Interview Prep :))

Question 1

What do you like the best about your current school?

Answer 1

key points:
- welcoming and friendly cohort

Question 2

Why do you want to enrol in JMSS?

Answer 2

key points:
- passion + pursue a career, “not like many others”
- growth of jmss from 197 - 640 students (most of them being high achieving students)
- sci exhibition night (students/teachers, facilities, style + environment for learning)
- uniform/aesthetics
- skills/growth
- stepping stone to drown
- opportunities and experiences not at SHGC like EI + why, harmony day, battle of the bands, ICAS

Question 3

Choose a modern technology item, engineering item etc that made an advancement in the last 50 years. How has it made an impact on the world?

If you do know, explain how your chosen item works.

Answer 3

key points:
- gene editing
- positive and negative impact
- elimination hereditary diseases + immune to chemical weapons
- using for the wrong weapons
- cutting DNA at location
- insert/delete sequences
- natural DNA repair processes

Question 4

What are your hobbies? What does your typical weekend look like?

Answer 4

key points:
- reading, swimming, dancing and listening to music
- working
- meeting lena
- relax + self care
- organise
- 1-4 hrs of work/day (exams, homework - difficulty/amount)

Question 5

What career are you considering in the future? What subjects do you have to choose in order to achieve it?

Answer 5

key points:
- oncology
- vce (chemistry, biology, English, methods, economics, Italian, extended investigation, uni extension)

Question 6

Show us what you’re proud of in your report and what needs to be worked on.

Answer 6

key points:
- learning behaviours
- results across the board
- revising/sitting maths tests

Question 7

Do you have any questions?

Answer 7

key points:
- yr 12 mentor program
- economics learning program
- debating
- right fit
- excel at JMSS advice

Question 8

Why do you think we made you participate in the group activities?

Answer 8

key points:
- collaboration skills
- having important skills
- contributions to a team

Question 9

What field of science are you interested in? what more can you tell us about it? (advancements in the field etc)

Answer 9

key points:
- gene testing (cancer)
- analyse tumours + mutations
- find and treat cancer (novel radiation)
- limit exposure to tissue
- treatment less painful
- eg blood samples while patient uses VR

Question 10

Do you know what you want to do after high school? (future career)

Answer 10

key points:
- oncology
- work experience w peter downie @ monash children’s cancer centre

Question 11

Tell me about:
Marie curie
Bert Vogelstein
Michael Bishop

Answer 11

Marie curie
- only person to win Nobel prizes in two different sciences
- she discovered radioactivity and changed the way the atom was understood
- not the best environment and she still did so much in her lifetime

Bert Vogelstein
- found that colorectal tumors result from the gradual accumulation of genetic alterations in specific oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes.
- he created a model for showing the formation of CRC which is the result of mutations in key genes

Michael Bishop
- discovered that different forms of cancer all arise from a common genetic mechanism involving specific genes present in the normal cells of many different species.
- Bishop and Varmus found that a gene similar to the cancer-causing gene within the virus was also present in healthy cells.

Question 12

Tell me about oncology

Answer 12

key points:
- All types of cancer occur when cells in a part of the body grow out of control.
- early, mummies egypt, incurable

• oncologists ~ diagnosis, staging, aggressiveness, plan therapy (surgery, chemo, radiation)
• less aggressive case, chemotherapy
• Common symptoms of cancer are fatigue, weight loss, unexplained anemia ~ personal experience
• oncologists but surgeons, radiotherapists
• biopsy which is the extraction of cells to determine the presence of a disease
• LTF, 2-3 months, yearly, relapse, remission
• relapse means recurrence or return of the cancer while being in remission means remaining cancer-free. my eg
• 28% of deaths in Aus
• 1/3 men, 1/4 women experience before 75

Question 13

What fields are you interested in?

Answer 13

key points:
- eng, chem, bio,
- eng ~ 100 story, creatives, editorial committee, now structured
- chem ~ i find it fun to learn, word to balanced equations
- bio ~ everything connects like a puzzle

Question 14

Name 3 scientists and what they are known for?

Answer 14

Miller Hutchinson - invention of hearing aids
Joseph Murray - known for the first ever organ transplants
Jane Wright - know for her cancer research making her ‘mother of chemotherapy’

Question 15

What subjects will you be taking next year?

Answer 15

key points:
- chem, bio ~ hands-on work
- methods ~ pre req for bachelor
- eng ~ excursions
- Italian ~ enjoyable, out of school
- extended investigation and uni extension - skills for future study

Question 16

What makes you a more suitable candidate?

Answer 16

key points:
- leadership positions - vice captain, an eLeader, college ambassador, being a peer mentor, taking part in community service, debating, swimming, soirees, similar to those at JMSS
- grown and attain new skills
- qualities ~ resilience, the ability to work with others, being able to problem solve, being able to ask for guidance, willingness to share my knowledge with others
- my vision and vision of the school prioritises excellence, science and creative freedom.

Question 17

What are your weaknesses?

Answer 17

key points:
- seeing others upset
- sensitivity, emotions strongly
- empathy better when helping others
- my sensitivity got the better of me when I helped a lady in the library who was struggling to print, she had some psychological issues and was pretending to offer me her entire wealth it was quite a frightening experience but looking back at i did all the right things to keep myself safe by informing the librarians and going back to my mum’s work which was nearby.

Question 18

What subject do you enjoy most? Why?

