Academic Honors and FellowshipsPreparing for Campus Endorsement Interviews
What is campus “Endorsement” or “Nomination”?
Some fellowships require applicants to be endorsed or nominated by their university before they can move forward to the national or international competition. An endorsement or nomination is USC’s formal support of your application. It lets the fellowship organization know that you participated in USC’s campus review process and that the University supports your candidacy.
When a fellowship limits the number of students USC can nominate, the campus interview helps determine which applicants will move forward with the University’s endorsement. In many cases, this support also includes an institutional letter of endorsement submitted with your application.
Other fellowships, such as Fulbright and Boren, do not limit the number of applicants USC can endorse. For these opportunities, the campus interview provides valuable feedback to help you strengthen your application and prepare for later stages of the competition.
Why Participate?
Regardless of the outcome, participating in the campus interview process is an investment in your growth. Whether you receive application feedback, compete for a campus nomination, or both, you’ll gain experience reflecting on your goals, communicating your ideas, and presenting your experiences with confidence. These are skills that extend well beyond a single fellowship competition.
Some of the benefits of participating include:
- Clarifying your goals. Reflect on your academic, personal, and professional aspirations while identifying the opportunities that best align with your interests.
- Strengthening your story. Practice talking about your experiences, research, leadership, service, and future plans in a way that is clear, thoughtful, and compelling.
- Building interview skills. Gain experience responding to questions, thinking through new ideas in conversation, and communicating with faculty and professionals.
- Receiving constructive feedback. For fellowships that include an advising interview, receive guidance that can strengthen your application before submission.
- Preparing for future opportunities. The skills you develop through this process will serve you well in future fellowship competitions, graduate school applications, scholarships, and professional interviews.
What to Expect
Expect a conversation. Comittee members may ask you to expand on something in your application, explain your goals, discuss your proposed project, or connect your experiences to what you hope to do next.
The conversation may move in unexpected directions, and interviews may ask follow-up questions that encourage you to think more deeply about an idea. That is a normal part of the process. You do not need to have every answer immediately. Interviewers are interested in how you reflect, communicate, and engage with questions, not in hearing a perfectly rehearsed response.
You may also receive feedback to help you strengthen your application before the next stage.
If your candidacy is not endorsed, the review committee will seek to provide suggestions for opportunities that may be of interest to you. Their goal is to help you navigate what is often a very complex process and identify the best-fit opportunities for you and your academic interests.
How to prepare for the interview
Preparation does not mean memorizing answers. Focus on becoming comfortable talking about your application, experiences, interests, and goals.
These interviews are facilitated very differently than traditional job interviews; they can sometimes feel circuitous, off the cuff, unstructured. Applicants may feel vulnerable sharing personal goals and experiences. Avoid setting expectations in favor of being open to and trusting the process. The committee’s goal is always to elicit information in order to best determine your fit for a particular fellowship and make recommendations for how you can achieve your ultimate goals – even if we recommend a different path than what you have proposed in a given application.
Know Your Application
Reread your application and be prepared to discuss any part of it.
Spend some time reflecting on questions such as:
- Why am I pursuing this opportunity?
- What experiences have most shaped my interests?
- What do I hope to learn, contribute, or accomplish through this opportunity?
- How does this opportunity connect to where I hope to go next?
- Has anything changed since I submitted my application?
Know Your Context
- Review current events or developments related to your field, region, country, or proposed project, if they are relevant to your application.
- If you are proposing research, practice explaining your project in clear language that someone outside of your field can understand.
- You may also be asked about your future goals. You do not need to have the next 10 years mapped out, but be prepared to talk about the direction you hope to grow and why this opportunity makes sense as a next step.
Set Yourself Up for the Day
- Dress professionally. Business casual is appropriate unless otherwise instructed by AHF (this includes virtual interviews as well)
- Arrive at least five minutes early
- Test your technology for virtual interviews beforehand and make sure you have a quiet, reliable place to participate.
- Bring something to take notes. Most interviews are treated conversationally as opposed to a more traditional interview structure. We want to make sure you can easily remember any feedback provided by the committee.
- Give yourself some extra time before and after your interview