面试是一个让你向招生人员展示你对这门学科的热情和你的专业能力的机会,让他们了解鲜活真实的你是什么样的。
大多数面试官他们感兴趣的是看看你学习得有多好,以及作为一个学生,教起来会是什么样子。通过面试展现出你具备的批判性、独立性的思维。
所以好好准备面试,将自己最优秀的样子全方位地展示给面试官吧!
面试须知
1、面试时间
不同的大学,面试的时间为10分钟到一个小时不等,一般有1~2个面试官。你可以通过查看大学给你发的邀请邮件,了解更多关于你的面试的具体情况,尽量了解一下谁将会面试你。
2、面试风格
不同的课程和大学的面试风格也不同:一种是非正式和轻松的聊天,另一种是类似于“口头考试”的方式。后者在科学类课程和牛津剑桥的面试中更常见。
面试官期待的是双向的互动。在握手、礼节和提问时,让面试官带领你,但轮到你发言时,大胆思考并尽量给出清晰、自信和热情的回答,参与讨论,不要一句话就结束。
3、面试问题
面试官通常会问两种类型的问题:一般性的/与大学或申请相关的问题;与学科相关的问题或任务。
对通用问题的准备:
你可以通过浏览大学和课程的招生简章或网站,构思该如何回答关于为什么选择申请这门课程或这所大学、毕业后的计划、对课程的期望等问题。
熟悉你的个人陈述和AS和A-Level的内容,并对个人陈述中提到的课外活动或书籍、以及A-Level中最感兴趣的主题等问题的回答做好准备。
General Interview Questions
About Yourself
Tell me about your life and how it is that you have come to sit in this chair?
What are your top three skills?
What is your biggest strength?
What is your biggest weakness?
What are your long term plans for life?
Where do you see yourself in 10 years time? And in 20 years?
Who has had the largest influence on your life?
Of which life achievement are you most proud?
What is the biggest challenge you’ve faced in your life and how did you dealt with it?
How do you think that you studying this subject can affect society or add to it?
How important do you think this subject is in terms of humanity?
How will your experiences from your sport benefit your future studies?
How should we measure your success at the end of your time here?
About Your Subject
Why did you choose this subject? (life more extraordinary)
What do you expect to get out of this degree?
What do you know about the course structure?
What is your favourite thing about your subject? (uniadmissions)
What do you not like about this subject? (uniadmissions)
About Your College/University
Why did you choose this college? (life more extraordinary)
Why have you chosen to apply to study at this university?
What makes you think that this university will be a good fit for you?
What makes you want to come to here given that you would almost certainly be the top student at any other university?
Why would you like to come to this college? (uniadmissions)
Why should anybody bother with university?
What do you expect to gain from going to university? (uniadmissions)
Studying here is very intense, how will you manage your time to deal with all of the work?
Do you think that you can cope with the heavy workload here? What gives you this confidence?
About Your Interests
What book are you reading at the moment? (life more extraordinary)
What are your favourite films and why? (life more extraordinary)
What do you like to read for fun? (life more extraordinary)
Which extracurricular activities do you enjoy?
Which international newspapers or magazines do you read?
Which living person would you most like to meet and why?
If you could have dinner with anybody from history, who would it be and why?
About Your Opinions
Do you have political views?
Who is the most influential: Barack Obama, Angela Merkel or Kanye West?
If you could change one thing on the planet now what would you change?
If you could have one superpower which one would it be and why?
About Your Creativity
How would you describe this painting on the wall to your friend over the phone?
If you had to choose to be a character from a book, who would you want to be?
Which colour best represents you?
Describe the sound of silence.
About Your Logic
Why do you believe what your teachers tell you? (New media Medicine)
How do you know the moon isn’t made of cheese? (New Media Medicine)
In which circumstances would you toss a coin to make a decision?
Miscellaneous
Are there any questions that you would have liked us to have asked you?
Should you be allowed to use your smartphone during this interview?
Tell me about a recent magazine article that has interested you.
Tell me about a recent news article not related to your subject that has interested you.
What did you read this morning? Yesterday evening?
What was the most recent TV programme you watched?
