<p>I recently received my school's nomination. Any advice from those who have gone through the process in the past?</p>
<p>Search the board and the 2011/2009 boards for Jefferson Scholars. There's tons of stuff already posted from years before</p>
<p>Advice:1.Work hard on the things you have to do for it, 2. Don't get your hopes up.</p>
<p>I actually wasn't even nominated, but from objective experience with the process thats about all you need. Especially 2.</p>
<p>uva08: best of luck with jeff scholars! it is a wonderful process, and though i ended up as an alternate and do not attend uva, i am a huge advocate of this program. i am slightly curious as to how you just received your school's nomination because i know that my application was due around halloween. are you a regional finalist? anyways, here is what i have to offer:</p>
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<li><p>congratulations on becoming your school's nominee; as you know that is already a huge honor. in a few weeks, you probably will be contacted by the head of your region to schedule an interview. mine contacted me via email. you will have an interview at some point in the late winter/early spring. </p></li>
<li><p>regional interviews vary greatly depending upon region and how many nominees they are interviewing, but typically involve a panel of interviewers that are enthusiastic uva alums. i was interviewed by a group of 8 business men in a conference room setting. i interview well and was not nervous, but many people i know were. the ask questions pertaining to your application and your essays and will probably ask you to elaborate on a few aspects of that application. from there, they will ask you a lot of probing questions with the intent of seeing if you really are all you're cracked up to be. my advice for the regional interview would be to know your stories really well and be prepared to talk about a diverse array of subjects. don't ******** anything because you never know who you may be talking to! </p></li>
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<p>after the first round of regional interviews, your region may conduct a second round of interviews (not in my case) so i can't really help you there. if you are selected as your regions national finalist--one of the best days of my life, let me tell you!--you will be flown to UVa for finalist selection weekend.</p>
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<li><p>the best part is that once you're selected as the national finalist, you have officially been admitted to the university.</p></li>
<li><p>a little bit before national selection weekend you will be given more information about it. the main parts of selection weekend are an essay based on some readings, an obscure math test that is impossible to study for (not that it's difficult, it's just very abstract and intends to test your logical reasoning), a debate about some readings, a formal dinner banquet (delicious!) and your final interview. it is uncertain as to what part of the weekend is the most important, but i am pretty confident it is the final interview. </p></li>
<li><p>if you make it to nsw, you will be paired with a current jeff scholar who will be your host. mine was a blast--we ended up getting drunk at frat party together before one of the early mornings and hearing all his buds sing the good ol song is one of my fondest east coast memories.</p></li>
<li><p>the jefferson foundation is extremely generous and puts on a spectacular weekend. you will not be disappointed. by the time you are a national finalist, they want you just as badly as you want them. </p></li>
<li><p>the people you will be competing with are very seriously some of the best in the country. to me, it was a huge privilege to even be considered one of their peers! these kids have perfect scores, incredible internships, published research papers, thousands of hours of volunteer work, and have won more state championships and national championships than i can shake a stick at. they truly are amazing. the ones i know that turned down the jeff now attend MIT, Yale, Princeton, Harvard, Cambridge, and Stanford. </p></li>
<li><p>the numbers break down works a little like this: out of roughly 1000 applicants, close to 100 are chosen as national finalists. of that, nearly 40 are offered scholarships and an additional 10 or 15 are offered alternate spots. it's a pretty clandestine system, so even if you're #15 on the alt list and 15 turn down the jeff, you still may not receive one. it's nice, though, because you receive the decision about 24 hours after you get home from nsw. quick turnaround time!</p></li>
<li><p>the jeff comes with many perks that you can read about online. jimmy's kids (as my class calls themselves, named for jimmy wright the president of the jeff foundation) are not haughty and few people know who they are among their peers. if you receive a jefferson scholarship, you will have everything academic covered for all four years as well as a summer abroad and a great internship. they treat you like royalty and are some really neat people. </p></li>
<li><p>the jeff is not a merit scholarship from uva. it is given out by the jefferson foundation and actually is presented to you in the form of a check on stipend day. i suppose you could do whatever you want with the check, but obviously it is intended for academic use.</p></li>