Answer 18

key points:
- English, science second
- passion for debate
- struggle with persuasive + growth
- creative freedom
- general joy for learning when finally understanding something

Question 19

What subject do you like least? Why?

Answer 19

key points:
- best ability
- nothing in particular, not artistic

Question 20

How do you like to spend your free time?

Answer 20

key points:
- clean + organise = therapy
- work, read, listen to music, close friends

Question 21

If I asked your friends to describe you, what would they say?

Answer 21

key points:
- helpful, funny, dependable, motivational, industrious + eg’s

Question 22

What has been your biggest challenge?

Answer 22

key points:
- maths
- switching ways of learning and revising

Question 23

What is your definition of a good teacher?

Answer 23

key points:
- welcoming, excited and passionate
- paces + ways
- see growth and achievement
- history teacher

Question 24

What would you like to accomplish, academically or in extracurricular activities, during high school?

Answer 24

key points:
- high achiever of cohort, swimming competition, oncology (childhood), help others (science fields able to significantly), give back to charities (challenge, red kite, camp quality)

Question 25

What can you offer the school?

Answer 25

key points:
- contribute a lot to the school
- hardworking, dedicated, a team player
- confident in myself and in my knowledge and passionate
- learnings from leadership, work and previous education, my academic achievements both curricular and extracurricular examples being academic awards and PRC awards
- skills I have attained from various extracurriculars I have participated in like tennis, swimming and dance
- being able to speak 4 languages not including English,
- my passion for oncology and doing good in the world.

Question 26

What fascinates you?

Answer 26

key points:
- dreams, representations of the subconscious, living out a dream, want to find out more, suggestions?

Question 27

What is your proudest achievement?

Answer 27

key points:
- beating social anxiety
- shy and introverted
- putting myself out there (work, at school, leadership)
- now debating, taking up opportunities

Question 28

How do you balance study and other commitments?

Answer 28

key points:
- organisation ~ notepads, key dates events/assessments, revision schedule, blocking out technique, breaking down tasks (how, what and when)

Question 29

When have you influenced someone else for the better? Explain the context of the situation.

Answer 29

key points:
- homeroom representative, 2 people are assigned by the class to help the teacher and work with the coordinator to voice the opinions of the class and fulfil certain responsibilities
- a friend was questioning whether or not she should apply
- told her to go for it, and guided her in her speech, I was one the previous year
-getting voted in and now she’s started putting herself out there

Question 30

What was something really difficult you had to go through and what did you learn from it?

Answer 30

key points:
- survivor of acute lymphoblastic leukaemia
- aunt never got diagnosed, 4 docs before they diagnosed me
- goal to be oncologist, save one more life
- learned that i was strong and resilient + motivation to study and in general

Question 31

If you could be prime minister and could do one thing in science/energy/technology/environment what would you do and what would you aim to achieve in 4 years?

Answer 31

key points:
- gene testing ~ affordable + available
- cheaper form of it, $300 - 600
- offer incentives to the company eg phone pe = free for public + more detection

Question 32

Imagine you have moved forward in time 50 years. What is it that you would like to be remembered for at the end of your working life? - Asked for JMSS YR 9-10 Entrance 2022

Answer 32

key points:
- people smile
- positive impact
- giving back to challenge etc
- being dependable
- saving one more life

Question 33

With the big issues we have now, global warming, COVID, there are a lot of people skeptical of science. Why are they skeptical and how can we make them see reason? - asked for JMSS YR 10-11 Entrance 2022

Answer 33

key points:
- skepticism necessary ~ science forward
- unwilling or afraid of truth
- solve this through examples of issues that were faced = better outcome

Question 34

Give an example of when you gave your very best effort to do something really well? What was the activity and what was the result?

Answer 34

key points:
- working with mum
- tired but still put best effort
- had no knowledge, bought fit
- happy with service + gave tip
- no discrimination bc skin tone
- core memory

Question 35

During the many Covid 19 lockdowns in 2020 and 2021 people took up new hobbies and developed new skills. What did you do that was different in lockdown?

Answer 35

key points:
- fitness journey from LTF program
- dancing
- running = enjoyment
- goal to be healthy again
- success!

Question 36

What’s a scientific invention that happened in the past 50 years, and what positive impact did this have on the world?

Answer 36

key points:
- gene testing
- analyse tumours + mutations
- find and treat cancer (novel radiation)
- limit exposure to tissue
- treatment less painful
- eg blood samples while patient uses VR

Question 37

Why didn’t you apply last year?

Answer 37

key points:
- change of heart around career
- wanting to explore
- coming back to science

Question 38

Tell me abt yourself

Answer 38

key points:
Type of person/attitude
goal-oriented, self-disciplined
enthusiastic, collaborator
industrious - hard-working and determined
hobbies
future career + why

Question 39

how can we improve learning at JMSS with AI tech?

Answer 39

AI would be a great addition, providing examples of work. Inspire students. extra resource, increase the efficiency of learning,

Question 40

tell us about john monash

Answer 40

founded in 2010, starting off with 197
full capacity at 640 students
Sir john monash known for military service, had a major in civics, education and engineering in victoria
School houses named after famous scientists, Elizabeth Blackburn, peter doherty, tim flannery, fiona wood,
Various experiences eg biomed immersion, holocaust museum excursion, exchange progams, taking part in ICAS, formal, battle of the bands, study camps, harmony day, reef and rainforest trip
curriculum written by academics