General Interview Questions
对于学科相关的问题的准备:
面试官会期望你使用你目前学习水平的知识,但又能够将其延伸到不熟悉的情境或概念。
关键是要思考问题并使用你所知道的东西来推导出答案。
跟上与你所学科目相关的最新问题、主题和时事。面试官可能会用这些作为讨论点。
4、如何应对不熟悉的问题?
无论你准备得多么充分,你都会被问到一些你不熟悉的问题。面试官感兴趣的是你如何应对和回应这些问题。
把握住这个机会,向他们展示你如何运用你的知识来分析和拆解问题。
如果你卡住了,面试官可能会给你一些提示来引导你找到答案,要仔细听并思考这些提示。
不知道答案不一定是一个问题,但是如果你不知道就紧张或者什么也不说,那就是一个问题了。
一个好的技巧是在面试中大声思考,解释你思考过程中的每一步,以便向面试官展示你的逻辑和思维过程。
面试官在寻找什么人才?
首先,要记住,被邀请参加面试本身就是一种成就——这表明招生导师对你的申请感兴趣,并考虑给你发出录取通知书。
面试只是他们选拔过程的一部分,所以,虽然给他们留下一个好印象是有利的,但面试并不是影响他们决定的唯一因素。
最重要的是,面试官想看到你对你选择的学科真正有动力和热情。
通过面试真正地展现出你具备批判性、独立性的思维,逻辑性和灵活性的思维过程。
同时考察你是不是一个能够在多样化的学术(和社交)环境中茁壮成长,并充分利用你在大学的时间的人。
对学科的真正热情和兴趣可以通过进一步阐述你所做的阅读和课外活动来表现,并通过给出有力的例子来描述和证明你为什么想学习这门课程。
没有完美的面试——每个候选人都会在某个时候卡住,而且由于面试官想要测试你的极限,有时候问题越难,往往面试就越好。
如何准备面试?
1、了解专业情况
尽可能多地了解课程的内容,以及大学和院系的情况。可以通过院系的网站,找出谁在什么领域讲课,以及他们可能进行过什么研究。
如果你被他们面试,你可以问一些与他们专业领域相关的问题。这向面试官显示了你的主动性和对他们院系的兴趣。
2、模拟面试
模拟面试让你获得一些亲身体验,在面对面的类似面试的场景中被提问的感觉,并增加你谈论自己和以自信的方式展示自己的信心。
它不必是一次正式的模拟面试,你可以问一个家庭成员,在模拟面试后向他们寻求反馈。或者你也可以找专业的老师寻求帮助,积极做出面试准备。
3、熟悉申请材料内容
准备好谈论你在个人陈述中写过的任何东西,面试官可能会在面试期间手边有一份你的个人陈述的副本。
提前做好准备,确保熟悉个人陈述中提到的主题和任何书籍,并准备好回忆任何工作经验或课外活动(或者自从写完它后进行过的活动)。还要准备好为你个人陈述中的任何方面进行解说。
复习与你课程最相关的学科的AS大纲,并确保你对目前已经涵盖的A-Level内容有信心。
你可以搜索YouTube上与你学科相关的示例面试视频,提前熟悉面试流程。
对于科学类学科,浏览过去的奥林匹克竞赛试卷和剑桥化学挑战赛试卷。
4、面试技巧
学会列出要点。通过列出你想在回答中提到的要点,给出更有条理、更自信的回答,帮助你在面试中保持不紧张。
不要只记住每个问题的固定答案,回答问题要富有热情和自然。
浏览新闻网站和杂志,了解与你课程相关领域的当前重大发展,例如你学科领域的新发现或进展。在面试中加入你对这些现象的看法,更有利于你的面试。
面试之后
面试之后,可以记录一下出现的问题,评估面试进行得如何,反思可以改进的地方。特别是如果你被另一所大学邀请面试,这些可以作为准备。
如果你觉得面试进行得不好,也不要觉得自己一定拿不到录取通知书,大学招生导师会考虑你申请的所有方面,面试只是其中的一部分,即使你觉得面试发挥一般,也完全有机会拿到offer。
大学院系可能需要几个星期的时间来面试所有的申请者,决定录取哪些人,然后回复他们。
如果你没有很快收到大学的回复,不用担心,这并不意味着你不会收到录取通知书。大学的回复会出现在你的UCAS Track中。祝你好运!