How to write a winning scholarship essay - Gen Tanabe, Kelly Tanabe 2018

The hostile interview
Winning interview strategies

U.C. Berkeley & Truman Scholarship Winners In some scholarship competitions, particularly ones for prestigious awards like the Rhodes, Marshall or Truman, the interviews are designed to challenge you. To do well you need to prepare and have the right mindset for these provocative interviews. —Gen and Kelly

During his interview to become a Truman Scholar, one of the eight panelists asked Brian C. Babcock to name a good funny novel he had recently read. Brian hadn’t read a humorous novel recently, but he did have a children’s book that he thought was funny.

He started to say, “It’s not a novel, but…” and before he finished the interviewer interrupted him to say, “No, I want a novel.”

The sentiment in most scholarship interviews is friendly and cordial. But for some competitions, particularly the prestigious ones with fierce national competition, the setting is often challenging and even adversarial.

“There’s a kind of devil’s advocate interviewing style for these competitions. The phrasing and tone is more antagonistic,”

says Leah Carroll, coordinator of U.C. Berkeley’s Haas Scholars Program and former program coordinator of the university’s Scholarship Connection office, which assists students who are applying for awards.

She coaches students to view these kinds of interviews as “intellectual sparring,” and advises them to “practice interviews with friends and to tell their friends to be mean.”

Donald H. Matsuda, Jr. experienced this intellectual sparring first hand. A student at Stanford University, Matsuda is also a Truman Scholar. The panel challenged his policy plan on health care for children asking why they should “continue to waste millions of our federal budget to help this situation that has no clear cut solution.”

Brian’s contributions reflect his own opinions, not those of the U.S. military.

Donald was also asked to define music. The panel gave him the option of defining it or singing a definition. He chose to define it. He said, “I see music as the ultimate way a person can express himself. I chose not to sing, which is why I think I won the Truman.”

A student at the U.S. Military Academy, Brian applied for the award to receive a master’s in foreign service and history and certificate in Russian area studies. In his interview, the selection committee asked Brian questions about gays in the Boy Scouts, an example of bad leadership and why he wanted to work in public service instead of make millions of dollars.

They challenged his choice of topic for his essay, asking why he chose as an example of leadership when he led one other person instead of when he led many. He answered, “If you can’t lead one person how can you expect to lead a group?”

And, they questioned his grades, which weren’t perfect but still high. He says, “I explained that to me it was more important to get the breadth of knowledge and take the classes while I have the time and it’s free. I take as much as I can handle. If that means that my grades slip from a 3.9 to a 3.75 so be it.”

Besides preparing for the interview, what may have helped Brian was his frame of mind. He says, “I didn’t have an interview.

I had a talk with eight people around the table.”

Know who’s on the other end of the line. You may interview with a panel of people. Write down each of their names and positions when they first introduce themselves to you.

They will be impressed when you are able to respond to them individually and thank each of them by name.

use notes from the practice interviews. One of the advantages of doing an interview over the telephone is that you can refer to notes. Take advantage of this.

look and sound like you would in person. Pretend the interviewers are in the room with you, and use the same gestures and facial expressions that you would if you were meeting in person. It may sound strange, but the interviewers will actually be able to hear through your voice when you are smiling, when you are paying attention and when you are enthusiastic about what you’re saying. Don’t do the interview lying down in bed or slouched back in a recliner.

don’t use a speaker phone, cordless phone or cell phone.

Speaker phones often echo and pick up distracting noise. Cordless and cell phones can generate static, and the battery can die at the worst possible moment.

Turn off call waiting. Nothing is more annoying than hearing the call waiting beep while you are trying to focus and deliver an important thought. (And, this may sound obvious, but don’t click over to take a second call during the interview.)