Wow! I would love to get to know you more ^>^
Which interview location did you request for CIEE CBYX?
Got the email for the interview for FLEX and YESā¦ itās all going to be online and no group interview, which I find interesting. Itās probably a lot easier for the organizations this way though.
I didnāt apply for CBYX though I applied for NSL Y, FLEX, and YES. My interview is on Microsoft teams.
ohhh okay, yeah, mine is on teams tooā¦ I scheduled my interview for early January
iām a semifinalist for nsliy and I havenāt gotten anything yet. emails are supposed to be out by Feb 3rd though if anyoneās wondering
also from the stats iāve seen maybe 1/2 to 1/3 of nsliy get through to semifinalists and from there to finalists depends on what program. Iām applying for Korean summer which usually lets 1/3 to 1/4 of semifinalists in but thatās a lot more selective than other programs
If I recall, they are releasing interview invites on a rolling basisā¦maybe they are doing everyone who is semi for multiple first and then semis for NSLI laterā¦?
I have no idea what the stats are for the other programs. Though after doing some rough calculations, there cannot be too many CBYX CIEE semifinalists. We have 3 interview locations, 2 semifinalists per room, at Holiday Inns. Which are around 300 rooms for the entire airport hotel. thatās 1800 (600 x 3) max IF they booked all 3 hotels out (which is very hard to do). And they only are with us for around 24 hours, and the staff is doing all the one-on-one interviews that Saturday afternoon. Therefore it mathematically cannot be that many. I personally have the guess of 120-130 semifinalists for my region (105 scholarships). Iām guessing that getting semifinalist is more competitive than finalist for my region, which is nice in a way. Ultimately though, it all really depends on the program. Korea Summer sounds extremely competitive based off of the numbers you gaveā¦ you got this!!
I could be completely wrong on my guess though
congrats on getting semifinalist then! it seems complicated based on the numbers you gave 
. i was told korean summer has a ~15% acceptance rate, so iām prepped for failiure haha. im also a sophmore so that could impact things! wishing u luck!!
also terrified for my interview! i can write ok but when i need to speak to someone it turns outright disastrous. so wishing everyone luck in that sphere as well 
Hey girl! You got this :)) Just be yourself, the interviewers do their best to come off as conversational and friendly so that everyone is less tense and stressed. Once you get comfortable, your personality will shine and you will do great ^.^
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I just had my interview (Iām a semifinalist for FLEX and YES Abroad) which I thought went well so Iāll share some tips! Good luck all!
I had one interviewer who was an alumni of an exchange program; he started off with some pretty basic obligatory questions like
- Spell your name as it is spelled on your legal documents.
- (I have a slightly strange name so he asked if he was pronouncing it right.)
- My preferred pronouns.
- Which programs I was applying to.
Then he started the actual interview questions. The ones I can remember are:
- Why do you want to go on program?
- What was a time when your opinion was unpopular? What did you do?
- When was a time you had a conflict with an authority figure?
- When was a time you were around someone you didnāt get along with? What did you do/learn?
- What is your weekly schedule? What would you do if your schedule was different in your host country? How would you adapt and what are some experiences youāve had that would help you adapt?
- What are three strengths/traits you have that would help you abroad?
- What is a trait that may hinder you and how are you overcoming it?
- How would your social media usage change while abroad? How do you plan to use social media?
- Why do you think these opportunities are important?
- What was a recent disappointment you faced and how did you react?
- How would participating in one of these programs relate to your future goals?
- What are some goals you have for yourself while abroad?
- What will you do if your family keeps bugging you and asking you to call/text, so much so that itās interfering with your ability to integrate into your host community?
Overall the interview was about 35 minutes long. My interviewer was really nice; it felt like a conversation more than an interview.
Some other tips: Log on early. I got on seven minutes early; my interviewer thanked me several times for this. Also bring something to drink. Youāll be talking a lot and your throat will get dry. Prepare yourself mentally; sounds obvious but 100% worth repeating. I went on a walk before my interview to clear my mind. Also make sure to smile and pause occasionally to let the interviewer catch up. Theyāre typing up everything you say so donāt talk to fast, or at least give them time to write down what you say. Have questions ready for your interviewer; at the end they ask if you have any questions and I promptly forgot all of mine as he said that lol so I just asked him about his experience studying abroad.
Sorry for the long post 
and good luck all!
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This was very helpful. Thank you for posting!
Iām glad! What program(s) are you a semifinalist for? Have you had your interview yet?
NSLI-Y summer. No interview yet. Good luck and thanks again!
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Just did my interviewā¦I really hope I did okay. I was so nervous but my interviewer was honestly so sweet, she was amazing. I kinda caught myself rambling sometimes from nerves, so I had to stop myself sometimes.
Iām a semi finalist for YES and FLEX as well!
Congratulations for making it this far! Ik I was so nervous tooā¦ but hey, we made it this far for a reason! Just gotta have faith in ourselves, and hopefully in March weāll be celebrating good news!
Now begins the fun partā¦ WAITING. For like TEN WEEKS. * Sigh *
Oh cool! What countries did you put as your preferences?