January 30, 2025
Before the interview
- Research the school and program
- Understand what the school/program is seeking from candidates, such as the values of the school/program and qualities of candidates.
- Research the profession
- Understand what skills and experiences are valued.
- Connect with alumni, attend information sessions, conduct informational interviews and leverage LinkedIn to explore graduates from that program are currently doing.
- If it’s a professional program, research the core competencies listed for the profession by checking professional association websites.
- Review and reflect on your past experiences (academic, work, volunteer, personal)
- Consider what you want the admissions committee to know about you by the end of the interview. Review your application documents that you submitted.
- Identify relevant experiences from your accomplishments, paid and volunteer work, extracurricular, leadership roles, education and research to demonstrate your suitability for program:
- What strengths and skills do you bring?
- Why do you want to pursue this program and/or career path?
- What are your relevant interests (research, personal)?
- Reflect upon how your past experiences demonstrate the characteristics and skills required of the profession and the program.
- These reflection questions will help to increase your self-awareness and prepares you to describe about yourself.
- Prepare and practice your answers
- Identify question themes by researching the program and profession.
- Develop a “qualifications chart” by creating one column of list the skills, characteristics expected, required and another column listing your corresponding “stories”, experiences, examples of when you have illustrated those skills/characteristics.
- Thinking about your “stories” with a STAR (Situation, Task, Action, Result) approach can help you to organize your story for the interviewers.
- Situation: Briefly outline the circumstances
- Task: Indicate any obstacles you faced
- Action: Describe the steps you took to solve this issue
- Result: Share the results of your actions and what you learned from the experience (often forgotten but the most important part)
- Practice your answers to gain more confidence and to sound more natural when talking about your experiences. McMaster students and alumni have access to Big Interview as a resource to help you practice.
- Get feedback from others
- Getting honest and constructive feedback from others on our strengths, weakness, communication style and “first impressions” is helpful for developing greater self-awareness.
- The more you know about how you “come across” or how your perspective or approach to situations differs, the more you can consciously respond to interview questions.
During the interview
- Understand the question before answering, ask for clarification if needed.
- Take your time to answer and don’t rush your response.
- If applicable, recognize the ethical principles in the scenario.
- Show your decision-making process in your response.
- If the interview format warrants it, be ready with 2-3 thoughtful and relevant questions that are phrased to encourage dialogue.
The waiting period
- Continue conducting informational interviews with people working in the field.
- Think of alternative plans and solutions in case the program does not work out.
Additional resources for interview preparation
- Develop your interview skills with Big Interview | Student Success Centre | McMaster University
- Multiple-mini interviews (MMI) | Student Success Centre | McMaster University
- Guide to grad school | Student Success Centre | McMaster University
- Kira Talent | The world’s only holistic admissions solution for higher education
Student Success Centre additional supports
The Student Success Centre offers professional services for further education interview preparation and you can book an appointment for a one-on-one mock interview using OSCARplus and selecting the appointment type “Graduate and Professional School Application Support”.