11senior

My interview is tomorrow!
Any advice?
For scenario questions, are they looking for a specific answer or do they just want to see how you would react?
Also, I only put Chinese Summer down as an option. Will this hinder my chances?

Apollo6

If you have already had an exchange/study abroad experience, don't stress too much. My daughter, a Rotary rebound, mostly ended up talking about her exchange experience with her AFS volunteer interviewers. She said it was fun and that she would have enjoyed talking to them further. As a parent I was asked what I thought would be the most difficult aspect of the program for her. The only thing I could think to say was the travel since most of the places require a long trip and a big time difference. I knew that she could handle the language learning and host family experience. Good luck, all. I hope you all get good news this spring.

piedpilko

My interview is tomorrow!

Renomamma

Son's interview was today. It was casual, relaxed, and friendly. However, we left having no sense of how well he did. They told us the interview part is 20 points out of 100 (the application being the remaining 80 points). Many of the questions were for placement purposes, for example, would you be OK if the host family smoked? That was something we never thought about before. Now, we wait....

11senior

My interviewer told me that finalists get a home interview...is that correct?
I've just been reading this thread and no one ever mentioned a final home interview as part of the process.
Is that a new aspect they are instituting this year?

ktlove12

I just had my interview today. I loved talking with my interviewer and the conversation was open and friendly...so I hope I did well. I just don't know if it's like that for everyone so who knows.

and now we wait for decisions I guess...

xcelr8t

I went online and found out that this program is only for U.S. citizens? So does that mean permanent residents can't participate in the program?

piedpilko

My interview went perfectly. Really. We connected on EVERYTHING!

neoncookiegirl17

My interview went well. I stumbled on a few questions, but overall it went pretty good. The interviewer said I was a good candidate.

supergrover911

Hey, dudess. I just had my interview and it went pretty awesome, but anything can happen. Good luck to you all! (:

chewydog

Congratulations to all of you who survived the interview! Doesn't it feel great?

Small bit of advice I think might help: Go back to reality and forget about this entire experience until something arrives in the mail, through the phone, or in your inbox randomly one day. Seriously, it's not worth the stress and anger you will find yourself experiencing if you hover over the "Refresh" button and await to pounce on an email. Again, that may sound harsh and you might want to call me something inappropriate (keep it to your head, do whatever you need to relieve stress ONLY IN YOUR HEAD), but in the end it will help you keep your sanity around much longer.

For all of you who are still awaiting doomsday (aka interview), don't sweat it. Go eat a cookie. Or 38927359.

Violetlila

Chewydog- Thanks for the advice, I may just do that....

piedpilko

Did anyone's interview go /bad/?

Apollo6

My kids thought their interviews went well but I wonder if they will be at a disadvantage because of their first choices of languages. D'12 asked for Korean but that seems to be the choice of most of the Asians in our area (They already speak Mandarin and now want to learn Korean). S'14 asked for Arabic but the beginners go to Egypt and who knows if there will be any programs in Egypt next year. D'12 gave Mandarin and "any" as her other choices. S'14 gave Mandarin and "any" as his other choices but I am getting the impression that alternate choices may not be considered for summer programs.

UT84321

The Arabic programs next year all seem a little sketchy right now. It is hard to project which countries will be stable. I am glad I am not the parent of a NSLI student in Cairo right now.