@Studentt15, did you have a local interview. Can you share your experience, questions asked etc.
@LoudounMom
I had two rounds of local interviews before the Finalist weekend. The two interviews were pretty similar experiences, just at different rounds of the process. In general, the interviews followed this approximate format:
You sit in a room with between 3-8 interviewers who are often alumni of the university and/or the Jefferson Scholarship Foundation. They briefly introduce themselves and then interview you for approximately 30 minutes.
They ask a lot of questions about your application, essays, recommendations, extracurriculars and classes. They ask personal questions, including challenges in your life, greatest weakness and your definition of/experience with Scholarship, Leadership and Citizenship. They may ask a question or two about current events or politics. That’s about it.
Message me if you have other questions.
I received notice on January 12th that I am advancing to the regional interviews. My interview is on February 13, so it seems pretty late compared to others. I’m in the SW Virginia area.
Not everyone receives an interview, and if you don’t, you don’t advance to the next stage. I am the first person from my school to get an interview, and my school has been nominating people since the scholarship started. My guidance counselor is fairly certain I’m the first person in my school system. So I have absolutely no idea what to expect… I’ve been doing a lot of research over the past few days, but I’d appreciate any insight from people who know what goes on in the interview!
I think @Studentt15 just covered it ^^
Thanks for the info @Studentt15
A friend’s son was interviewed 2 years ago. He left the room feeling conflicted about whether he still wanted to go to UVa! Said the panel was confrontational. They asked him to debate a no-win situation- why cocaine SHOULD be legalized. Maybe they just wanted to see how a candidate would react under pressure…? So we don’t know what to expect for my son’s interview in 2 weeks. I hope it will be more like the one @student15 described!
I didn’t get to the next round. Good luck to everyone else!
Made it to the next round of regional interviews, current status has now changed from “Nominee” to “Regional Semi-Finalist”!
@beesayshey, sorry you didn’t make it to the next round.
@whattodo122, congrats on making it to the next round. Can you share your experience at the regional interview? Thanks. My D has the interview on Friday.
@LoudounMom Absolutely!
I met with a panel of five adults who were graduates of UvA but none of whom were Jefferson Scholars. They asked me fairly non traditional questions (what question would you ask yourself, what is your greatest regret from high school, what makes a college experience successful, who is your historical idol) but nothing too crazy with some questions about current events thrown in there and also what attracted me to UvA.
I think my answers were very unique and i was lucky enough to be in a really awake and good mood so my answers were well articulated and it didn’t take me too long to come up with them. The interview lasted around 40 minutes and then they asked if I had any questions. I couldn’t come up with anything on the spot but they didn’t seem to disappointed.
The head interviewer walked me out and said I did really well (he was “impressed”) and they would let me know whether I had advanced in the coming days. I got a call two days later congratulating me on advancing and saying I would receive more information soon.
Good luck to your daughter!
I just had my interview and they ask very critical thinking- based questions if that makes sense. It was not a standard college interview in any way. Good luck!
@ineversleep, what do you mean by critical thinking based questions? Can you give an example please. Thanks
@Whattodo122 what region/state are you in?
Hi, I received an email today saying my status has been updated after review by the Regional Committee. I went to the portal to look for the PDF they said that would be there with my updated status but I can’t seem to find it. The only one on the portal is the acknowledgement letter PDF from December. Does this mean I did not advance to the next stage or is there a formal “rejection” letter? Thanks!
Hey Everyone,
I just had an interview in the philadelphia region on Wed (1/28) and I just wanted to share my experience:
The first thing they asked me about was my opinion on certain political issues. The focus then shifted to how I’m looking to help the problems I identified. Then after that they asked me questions about the things I had on my application, questions about things i’ve struggled with in high school, questions about what I think my greatest accomplishment is - I hate to be cliche, but they ask many “typical interview questions.” Its nothing to be nervous about tho, so good luck to everyone. I have no idea whether I made it to the next round, but even if i didn’t it was still a great experience.
Hey does anyone know how long after the first interview we are notified of our status? I had mine Saturday 1/31 and I’m hoping to find out before I go on an exchange to France on Saturday. Thanks!
I had my interview on 1/31 and thought I would share a bit about it for all who are curious! First of all, the experience in itself is amazing. I met recent Jefferson scholar grads before the actual interview, and they were really great and helped calm all the prospective students’ nerves. I then was called into a room with 5 UVA alumni (only 2 were Jefferson scholars) who all introduced themselves and all had a copy of my application in front of them. They basically asked me questions about my application, but most of the questions had a twist so that they were more about applying my experiences. I was asked a couple questions about domestic politics, and some of the questions threw me off guard a bit. But for the most part the interviewers were very nice and not intimidating in the least, so it’s definitely not a hostile environment! Honestly couldn’t tell one way or the other how it went, so I guess I’ll just have to see when I get the notification. All in all, it was an awesome experience just being there, and good luck to everyone applying!
Does anyone know when the Jefferson Scholars Weekend is?
March 27-31
My mistake. The last weekend in March (26-29)