The Unofficial SMART Scholarship Forum

I had two small interviews. Both were not scheduled, but only lasted a few minutes.

The second interviewer last a message while I was in class, and I called them back.

To add on to kbl2017, as for their 1st, 2nd, and 4th point they are spot on but to add my own experience to their third point; oddly enough I had 5 interview calls. One from one of my “preferences” and four from not. All five called without any warning what-so-ever. So it is completely up to the SF whether they email in advance or simply call as you can see from how kbl2017 and my own experiences were so different.

Now of those 5 two called to interview directly on the spot and three called to set up a specific time. I do research in a clean room so actually all five calls went to voicemail. So trust that it is not the end of the world if you don’t answer as all we’re very understanding.

On that note though, 1) make SURE your voicemail is professional otherwise that may reflect poorly if you didn’t get to the phone on time and 2) return their call as promptly as possible as I discovered after I called back that the three that called to set up the interviews all called on the last day to set if up so if I had waited till after the end of the business day I would have missed the opportunity to interview with them.

First, until you receive an email saying you've made it to the second round you will not have an interview. This email didn't come out until right around my spring break last year (early march).

Second, a significant number of SFs do not interview.

Third, my SF emailed me to set up an interview time. They asked me for my availability then set up windows of time they'd call within. (I was a little stressed out as I gave him way too many windows. He called me 30 minutes before the end of the last window I had given him...right before a class started.) Do yourself a favor and make sure the times you suggest are limited enough that you know where you'll be the whole time. Also make sure you have 10-15 minutes afterword in case it goes over.

Fourth, any interview you ever have knows you will not be able to answer the phone whenever they call you. They will leave a voicemail or they will email you if you don't pick up. This is not just SMART, that is common practice.

I have a question about the interviews. Since they are dealing with college student I would expect the people calling to understand that we cannot always answer our phones so I was wondering if they just leave a message to call back or if they email ahead of time and set up a specific time for the interview?