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Hey you guys,
Current upperclassman Jeff scholar here.
1) The echols/rodman process and the scholarship process are completely separate. A lot of Scholars are not echols, though they're all perfectly qualified...I really don't know what goes into the echols selection, but I think they focus on writing ability.
2) Interview questions are about getting to know you. They'll ask you about your favorite books, classes, future aspirations, what in your family shaped you, stuff like that. Depending on your committee, they *might* give you a hard question about a current issue. You just have to do the best you can and answer honestly (NO BS!). They don't really expect high school seniors to be up to date on all the news, unless politics/geography is your thing. The people who do the best are real, humble, and just do the best they can. I can't stress this enough: Don't try to impress them with your knowledge or achievements!! You're only 18 or whatever... they get hundreds of kids like that. Just show them who YOU are, stand out by being relaxed and real and open to new ideas.
3) A little over a hundred go to finalist weekend, and about 30 are offered the scholarship. Usually about 5-10 alternates are also offered once some turn it down.
4) If you don't move on, it's not the end of the world. Something like 20% of UVA undergrads were in the selection process at some point. And non-scholar finalists get a little money towards UVA.
5) The number of interview rounds depends on your region. Bigger regions have more levels of interviews. The number of finalists that a region can send also varies.
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