<p>S was very fortunate to be one of 42 invitees to our state public university's scholarship weekend in Feb. 16 of the invitees will be awarded the big scholarship and offered admission into the special scholarship program. Anyone have any advice on how best to prepare for this event? Obviously, he will have to write a "knock your socks off" application (due in 4 days). The scholarship weekend itself consists of campus tours, President's reception, faculty meetings, seminar, socials and of course a panel interview. My guess is this setup is probably similar to most school's scholarship weekends. Any veteran's out there in CC land care to share war stories? Our S is very social and we don't expect him to do anything really stupid, but we'd like to avoid any of the obvious errors. One bit of great advice I've been told by one veteran parent already is that the students are constantly being observed even outside of the interview session. I've heard stories of off the wall questions (no right or wrong answer) just to see how the candidate responds. Is there any pre-preparation we should consider? Thanks in advance!</p>
<p>Lukestar
If I may ask,as I see you are located in South Carolina and you mention this weekend is for your state public university:Is this an invite to U of south carolina's scholarship weekend?
If so, when did your child get the invite?My S has applied for the OOS version of that scholarship at USC,has gotten the acceptance letter for the Honor's College but is awaiting more correspondence.
I'd like to plan a visit but have been putting off making arrangements while awaiting their response.Should I wait a little while longer,or would you advise me to call admissions?I'm also confused since you say your S has to write an application within the next four days,I thought he did the app ahead of time (big,long,arduous)..is there another one after that?
Thanks for any insight you may have about the process.I realize in state vs out of state may make a difference in the timeline.
As for your child and the weekend..they should be themselves, but of course,be on their best behaviour.And the best of luck to him!!!</p>
<p>No, not USC, Clemson. The program is called the Clemson National Scholars. The invitation includes filling out a separate scholarship application with short answers, essays, etc. Clemson will use this application along with the primary application for admission and the interview at the scholarship weekend to base their decision. Our S did not apply to USC primarily because the Honors application was such a bear. Those essays looked like killers! Clemson picks it's Honors students strickly via the numbers/statistics. I understand that next year, Clemson will go to a separate application like USC. Several kids from son's HS have applied for USC Honors. To my knowledge, none have heard anything about the USC scholarship weekend yet.</p>
<p>Thanks for the information,Lukestar and best of luck to your son with the Clemson weekend!</p>
<p>Would also love to know if anyone has any information for friend regarding the Univ of Richmond Scholar Program? </p>
<p>Students will be invited to campus in March!</p>
<p>I'm very interested in this topic too, as I have a scholarship interview weekend in 1 month.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated :)</p>
<p>A friend at work told me that his wife during a weekend scholarship interview was asked a current events question. Wouldn't hurt to read up on current events. Anyone else remember any questions they were asked?</p>
<p>My D was at a scholarship weekend in November, the three questions that she talked about the most afterwards were: 1) What kind of social problem was she concerned about on a global scale, 2) What book had she read lately that was current (she hadn't read any that were current-she told them the last one she read and they asked if she had a read a book that was more recent? No), and 3) What would she change or improve about her school.</p>
<p>They also seemed to be verifying her transcript confirming her honors and AP classes and dicussed in detail her education and career goals - and then told her what majors/courses she could take at the college to achieve those goals. </p>
<p>Good luck to your S, I know it is very nerve-wracking for the kids as they go through it.</p>
<p>The most important thing that anyone can do in these situations is to be themselves. They already have a snapshot of your son from his application and are looking to validate what they have already seen on paper. To try and be something/someone else would work against him. </p>
<p>Our experience was Morehead finalist weekend. The interviewers each had files that were highlighted with notes in margins and knew more about our son than either he or we could have ever thought possible. </p>
<p>My guess is that they will draw questions from the things he talked about on his application, either his essays or his extra curriculars, looking for depth, passion and commitment. They are trying to find out what really makes him tick, who he is and if his application was a real indication of the person he represented himself to be.</p>
<p>Remember, they could fill an Honors program simply by using stats if they weren't interested in the whole person behind the stats. This is what helps them find people who are not just smart but also "interesting" to create the dynamic they desire in the program.</p>
<p>eadad and ThatMom, Excellent posts/suggestions. Thank you very much!</p>