5 Study Abroad Interview Questions You Need to Know

We at FES provide a comprehensive solution for studying abroad. We do everything from getting you an admission to helping you prepare your visa application. We are a one stop solution for your study abroad needs. Based on all our experience we have shortlisted a lot of common interview questions, and common study abroad questions. 

Questions are broken down into different categories. One category is the “getting to know you” . These sorts of interview questions are  simpler, more common questions to help students get their grip and develop their confidence. Here are several examples in a few different categories:

Getting to Know the Student

• What is your name?
• Do you have an English name? How did you get that English name?
• If you had to choose just one word to describe yourself, what would you choose?
• Tell me, why do you want to study here?
• Why do you want to study at our university?
• Tell me about your hometown. If I came to visit you, where in your hometown would you take me? What would you show me?
• What is one thing you love and respect about your mother or father?

Cultural Understanding

• What is one difference between education in your country and education in the new destination?
• What is one part of our culture that you are excited to experience?
• What is one part of your culture that you would like to share with others?

Goals and Aspirations

• What is your favourite subject to study in school?
• What do you do in your spare time?
• What ways would you like to get involved in our school? Do you have any interest in playing a sport or joining a club at our school?
• When you go to a university, what would you like to study?
• In ten years, where would you like to be living, and what would you like to be doing?

The follow-up questions should include “why” or “how” questions to probe deeper and get a more accurate sense of the student’s ability to converse outside of rehearsed topics or answers.

As an example, if the student answers, “I play the guitar,” the interviewer could follow up by saying, “Do you think it’s important for children to learn an instrument? Why or why not?”

While the most compelling interviews will end up being conversations between you and the interviewer, it’s helpful to have a list of likely questions and answers that can help begin or further the conversation, as well as get a bit of more in-depth insight into how the interviewer thinks.

Here are a few examples:

Common Interview Questions asked when getting to know the student is the objective:

• When you study for a test, do you prefer to study by yourself or with a group of friends?
• If you could be extremely talented at something, what would you choose to be skilled at? Why?
• Tell me about your favourite teacher. What do you like about them?
• What types of qualities do you think are important in a leader?
• Describe a disagreement you’ve had with a family member or friend. How did you resolve it?
• Describe your best friend. How is he or she similar to you? How is he or she different?

Top Study Abroad Questions and Answers when it comes to cultural understanding

• Why do you want to live with a host family?
• What is something you can do to show your host family that you respect them?
• Have you ever travelled abroad? What do you know about the United States?
• What’s a challenge you have faced in the past? What’s a problem you may face in the U.S.?
• What are your goals for living with a host family?
• What are some things you would like to do with your host family?

Goals and Aspirations

• If you had ten million renminbi (the official currency of China), what would you do with the money?
• If you could travel anywhere in the world right now, where would you go?

In addition, the interviewer may also choose to use questions to test certain things.

To test verb tense proficiency, you could ask you to describe everything you have done today (past) or what you intend to do when you graduate from college (future).

To test academic proficiency, the interviewer can ask standard questions from various subjects, like “What is six times three?” “Is Coca-Cola a solid, liquid, or gas?” or “Can you describe what you are learning in biology class this week?”