How do you prepare for a United World College interview?
February 25, 2012 8:21 PM

Did you go to a UWC? What sort of questions were asked on the interview?

My niece, who lives in Alberta, has applied for UWC Pearson and will be interviewed by phone in April. She'd like to begin preparing. What sort of questions should she think about? From what I've been able to gather from the web, I came up with the following:


  • What are the advantages of a broad based curriculum?
  • What are her passions on the academic front (sciences, humanities, languages...) and why? How does she hope to pursue and develop her life’s passion?
  • How would she use the opportunity to do a broad variety of extracurricular activities?
  • Why is diversity important in a high school education?
  • What are Canada’s responsibilities in the global community?
  • How can Canada balance its interest in developing its natural resources, with responsibility for climate change?
  • Does social media really does bring people closer, or is it an illusion?
  • Does media/technology have the same function in the same in the developing world as it does in the developed world?


    Are these questions on the right track? Too obtuse? Too simple?
    • posted by angiep to Education (3 answers total) 2 users marked this as a favorite
    The questions I remember from my own UWC interview (I did not get in) were along the lines of: "What makes you an interesting, diverse candidate" "What part of your own culture are you most proud of" and "What are your thoughts on current event X" (Current event X was 9/11 and the war in Iraq- both super topical when I interviewed.)

    I interviewed in person, which was nerve wracking times a million- remind her to take a deep breath and think for a second before answering each question. (Simple advice! Good to practice ahead of time!)
    posted by aint broke at 11:42 PM on February 25, 2012


    (I interviewed in Hong Kong, my first preference was for the Norwegian UWC (Red Cross Nordic) so I'm not too sure how applicable the experience would be to your niece. I did get in :) Anyhoo, hope this helps!)

    The questions are mostly on the right track - I remember them asking about what in particular distinguishes me from the other candidates, why I would be a good ambassador for my own culture (follow up question about how I would teach others about my culture besides making friends, etc.), ~2 topical/current affairs questions (one related to HK/China, one international - your niece should read up a bit and be ready to give her opinions on the biggest issues of the day).

    I thiiink they also asked about the IB and what attracted me to UWC. So yeah, fairly conventional interviewy questions. As far as I know, stories of an interviewer showing the interviewee a random object and asking them to elaborate or other quirky/'trick' interviews are unsubstantiated.
    posted by monocot at 5:50 AM on February 26, 2012


    Thanks both! I will forward these to my niece.
    posted by angiep at 1:08 PM on February 26, 2012


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