Each year, more universities are adding video interviews (sometimes called video essays) to their applications, in place of or in addition to live interviews with admissions officers, alumni, or current students. The number of questions vary from school to school, but in nearly all cases, the format involves the candidate answering questions “blind,” meaning that they do not know what the questions are in advance. Typically, applicants will need to deliver short, concise answers as most video platforms (such as Kira Talent) offer only 60-120 seconds in which to record a response.
The purpose of these video interviews is to put a face to your profile while offering the chance to showcase your personality, soft skills, and ability to think on your toes. Understandably, many applicants feel apprehensive about facing a set of unknown questions, but there are things you can do to prepare yourself to give thoughtfully composed answers that showcase your best stories, personality, and values. Here are some tactics that can help you express yourself with confidence in a video interview.
Study the Most Common Questions
A quick Internet search will return many blog posts and articles that list the most common interview questions for undergraduate and graduate applicants, like those we’ve linked here. By digging around on online forums like ChaseDream (for Mandarin speakers) or The GradCafe, you might find recent interview reports shared by other applicants. One word of caution about interview reports: bear in mind that while some schools will ask everyone the same video interview question(s), many schools will randomly select questions from a larger pool, so the questions you find online are not guaranteed to be the same questions that you will be asked in your video session.
After conducting such research it is time to start mapping out your ideas about frequently asked questions. Conveniently, many of these questions and the stories you might tell in response are likely to have been touched on in your essays. While there is no guarantee that you will be asked any of these questions, as a simple matter of probability, it is wise to have a strong command of the most common questions before moving on to more obscure queries.
Practice with Bullet Points and Lists
Because video interview answer times are most commonly limited to 60 seconds and offer only one attempt to make a recording, you want to have your answers right-sized for this tight timeframe. This is in stark contrast to in-person interviews, where interviewers welcome in-depth answers of two minutes or more per question. Thus, video interviews demand precision to ensure you don’t waste valuable seconds on tangents or superfluous information. One way to stay ultra-focused is to break down answers into bullet points or numbered lists, which can help to keep you on-topic and avoid tangents. For example, “The top three reasons I want to study at Duke are…” In the approximately one minute given to consider the question before recording, it will be advantageous to jot down a few bullet points to guide your thinking.
Once you get organized, practice delivering your answers to friends or by making video recordings so that you can get comfortable talking to the webcam on your computer and watching the timer. Take the time to properly set up your computer and background so that your camera is around eye-level and the environment is uncluttered.
Know When to Show Your Personality
Your personality can be conveyed in several ways, including demonstrative body language, attire, word choice, and your demeanor when answering questions. Think about where you can inject language about your values and philosophy, such as when you are answering questions like ‘Why are you applying to this school?’ or ‘Tell us about your favorite book or movie.’ Sometimes a school will ask a question that comes totally out of left field, and this can also be an opportunity to show your creativity and personality. For example, one year Washington University (Olin) included the question, ‘If you had a boat, what would you name it?’ Depending on how you want to portray yourself, you might give a fun answer or a philosophical answer or a serious answer.
Conclusion
Applicants can be preparing for their video interviews while simultaneously drafting essays and other application documents. By planning ahead to prepare answers based on information in your resume, essays, and extracurricular activities, it’s possible to take a lot of the stress out of preparing for video interviews. We recommend starting the application process early so that you don’t feel overwhelmed when realizing that a video interview needs to be completed within two days after the application is submitted. Interview preparation is included in our Start-to-Finish Consulting service. If you’d like to understand how we support clients with each aspect of their applications, request a free consultation today.