How to prepare for your scholarship interview

BSc Software, Data and Technology at Constructor University Bremen

With full scholarships from the JetBrains Foundation

Apply now

Via CUB website

Back

How to ace the interview

So you won one of the scholarship competitions and were invited to an interview? Congratulations! Here are some tips for how to prepare:

An interview is a dialogue, not a speech. Your goal is to make it easy for the interviewers to evaluate you as a candidate.

  • Stay honest and authentic about your background and goals. Don't just tell the interviewers what you think they want to hear.
  • Learn what questions typically come up in interviews and prepare answers that demonstrate how well you match the target profile.
  • Don't be long-winded. Speak for 2–3 minutes at a time, frequently pausing to allow the interviewers to respond or interject.
  • Actively invite follow-up questions like “Do you want more detail on this part?”

Typical questions

Prepare for general questions about yourself – they will definitely be asked:

  • Tell me about yourself (2-minute pitch).
  • Why did you choose our program?
  • What are your long-term career priorities?
  • Tell us about a project you led.

Personal stories that show why you’re a good fit

Prepare 3–5 short stories to demonstrate why you should be considered. Start with the stories already mentioned in your motivation statement, so your application is consistent. Each story should be short and should clearly convey:

  • What the challenge was.
  • How you tackled it.
  • Why your role made a difference.
  • What you learned.

How to tell your story

Make your story stand out by following the STAR framework!

In this Situation …
I had this Task …
I took these Actions …
and the Results were as follows.
  • Situation: context, constraints.
  • Task: your responsibility.
  • Actions: what you did (specific).
  • Results: outcome and impact – measurable if possible.

And one more line that upgrades STAR into a scholarship-grade signal:

  • Reflection: what you learned and how it connects to your future direction.

Sample story

Imagine you participated in a science camp and would like to share your experience with the interviewers. At the camp, under faculty mentorship, your team investigated the greedy superstring conjecture, and some of your results appeared in scientific publications years later. What’s the best way to break this story down in your interview?

Situation

I attended a summer camp, where my team explored the greedy superstring conjecture, an open theoretical CS problem important for bioinformatics.

Task

I was responsible for generating complex test cases for this problem.

Actions

Over the course of the camp, I invented and analyzed three distinct approaches.

Results

One of them appeared promising enough, and two years later our mentor published a paper on the subject, citing one of my ideas as a minor contribution.

Reflection

I learned how to turn a vague research question into a sequence of concrete tasks. This gave me a chance to do hands-on work in a field I enjoyed.

Interview preparation checklist

I understand the target profile and selection criteria.

I have 3–5 STAR stories ready, aligned with criteria.

I’m prepared to tell these stories concisely (in 2–3 minute chunks) and keep the conversation interactive.

I will stay honest and authentic.