Preparing for the interview :: AED application

Yes, I finally get call from one of the scholarship that I've applied last year.
It's from the AED Jakarta.

And here's some things that I prepared for the interview.

Tips from Mr. Google

http://www.scholarshiphelp.org/interview.htm

http://www.eastchance.com/howto/interview.asp

http://opsf.byu.edu/Advice/ScholarshipInterviewQuestions.aspx

And I asked one of my colleagues to have this rehearsal, days before the real interview.
[ It was very helpful actually ! ]

My interview was re-scheduled twice or three times, before I got an exact day, which was on Monday.
Because I need to come along way to go from Bandung to Jakarta, I spared 4 hours in a trip (so I could showed up early, an hour before my appointment)
I could actually talked to others candidates, to see how they prepared (or not), and estimating my chance :-)

However, it was a nice interview. It was like any intimidating interview but still, I was nervous and I could felt I want to fainted any time.

The interviewers consisted of 5 persons, one of them threw most of questions.
Three persons sat in the back, took notes most of the time.

These were some of those questions that shown up during the interview
(90% I already familiar with throughout a rehearse interview :-)

• Why you choose/interested to apply AED
• Why reproductive health (or why did you choose this major)
• Tell me about your organization, what the focus of your organization
• Have you ever been working for the government, can you tell the difference working with government compare with your current institution
• In your CV, you wrote about 'volunteer in charity events' , can you tell me more about it.
• If you received a scholarship, then you have to live in US by yourself (without your family, spouse) what are you gonna do about it
• What you're gonna do to motivate yourself in order to get a good GPA
• What makes us to choose you as a candidate who received the scholarship (what makes you 'different' from others candidates)
• What did you do in your spare time (one of my answer was traveling, then) have you ever traveling abroad and where

Scholarship lagi, Motivation letter lagi...

Info dari milis FK Unpad :

SCHOLARSHIP OPPORTUNITIES FOR GRADUATE STUDIES IN THE U.S.


Education is a core theme of increased United States-Indonesia
development cooperation, which was re-emphasized recently during a
telephone conversation between U.S. President Barack Obama and
Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

To follow up that commitment, the United States Agency for International Development
(USAID), through the Human and Institutional Capacity Development
(HICD) program working in collaboration with the Academy for
Educational Development (AED), opens the opportunity for talented
young Indonesians to study for Master’s and PhD degrees in the U.S.
The programs are fully funded by USAID. The programs offered are:

1. Master’s Degree in Education and Human Development, emphasizing
studies in Education Policy and Management, Human Development and
Psychology, International Education Policy, Language and Literacy,
Math and Science Education, Education Leadership, Teacher Education,
Education Technology, Education Law, Education Finance, Curriculum and
Instruction, Education Research Design, Politics in Education,
Education Assessment and Testing, Special Education, Counseling.

*) Please see www.aed.or.id for the detailed program description
including eligible institutions.

2. Master’s Degree in Public Health, emphasizing studies in
International Health; Epidemiology/ Biostatistics; and Health System
Capacity Development.

3. Master’s Degree in Environment Studies, emphasizing studies in
Climate Change; Coastal and Marine Conservation; Pelagic Fisheries
Management; and Energy/Environmenta l Engineering.

4. Bachelor’s, Master’s or PhD Degrees in Economics, emphasizing
studies in Economics, Finance, Management, Accounting, Insurance,
Agriculture, Agribusiness, and Public Policy.
*) Please see www.aed.or.id for the detailed program description
including eligibility requirements for the Bachelor’s Degree.

5. Master’s Degree in Public Affairs/Public Policy/Political
Science/Public Administration/ Non-profit Management or related fields.

Further/ more detail information in Open Program AED.

Dateline aplikasi tanggal 1 Januari 2010, mohon disebar luaskan ke teman, saudara, kolega, keponakan, adik/kakak ipar, yang sekiranya membutuhkan informasi beasiswa tersebut.

Informasi terkait lainnya, jika membutuhkan panduan atau guideline untuk penulisan essay (letter of motivation, personal statement etc) bisa dicari di website berikut :

How to write a personal statement

Formal letter writing tips

example letter of motivation

Related to my goals for higher education (alias pengen skolah S2 tapi gada duit) so I was searching for scholarship. The scholarships there are Erasmus Mundus, Chevening, and Netherland Fellowship Program (NFP).
And then I have to write a letter of motivation.

Google result for the keywords : 'example letter of motivation' came out 15,400,000 links.
WoW.
It is a big number.

Click on few links below :
http://www.docstoc.com/docs/4667977/Example-Cover-Motivation-Letter-Example-Application-letter-Example-Application
very simple , few points to be taken into consideration.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/6669456/Motivation-Letter
really close to what I am looking for, it is an example letter of motivation

http://isampleletter.com/guide/cover-letter.html
not quite close, it is explain about the cover letter, but not for what I look for.

Lets try the keywords 'letter of motivation' then .... it came with 70,300,000 results

still a long way to go to write it down.
...
..
.