My daughter is a finalist for the UGA Foundation Fellowship. I would love advice on the interview weekend and to hear feedback on the program itself. Thank you!
Calling @itsgettingreal21 for input.
Congrats to your daughter! S24 was also selected as a finalist. I would love to know a bit more about interview weekend/any feedback as well. Thanks for starting this thread.
Since I’m starting to get PMs about this, I’ll post here for everyone.
Interview weekend — your child should treat the entire weekend, formal and informal interactions, as part of the interview process. They should be prepared to speak articulately and passionately about the things they’ve done and their interests. They also really like students who have a global mindset, so keep that in mind. I really don’t think it’s a good fit for students who aren’t, to be honest.
The program — fabulous! I highly recommend looking at the Foundation Fellowship annual reports to get a good sense of the program and the types of students who win the fellowship and thrive there. Those who run the program are very invested in the students’ well-being and success and are just really great people. They are like house moms to the kids. Your student will not be limited in any way and they will support their ambitions and go out of their way to help them accomplish their goals. The network is very strong. And the students really bond. They are extremely bright, down to earth, and interesting people. With limited exceptions, my daughter’s best friends from UGA are other fellows. She had a great time, got an excellent education, traveled the world, and made life-long friends … all for freeee. Imo, one of the top scholarship programs out there.
Let me know if you have any specific questions. Congrats to your students on getting this far and good luck to them with the next step!
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Thanks so much for this feedback and advice; it sounds like a spectacular opportunity. S24 is thrilled to have been named a finalist. I’m glad your daughter is flourishing at UGA!
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Flourished. 
She is not a current student. She graduated a few years ago. She and some of her friends actually went to interview weekend last year, but she’s unable to make it this year. Best of luck!
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Thank you for the feedback! It sounds like an outstanding program! In the preliminary info students are advised to brush up on current events for the sake of the interview. Do the interviewers ask for students’ political views on current events? It’s a challenge to talk about current events without politics entering the conversation.
[quote=“Adviceseeker22, post:7, topic:3654818, full:true”]
Thank you for the feedback! It sounds like an outstanding program! In the preliminary info students are advised to brush up on current events for the sake of the interview. Do the interviewers ask for students’ political views on current events? It’s a challenge to talk about current events without politics entering the conversation.
Sorry, didn’t mean to post that twice.
They just want to see how they think and weed out red flags (racists, bigots, bad eggs, etc). But to be honest, fellows classes tend to be overwhelmingly liberal, which is likely true for most of the major scholarships, if you think about the criteria. In any event, I think students should not be afraid to share their opinions, but they should be prepared to defend them with well-reasoned arguments. Israel, however, I would avoid if at all possible.
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Helpful advice! Thank you.
Yes, thank you so much!