Academic Interview

Academic Speaking
Quick Tips
Purpose of the Interview
● Your opportunity to show the admissions/job committee that you are more
than your grades, test scores, and application.
● Who you are
● What your professional goals are
● Your academic experiences
● Problem solving and leadership
Identifying Strengths
● I am a good communicator
● I manage my time well
● I am creative
● I am a good leader
● I like to take risks
● I am flexible and adaptable
● I don’t get stressed easily
● I am a good listener
● I am respectful
● I am a positive person
● I am a quick learner
● I enjoy challenging myself
● I am well organized
● I enjoy making goals and achieving them
● I am very motivated
● I am responsible
● I have a strong work ethic
● I am always punctual
● I am honest
● I pay attention to details
● I am a good teacher
● I am good at making decisions
Identifying Strengths Activity
● After picking the statements that apply to you, get into pairs and read those
statements to each other.
● Choose one and explain why that is one of your strengths.
● As a large group:
○ What did you discuss in your pairs?
● Now brainstorm:
○ What are your strengths?
○ Why should I hire you?
○ What are you good at?
○ What will make you a good employee
Interview Questions and Answers
● What type of questions have you heard in interviews?
● Which are hard and which are easy?
● Any examples of good/bad answers to these questions?
Interview Question Examples
● Tell us about yourself.
● Why do you want to do this program?
● Why should we admit you?
● Why do you want to attend this university?
● What experiences do you have that relates to this program?
● What are your weaknesses?
● Tell us about a successful experience you had in university.
● Tell us about a problem you have had and what you did about it.
● Tell us about a mistake you have made and what you would do differently.
● What is your career plan?
● Where do you see yourself in 5 years?
● Do you have any questions for us?
● What does your area of study mean to you? How did you become interested
in it?
Preparing Good Answers
● In every answer you should find a way to tell the interviewer something good
about you.
● Prepare answers to the previous questions based on your own experiences
● These do not have to be complete answers but can just be thoughts/ideas
from brainstorming.

https://www.thirteen.org/edonline/adulted/lessons/lesson11_activities.html#clo
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Interview Tips
● Research your chosen profession and schools of interest
● Collect information about the interview structure
● Be ready to break the ice
● Rehearse commonly asked questions
● Articulate your reasoning for pursuing a graduate degree
● Put your best face forward
● Remember that you’re always being interviewed
● Manage any nervousness
● Close with class
● Don’t go it alone
● Interview your interviewers
Interview Practice
● Individually, write down 3 interview questions (these can come directly from
the list or can be made up)
● Once completed, you will walk around the room and spend 5 minutes with
each new person.
● You will take turns asking your three questions and listening to the response
of the other person.
● After 5 minutes, you will have 2 minutes to give feedback on their responses.
● As a large group
○ What was easy
○ What was hard
○ What was good
○ What was bad