Hi, I was doing a search for info about this year’s Caroline D. Bradley scholarship process but it looks like all the threads are from previous years and are closed now. I’m the parent of a rising 8th grader, and we just learned that he is a finalist! Excited about that. We’re curious about the interview process now. What is it like? How long does it last? Is it just the one interview with the student, or do they want to talk to parents or teachers or anyone else? Also, is it all leveled out at this stage? All the finalists on the same footing, or does their application still weigh in?
Also, wanted to ask about doing the interview in person vs online. The two dates that they will be close by to conduct interviews (and by “close by,” I mean a 3.5 hour drive), my son is in music camp (an additional 2 hours) away. They said Skype interviews were possible, but I wanted to ask people’s candid opinion of whether doing it via Skype vs in-person would hurt his chances.
Thank you!
Please review my earlier threads and the ones others have written. At a minimum, I discuss the interview process my son went through there. I too had a long drive - very similar to yours. Remember though the whole point of an interview is to understand your child outside of what’s on paper. You’ll have to decide whether you think that can be done via Skype. My son is a very interactive type of person - so it was obvious for me to decide for him to meet in person where his natural curiosity would thrive. Your questions seem a bit calculated - this isn’t an exam. The best you do is have your child reflect who they are, what they are passionate about, and how/why they would fit into a community of other smart students that have unusual talents. Treating it like a scoring exercise is, in my opinion, defeating the very essence of what the IEA is about.
The following was posted by Bonnie and explains precisely how the CDB Scholarship is handled. I encourage you to review it if you are applying for the CDB Scholarship.
https://educationaladvancement.org/what-goes-into-selecting-a-caroline-d-bradley-scholar/
Thank you @ChristmasDickens for sharing the IEA link.
While the paper provided lots of good overview of the selection process, it did not make clear its selection philosophy:
do they set out to select/reward the best (by way of meritocracy similar to academic competition or Olympics athletes) or do they have institutional goals of holistic/balanced approaches (including to but not limited to geo diversity, STEM vs. creative writing vs. artisan… gender balance, racial and cultural diversity)?
If they have such goals I’m not aware of them. I think if you look over the years though you get a sense that with the ultimate selections (and even the first two stages I would guess) that there is a rather wide mix of people that share a common vision of using their talent to bring the world closer together. The fact that the selection committee is made up of a broad range of people suggests they really are focused on a range of skills and personalities. There is nothing I’ve seen in any communications with them that suggests anything but the honest and sincere desire to find candidates that the gifted community can be proud of. Keep in mind too they offer a lot of other programs, etc. Unfortunately, many of them are local to CA – across the country for me and so not workable. You should check out some of the videos from the founders of IEA – these challenges with being gifted is something they care deeply about.