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<p>i am happy to help you in any way that i can, so just let me know! all the best.</p>
<p>Thank you very much shoebox, ehiunno and kristin for your advice.</p>
<p>Where are you Kristen? Just curious?</p>
<p>OP: what region are you from? My experience with the process is fairly limited, but it might be helpful. I was my school's nominee and was told that there were about 50 nominees from our region (NoVa). I was one of seventeen applicants invited to interview for one (!) ticket to National Selection Weekend. Unfortunately, I wasn't selected. </p>
<p>The interview was very short (only about 20 minutes) and consisted of being grilled by about ten UVA alums who knew my application inside and out. The tone of the questions was borderline combative (in an intellectual way) and was clearly designed to be challenging. I honestly thought that my interview went well, but I'm sure that most of the people who received nominations also interviewed very well and most probably had more impressive extracurricular involvement.</p>
<p>I'm in the Northern New Jersey region.</p>
<p>jimjam! i go to u-missouri columbia, aka mizzou, aka the best college football team IN THE NATION as of right now.</p>
<p>it's a blast. academic scene is far from that of UVa, but after receiving sophomore standing due to ap hours, taking a bunch of honors classes, and getting knee-deep in some seriously exciting cancer research, i'm managing to remain more than busy.</p>
<p>were you at nsw last year with me?</p>
<p>Has anyone had his/her interview yet?</p>
<p>Dude I Have Mine In A Week. Holy Crap!</p>
<p>And there is this reception I was invited to! I hope it is fun :]</p>
<p>good luck feladis. I had my interview this weekend. I think it went well, but I guess we'll see.</p>
<p>I've got mine in a week, too.</p>
<p>UVA08, how many people interviewed you? When I got an email setting up the interview, there were seven other people in the cc field.</p>
<p>Is it not that bad, or kind of intimidating?
Thanks much.</p>
<p>I was interviewed by a group of 3, even though the committee is a lot bigger. I think they broke down the committee into smaller interviewing panels. It was not nearly as intimidating as I expected since I expected to be interviewed by the entire committee. good luck!</p>
<p>Much appreciated!</p>
<p>Good luck yourself. You might not need the luck though. But if I'm lucky, I'll see all of you at the finalist weekend. I'm not sure I'm that qualified.</p>
<p>We'll see on the 12th.</p>
<p>has anyone had their interview in the west/conn region and does anyone know how many they are having? I heard there are 27 nominees..thanks from an anxious mom</p>
<p>First of all, congratulations to all of you who have been nominated for the scholarship. Its probably the single greatest thing that has ever happened to me during my academic career. Secondly a bit of advice about the interviews. Its best to approach them with a completely honest mindset. A guaranteed way of NOT doing well in the interview is to be disingenuous or try to mold yourself into something you are not. I know a lot of people who have served on these interview panels and ALL of them are people with significant experience interviewing (as both interviewees and interviewers). All of them can tell the difference between a BS answer and a genuinely well thought out, reasoned response. That leads me into another point. Its better to take a moment after the questions to think for a moment before you respond. A lot of people have screwed up interviews because they are so eager to answer a question that they don't actually have a response for that they ramble and are incoherent. If you don't have a response to a question, its alright! Take a second, think about it, and then respond. Also, make sure you spend some time researching UVa. The most successful applicants to the Jefferson Scholarship are the ones who have a clear understanding of why they want to go to UVa. Ask yourselves the following: why do I want to go to UVa in particular? What programs (academic/professional/extracurricular) does UVa offer that attract you? For those of you engaged in research (scientific or not, it doesn't matter) take a look at the kind of research going on at UVa. It may be something that you can bring up during your interview. I remember talking about one or two programs during my interview that I actually was very interested in pursuing. I had done a lot of research on UVa's academic programs and found a couple of things that matched my interests, found some research that was complementary to research I had done in High school, and was able to articulate the point that 1. UVa had a LOT to offer me and what those specifically were, and 2. that I could offer things to UVa and what those specifically were. Its important to emphasize that doing this for sheer purpose of getting the scholarship won't work. Your responses need to be honest. There isn't a right answer to these questions. Rather, its about being true to oneself and having your individual passion come out during the interview. If you can channel that and demonstrate your interests, then you won't have any regrets. Good luck to all of you, and feel free to ask any questions.</p>
<p>Thank you so much for you advise...I will let you know what happens...interview is this week...</p>
<p>Does anyone know the policy for international students?</p>