Scholarship Interviews

NTU Nanyang Scholarship Interview

I felt I did pretty good, maybe an 80%? :) There were two interviewers, one was an angmoh, the other a Chinese. They asked some pretty standard questions, nothing that caught me off guard, really. Attire: Smart casual. Reached there like half an hour earlier and was checking out the biz school's campus. Nothing impressive, but they have a pretty chill library ^^

First question: Tell me about yourself, and why you chose DDP Biz & Acc.
I said some things, i remember that one of the profs (the chinese one) was smiling while i was talking so I guess I was saying the right things. I said something about being responsible, committing to all my committments and being organised internally etc. Also said my views about CIP and helping others. Elaborated a little about what I did.

I paused and then he asked me the second part of the question again. I said that DDP has the rigour that I am looking for to trigger new thinking processes etc. Then told them about wanting to set up a social enterprise etc. Abt accounting, I said that I admit that i dont know much about it but I am confident that I am interested in it and can do well in the course from my online research etc.

I cant remember what else they asked tbh. The rest were pretty standard questions except for:

Do you want to stay in hall? (yes, because i want to make new friends etc)
What sort of social enterprise do you have in mind?
Do you have any questions for us? (I asked what they were looking for, and then the angmoh went like they are looking for someone that can contribute to NTU, like a student ambassador, and not just someone that is good at studying etc.)

This interview was gone pretty fast, i haven't even start my engine yet already over alr o.O Like 15-20 minutes I think.

Results of interview: Offered

SPRING EDB Scholarship Interview (First round)

Wow i waited like more than 1 hour pass by interview time (4.PM), waited until like 5- 515PM for my turn. Each person took like more than half an hour la! Okay this one was... idk. More challenging. It was at HCI, and there was 3 interviewers, one of which was Mr Chan (our VP), one of them was the director of SPRING or something, and another lady. So basically 2 guys 1 lady. Chatted with the other applicants from HC before and I could tell that they were also not bad and my competition is quite stiff.

Dress code was formal, I wore white long sleeves (borrowed from cousin xD), black skirt and very uncomfortable high heels. I was like super frazzled cuz I was afraid of being late (turns out I was on time and had to wait an hour more), had to cab there D:

So yup, it was in the LCK board room. The interview was pretty casual, but with a tinge of formality at the same time. I can tell that they really want to know what sort of person I am, and how I am like. They asked me many questions, many of which I did not prepare for. I guess many of them were based on what I said lor. I'll write what i remember here but really, the number of questions has to be at least 25 questions... I mean the interview is pretty long.

1. Why did you apply for so many UK schools for psychology? Doesnt it differ a lot from business? (Wanted to keep my options open, and psychology does not really differ that much from business, and also elaborated on social enterprises and what I wanna do)
2. Any idea what sort of social enterprise you wanna do in the future?
3. Any social enterprises that inspired you?
4. Give me an example of a social enterprise.
5. Give me another example of social enterprise.
6. What are you passionate about in terms of helping people?
7. What have you been doing after A levels? Do you have a part-time job now?
8. What is the size of the company?
9. What do you think you will change in your company?
10. What is the greatest social problem, in your opinion, in Singapore now?
11. What is your opinion about the Singapore conversation?
12. What do you think about SME scene in Singapore? (or maybe phrased something liddat) 
13. What do you propose to improve things for SMEs? (or something like that)
14. Why wouldn't people want to work for SMEs?
15. How do you define a SME?
16. What can you propose to change things?
17. Would you rather work for the public service as part of SPRING or be attached to a company?
18. Tell me about a book you read recently.
19. Who is the author?
20. Do you have any questions?

Its really like a chit-chat session, from the questions they ask. Its sort of branching off and asking you stuff based on what you said yet going back to prepared questions after awhile kind of thing. I thought I screwed up because I really did not know what an SME was(they kinda like wanted the exact definition and i was like... less than 200 employees, then paused because i really couldnt remember the annual turnover so I just told them I did not know. They asked me to make an educated guess and I said 1m. turns out its 100m. LOL.) plus, I realise that i forgot to greet the lady when i came in because she was the one that opened the door to ask us to come in, and when i was greeting the other two dudes she was like busy flipping through papers so I didnt really greet her. LOL.

Results: Shortlisted for second round interview. PASS!

NUS USP (University Scholars Programme) Interview

Okay so when I reached Cinnamon, the seniors (who, according to them, are paid to not study LOL) were really funny. And you know, when I reached the campus, I really can feel like this is a place where I can spend the next few years hanging out and living in. The atmosphere in Utown and cinnamon is really my style. Theres just the vibe that I like, idk how to say.

Anyway for this interview I felt like I may have blabbed too much. lol ..... I had to wait abt half an hour pass my interview time also.

First thing I went in, one was an alumni, one was a professor. One lady and one man. The man was younger. Anyway once I sat down, they told me that they do not know anything about me at all, not even my essay. So i took it that they want me to introduce myself. So i did. And I think i answered like that question for like 5 minutes, telling them about everything about me and what i did. Feel like a salesperson.

Anyway the dude has like some marksheet. wtf. like rating me, but can do it more discreetly also mah. At the top, I saw the first criteria: Intellectual curiosity. :o LOL.

Anyway yep. Some of the things they asked me:
1. Tell me about yourself (or something liddat)
2. Why USP?
3. What is a subject you do not like?
4. You say youre interested in psychology. Why?
5. What is an example of a psychology book that you've read?
6. Were you from science stream?
7. Do you think you can cope with the arts modules given your background?

Anyway, like the NTU Interview it went pretty quick. Can't really remember what they asked but lol.. i kept blabbing because like, i really wanna get into this!!!

Results: Haven't heard from them. Hope that they get back to me soon! :D

Aside from all these, I also went for Medicine FSA interview and its SJT. But they made us sign a confidentiality letter so yeah.