General Study Abroad Interview Flashcards
Tell me about yourself.
My name is Savine and I am a junior majoring in Marketing and Information Systems
At UW, I’m part of UWiB and AMA
While I’m involved on campus, I’m looking to see a more global view of business, which is why I applied to study abroad.
What challenges do you expect to face as an individual?
During free time when the group isn’t doing anything together,
I’m interested in going out and exploring, and I think it would be hard at first to navigate a new city and having to get familiar with it very fast.
Although I think some of that can be mitigated beforehand by doing research and also learning as you go.
What challenges do you expect to face as a group?
I think culture shock would be a challenge, initially. Immediately being immersed in a new culture could be startling at first, presenting challenges like seeing how social norms are different, learning to get around the city, dealing with a new currency, etc.
But it’s a learning curve, and I would think it becomes easier as you go.
Why study abroad?
I’ve been pretty involved on campus but I don’t have the global context
I’m from WA, I’ve almost always lived in Washington - wanted to see more places
Looking to build new skills - study abroad teaches you independence and adaptability - which is important both professionally and in general/personal life
With the EFS programs in particular, I liked that it was company visits and not just studying, so that you get to see the concepts you’ve learned in practice, that was something that appealed to me
Describe a time when you had to adapt to a new environment and/or interact with people who were different from you (here in the U.S. or abroad). How has this experience prepared you for studying abroad?
Last summer, I had a remote internship. This was my first introduction to a corporate setting, and it was an adjustment to go from classes full of other college students to Microsoft Teams meetings with working professionals.
I was able to sit In on some of the meetings, and whenever I did I was always confused because I had no idea what anyone was talking about. Everyone was always using different acronyms or referring to some presentation or event that I didn’t know about.
At first, I wanted to avoid asking questions for fear of looking unknowledgable and I didn’t want to bothering anyone. But I realized fast that this was a bad approach — I was still confused.
So eventually, I began to speak up and ask questions when I didn’t know something or wasn’t familiar with a topic (and luckily, the people I worked with were happy to help.) This helped me become more familiar with my work environment and became a more active participant on my team.
This experience was my introduction to the working world, but I think would help me to study abroad as well, since studying abroad will involve engaging with an environment that’s unfamiliar. This experience has taught me to lean instead of avoiding what I don’t know, it’s better to lean into it.
The success of the program can depend on the ability of the group to live and study with one another in harmony. Describe a prior experience with a group situation and how you navigated the social dynamics.
Last year, I was a project manager for a marketing consulting club on campus, UW AMA Agency. I was leading a team of 4 consultants, none of whom really knew each other and most of whom I had just met.
Our initial meetings were predictably awkward, and since we’d be spending a fair amount of time together, I knew that our project would run more smoothly if the team got to know each other better.
To try to fix this problem, I set up a meeting at a nearby coffee shop, meant to be very informal. During this meeting, we got to know each other more as people. I asked about their experiences with UW, what classes they were taking, and hobbies and interests.
This definitely helped us relate to each other more and improved the overall team compatibility. In our work meetings afterward the atmosphere was more relaxed, helping us complete the project effectively.
Strengths:
I’m part of AMA and UWiB, and I think they’ve both helped develop my communication and collaboration skills, especially when working with the exec team to help plan and execute meetings.
I think my RSO experience has also taught me problem-solving and decision-making when things don’t go as planned.
I think both of these would be relevant to a study abroad setting as well, since the group will be spending a lot of time together and will need to be adaptable.
Weaknesses:
Sometimes I can be too much of a planner, and focus too much on the next thing I have to do. But that’s definitely something that I want to work on/change my perspective on, since being in the moment is part of studying abroad.
