Understanding the interview round.

Before we talk about the interview, here are some of my students who PASSED document screening and just got invited for the interview. They are now undergoing interview training with me as part of our coaching program:

Now, let’s talk about the interview.

The Basics

The interview round for Embassy and University Tracks are slightly different in importance.

For context, in Embassy track, the interview round is the “determining round”. What it means is that if you pass interview round, there is 95% chance you will pass the rest of the rounds and this is mainly because of the Embassy’s implied recommendation for the applicant. Another reason for this is because it’s difficult for NIIED to move quota from Embassy track to University track in case the student doesn’t pass the 2nd or 3rd round. So the usual case is that once the student passes the first round, we can consider this student already successful in getting the GKS scholarship. It’s a call for an early celebration.

However, for university track, the celebration takes longer. The determining round is the 2nd round so the interview that occurs in the first round holds lower value than the interview in Embassy. The reason for this is simple: universities can accept as many students as they want but it is in 2nd round where those excess students are eliminated. For example, let’s say in Germany there is only a quota of 4 students. And 40 German students applied to different universities. These universities don’t contact each other and ask “Hey, did you accept a German student too?” They don’t. So they just accept whoever passes their own criteria. So what happens is at the end of the first round, we have, for example, 25 students who passed it. NIIED now needs to narrow it down to 4 because the quota is 4. That’s why you cannot celebrate in first round of University Track. This is also the reason why University Track is competitive and needs a specific strategy to pass. I teach my students this strategy which helped many students who failed in embassy track pass in university track because I helped them choose the right university to apply to.

The Interview

The interview in university track is obvious: it is either through phone call, video call, or email.

For embassy track, it can be phone call, video call, email, in-person.

Phone Call Interview
The phone call interview occurs through voice only. You will be asked a series of questions. The good thing about this is you can read a script that you have prepared for.

Email Interview
The email interview is a rare one. You get asked a series of questions sent through email and you just reply back. It’s straightforward and allows you time to actually prepare good answers.

Video Call Interview
This interview occurs online through ZOOM, Google Meet, or other platforms. This is like phone call interview but they can see you. You can still read your scripts through screen but make sure it is not noticeable.

In-Person Interview
Now this interview can be divided into 2 types.

1st type: Single interview. In this type, you are the only interviewee in the room. There is either one or multiple interviewers.

2nd type: Multiple interviews. In this type, you are interviewed simultaneously with other students so you can hear their answers and they can hear your answers to the same questions.

In my opinion, the 2nd type of In-Person interview is the most nerve-wracking and most difficult type of interview because not only you need to have a good answer, your answer will be compared with others on the spot. It’s basically a real-time speech competition and most students aren’t trained for this pressure. That is why in my private coaching program, students are trained to master this as they are given instructions and techniques on how to answer difficult questions so they are instantly unique and memorable in the eyes of the interviewers.

Conclusion

The interview is the most important part of embassy and a slightly important part of university track. In this round, everyone goes back to zero. Your documents become irrelevant in the criteria as they have a separate criteria for interview. So, just because you had better grades on paper than other students, doesn’t mean you’ll succeed the interview. You need training. If you want to make sure you can face this challenge, let me train you as I trained other students in the past. The skills you will learn in our coaching program are skills you can apply in other aspects of your life.

Hopefully this has been a helpful newsletter issue for you. I hope to see you soon in our coaching program. Check it our here: Scholars Academie.

If you are not ready for our full coaching program,
try our our ebook here to get a glimpse of what we do:
Click me

GKS Coaching Program

Join 100+ students preparing for their GKS application now.

Scholars Academie has helped more than 120 students
pass GKS in the last 5 years

Click here to know more

Testimonial of the Week

📖 Read previous issues here: previous newsletter issues 

👫🏻 Get 2 of your friends to sign up on our full coaching program, and you will receive a free full coaching from us. To participate, message us on our Instagram Account: Click me

📞 For a free 15-minute consultation or essay review, schedule a call here: Book a call