiration if you found something you pride yourself knowing about and that motivated you at some point.
