The purpose of the campus interview is to provide additional information about your candidacy to the National Screening Committee. The interviews are your only chance to articulate, in person, your reasons for wanting to study or conduct research abroad. Each Duke applicant will be interviewed individually for about 25 minutes by the Duke Campus Interview Committee. Committee members may question students on contacts they have made overseas, academic preparation for the study, knowledge of the host country, and language training. The interview, in general, is the student's chance to talk about his/her project with a group of knowledgeable, interested Duke faculty and staff.
Please note that no one is eliminated from the competition at the campus level. All applications are forwarded to the National Screening Committee, regardless of the rating given by the campus committee.
The Committee’s rating of your application is based on an evaluation of your complete application -- essays, transcripts, letters of reference, language evaluation, and the campus interview. The Duke Campus Interview Committee will assess the merit and feasibility of your proposal, your language proficiency, your knowledge of the host country, etc., and then complete the Campus Committee Evaluation Form (form 10 of the Fulbright application). The Committee will rate your candidacy on a scale from "excellent" to "not recommended". The campus interview is not a mechanism for disqualifying applicants. It is merely a means for evaluating them. Your rating will not be disclosed to you at any time, nor will you be given feedback regarding the Campus Committee Evaluation Form. This information is confidential.
Duke has approximately 50 -60 applications a year for the Fulbright Scholarship. While we do have a large number of faculty and staff who serve as committee members, it is not always possible to be interviewed by someone in your field. Please do not worry if this is the case. As far as we can tell, there is no correlation between the make-up of the campus committee and eventual selection. In any event, the National Screening Committee is composed not only of experts in your academic field, but also of specialists in the country or region where you wish to go.
Please be aware that the campus interview is not the deciding factor in your application. The Committee’s evaluation is meant to give the National Screening Committee as much information to work with as possible. The campus level interviews will be your only interview through the Fulbright process, except in a few cases (e.g., the performing arts).
If you will be away from campus during Fall Semester, please notify the Fulbright Program Adviser immediately. Almost all students who apply for the Fulbright through Duke have a campus interview. In some circumstances, when the applicant cannot make it back to campus for the interview, the applicant will be interviewed by telephone. This is less than satisfactory and permitted only in exceptional circumstances.
Dress as you would for a job interview.
§ Tips for a Better Interview
§ Be yourself! Remember that the Committee is looking forward to meeting you and will enjoy a lively discussion of your project.
§ Don’t worry about being nervous. Everyone is. The interviewers will challenge you, but they certainly will not be confrontational.
§ Go into the interview with a general “theme” in mind. Try to make connections between your responses so that your overall interview has a coherence to it.
§ Fulbright places great emphasis on the feasibility of the proposal when evaluating each application. For this reason, they stress the importance of foreign language skills. If you are going to a country where English is not the native language, part of the interview will be conducted in the language of that country. Always reply in the language in which you are asked a question, even if it is to ask the committee member to repeat the question. The committee is not so much looking for fluency, but more for your potential to communicate in the language.
§ Before you go into the interview, re-read your application (including your transcript). Interviewers may ask you about any and all parts of your application, and you need to be prepared to talk about any statement you have made. It is easy to forget a seemingly insignificant point you may have made, and it is quite embarrassing to draw a blank on your own writing. When you reread the application, try to examine what some of the ramifications of each sentence might be and how it might be interpreted by an interviewer. Try to read each sentence (or paragraph) and think of at least one possible question the interview committee might ask. Be sure you can fully and concisely answer all of your own questions. This may be difficult, so consider having a friend read your essay and question you on points he or she finds particularly interesting or controversial
§ Know something about the country to which you are applying. Familiarize yourself with current events, politics, literature, cultural events and what is going on in your field in that country. Some interviews will not go into these subjects in much depth, but some will.
§ Know something about what is going on in the United States (especially issues relevant to your field and to people in the host country).
§ Committee members will challenge some of the claims you make in your application and interview. Stand your ground when you have good reasons to do so, but revise or abandon your views when you do not. You will do fine as long as you can support your assertions without becoming dogmatic or defensive. Some interviewers are curious to know how you will react when your beliefs are questioned. An interviewer who vigorously disputes your views on a particular matter may in fact agree with you. So never say something simply because you think the questioner wants to hear it. You should have the confidence to argue against a committee member when you believe you have a strong case, but the wit to concede when you realize you have a weak one.
§ Be genuinely enthusiastic about the Fulbright and the opportunities it affords. Don’t hesitate to let the committee know you really want the scholarship.
§ Ask politely and briefly for clarification if you are unsure of what a questioner is getting at. Some applicants, when asked an especially tough question, request clarification to gain a little time to think.
§ Don’t rush your answers. Consider each question and provide a thoughtful response. If an interviewer wants more information, he or she will ask for it.
§ Keep your answers as succinct as possible. Long-winded, rambling responses waste valuable interview time and annoy the committee.
§ Feel free to say “I don’t know.” Never go into an interview worried about bombing a question -- everybody does.
§ If you're really nervous have a mock interview with friends or faculty to prepare for the real interview. Mock interviewers should have ready your complete application and should try to ask you questions both about your work and yourself.
§ Be Yourself! Remember that the Committee is looking forward to meeting you and will enjoy a lively discussion of your project.
This webpage is adapted from the IIE Fulbright Scholarship Handbook: A Comprehensive Guide for the Stanford Applicant © 2003
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