So, you have prepped for this moment for months. Your GMAT, GRE or SMU Admissions Test score puts you at the top of the pile, your undergraduate transcripts are practically perfect, and you are left with one last hurdle: Your admissions interview. This is the last obstacle between you and your dream school, so what now?
Let’s break it down into the 3 Ws: Who, What and Why.
- WHO
During the interview, the interview panel wants to know WHO you are, so bring the best version of yourself forward. Be confident, the fact that you have been shortlisted for the interview already means that your academic background and work experiences (if any) have already met the expectations of the admissions committee. Prior to the interview, the academic directors would likely already know your background, so when you are asked to introduce yourself, do not try to sound like you are regurgitating your entire resume to the panel. Instead, take this opportunity to share your biggest achievements, your long terms aspirations – we want to know what kind of person you are, so be open about yourself. The starting “tell me about yourself” question may be the most common question, so don’t mess it up! We really want to know how you think this programme is suited for your career goals, so perhaps this is not the best time to tell us about your love for cats, or a rant on how you dislike your current job.
Sometimes, we even ask questions that assesses your situational awareness, or sometimes even seemingly random questions to see how you react. Most of the time, these questions may not even have a right or wrong answer, so just walk us through your thought process for us to understand you better.
- WHAT
People pursue a postgraduate education to achieve their career goals, so let us know WHAT they are. Likely, not everyone will have a crystal clear idea of what they see themselves as in 10 years, but you have to be forward-looking, you need to understand what are the skill sets necessary for your future career, and how this programme is going to help you. There are 3 key “WHAT”s that you should address during an admissions interview:
- What are your career objectives:
This gives interviewers an insight into your personality and shows us what kind of jobs may be suitable for you.
- What do you see yourself doing in the future:
If you have an idea of where you see yourself in the future, it shows that you have considered your options carefully. Even if you are not entirely sure, you should show what options are on your mind and deliberate through them carefully
- What can you contribute in class:
At the end of the day, a Master’s Degree is also about networking and learning from others. Interviewers will want to know what sets you apart – so think about whether you are able to bring something special to the table, whether it is international exposure, a specific insight from a less common industry or a diverse point of view.
- WHY
This is the final and perhaps one of the most important parts of an admissions interview. Unlike a usual job interview, an education is supposed to benefit you, so most importantly, you need to convince us WHY this programme is suitable for you. Especially with the abundance of postgraduate degree programmes all over the world, we want to know what made you choose us. At the end of the day, the programme has to be a good fit for you, and we are not keen on a candidate who has applied to a zillion other programmes, just “collecting” offers without having a clear thought on a preferred choice.
No, we are not saying that you should only apply for one programme, and if you have applied for more than one, it is also fine to be honest about it. In fact, if you have doubts over certain areas of the programme, the interview would be a great time to clear your reservations. After all, it shows the interviewer that you are serious about the programme and that you want to know how the programme can bring value to you and whether it can meet your objectives.
And as a final tip, there are many candidate who may not have scored that well on their aptitude test or graduated with a less than stellar GPA. My advice for these candidates is to show the committee what else you got. Academic results are not everything, especially in the corporate setting – showcase your soft skills, highlight your work achievements, and tell us about your leadership abilities – the worst thing for such a candidate is to have a low confidence, if we have shortlisted you to speak to us, we must have seen something on your application that sparked out interest in the first place, so, keep us interested!
With that, all the best for your admissions interview and may the odds be ever in your favour!
