美国研究生的面试通常分成两类,强制性面试和邀请性面试。强制性面试是每位申请人都必须参加的,像大部分的MBA专业。而邀请性面试只有学校邀请才可以参加。这样的面试一般代表申请人的初步材料已经得到录取委员会的初选,学校希望能够进一步的了解申请人。
一般在收到学校的面试邀请之后,我会根据学生的情况及申请专业准备面试的问题清单,并让学生根据自己的情况作答。之后会帮学生做几次模拟面试,模拟过程中不忘提醒学生电话面试时要注意的一些细节问题,如提前算好时差,如果面试官的时间是早上,面试一开始跟面试官道声Good Morning,以给签证官留下个不错的印象;面试过程中如果没有听懂面试官的问题可以礼貌的请面试官重复一遍问题,切忌在没有听懂问题的情况下随便回答;面试结束的时候要记得跟面试官道谢,谢谢他在百忙之中抽出时间和学生交谈等等礼貌性的话语。在学生结束面试之后要第一时间跟面试官发邮件,再次感谢并询问面试之后多久会收到学校的录取结果。这样做一可以给面试官留下深刻的印象,二可以获取自己的想要知道的信息。学校的面试官一般都会回邮件,告诉学生什么时候能收到录取结果,这样我们心理就有了大致的时间,不至于盲目的等待。事实也证明了这样的面试准备是非常有效的。
下面分享几个我经手的美国研究生生申请有面试环节的成功案例。
美国研究生案例一:
2013年申请University of Miami MBA 的刘同学。收到迈阿密大学的面试邀请之后,帮学生精心准备了面试,最后学生面试时问到的问题90%都在我们准备的范围之内,学生感觉整个面试过程还比较轻松顺利,最终在一个月后收到了迈阿密大学的录取,并给了学生半奖。
美国研究生案例二:
2014年申请Fordham University 金融硕士的张同学。在4月16收到的面试邀请,这个时间的邀请应该是最晚一批了,学生当时心里很忐忑,感觉像是被放在Waiting List 中。前期我们跟学生做了充分的沟通,鼓励学生对自己有信心。面试前我们在材料方面做了充分的准备,之前申请的时候学校有好几个ESSAY,都是要求学生举出实际的例子说明遇到一些棘手的问题时怎么处理。我让学生充分熟悉ESSAY 内容及个人简历。果然在面试的时候面试官问到了一些比较专业而刁钻的问题,如,如果将来你工作了,你的同事在背后说其他的同事的坏话,你会怎么处理?在你过去的经历中,有没有哪件事情让你陷入了道德的困境?好在第二个问题ESSAY中有体现,第一个问题学生临场发挥的还不错。面试之后不到10天的时间我们就收到了Fordham的录取。
美国研究生案例三:
2014年申请计算机科学研究生的王同学。春节后收到了Cornell University的面试邀请,学校说只是一个简单的谈话没有给出任何关于面试内容的提示,我们还是准备了一些常规的面试内容。后来面试的时候面试官简单的问了下学生的学术背景、职业规划之后,就把问题重点放在了学生是否需要财力资助上面。面试官问学生是否一定需要财力资助才有能力入读学校,学生回答不是的,爸妈已经准备了充分的资金。在面试结束的2周内,我们收到了学校的邮件说学生已经被录取。
从去年开始,关于研究生面试一个非常明显的感觉是,之前更多局限在商科的面试,已经慢慢开始延伸到文科类专业比如教育学、艺术类专业比如建筑学以及理工科类专业比如计算机科学等。因此,希望通过此次分享,让各位申请美国研究生的同学们充分意识到面试在美国研究生录取过程中所扮演的重要角色,然后充分做好准备,为自己实现美国梦想而努力!
美国研究生面试问题盘点:
美国研究生面试中的一些技巧固然重要,但是决定一个面试是否成功的还是面试准备的问题,下面的清单中列举出了一些常用的面试问题(商科为例),供大家参考,希望对大家有所帮助。
Tell me about yourself
Walk me through your resume
How would your friends/coworkers/supervisor describe you?
What are your biggest weaknesses?
What are your biggest strengths?
Questions about why you want to go to business school and future goals
Why do you think now is the time for you to go back to school?
What do you hope to learn in business school?
What do you think you will contribute that will be unique among your classmates?
Why do you want to come to this school?
Where else are you applying?
Where do you see yourself in 10 years?
Questions about specific experiences in your background
Leadership:
Discuss a time when you successfully supervised a diverse group of people toward a difficult goal.
Give an example of when you accomplished something significant that wouldnt have happened if you hadnt been there.
Tell me about a situation where you had to persuade someone to agree with your point of view
Describe a time when you had to gain upper managements support for an idea/proposal.
Name a time when you had to convince someone who didnt report directly to you to do something they didnt want to do.
Describe a situation in which you identified key problems early on in a project and were able to avert a crisis.
Tell me about a time when you led a team to a goal even though the individual team members were skeptical that it could be accomplished.
Discuss a time when you had to make an unpopular decision.
Teamwork
Tell me about the toughest group that you ever worked in. what made it so tough, and how did you handle it?
Describe a time when you have a conflict with another person in a corporate or school setting.
Tell me about a time when you worked with someone who didnt follow through. What did you do?
How have you dealt with a person who was difficult to work with?
Ethics
Describe an ethical dilemma that you faced in your career. How did you resolve it?
Give me an example of when you pushed back against doing something.
What is the hardest decision you have ever had to make on the job? Outside of your job?
Innovation
Name a time when you developed a unique and resourceful solution to a problem.
Describe a situation when you had to make an important decision without having all of the necessary information at hand.
Tell me about a time when you had to analyze facts quickly, identify the issues, and develop an action plan.
Give me an example of when you thought out of the box.
Tell me about a time when you took a smart risk.
Have you ever had to bend a rule to get your work done more efficiently?
Maturity
Tell me about your most spectacular failure. What happened? What did you learn?
What happened, what went wrong, what you learned, and how you applied that lesson in a later situation.
Discuss a time when you didnt succeed on the first try.
What is the worst professional decision you have ever made?
Tell me about a time when you werent very pleased with your performance.
Describe a situation in which you wish you had acted differently with someone in your group.