The GAC2010 students had a mock university interview for the 003 Study Skills course which took place on the 31st of October 2009. The students had to prepare for this interview by writing a curriculum vitae and a personal statement describing why they wanted to study in tertiary education and why they chose a particular institution to study at. We were assisted in the preparation for this interview by Mr. Taylor and Mr. Drepaul regularly.
We also heard experiences from several university graduates. Peggy Dover, who studied in China, shared her story with us and gave us all a different point of view on certain things to do with studying in a foreign country. Rachel Chee A Tow, who studied in the USA at the Air force Academy, told us how the time spent at the Academy hardened and tested her on several levels. Karin Sodhi, the Indian Ambassador’s daughter, told us about her experiences studying in India. She mentioned that she was unexpectedly disappointed because the teaching style was very different to what she was used to in Kuwait. All these experiences gave us an idea of what to prepare for and expect when going away to college to study.
Each interview was supposed to last twenty minutes and a schedule was made accordingly. We were repeatedly warned that informal dress would not be tolerated for this task. So on the day of the interviews people were dressed in tailored coloured suits and formal black attire. The interviews ran from approximately 10 AM until 2 PM and the panel consisted of Mr. Taylor, Vijoya Taylor, Marciano Proeve and Karin Sodhi.
Most people were extremely nervous before their interview. Luckily this anxiety subsided a bit during the interview. The interview really taught us that we had to be prepared, that our body language and tone of voice are very important and that we should not be negatively intimidated by the interviewer. Now that we know what to expect in such a college interview we can prepare ourselves much better and will hopefully not be as nail bitingly nervous.
By Marina Sew-Atjon, GAC2010 student
