What is the video interview?

Given the amount of memes and jokes about engineering students being antisocial and reclusive, you might be surprised that there’s an optional video interview.

The video interview is very short and should take you around 5-10 minutes to complete. All it is is three questions: two verbal responses and one written response. After each prompt, you will be given some time to think about what you want to say before you answer. These questions are randomized from a question bank, so don’t expect that asking others what questions they got will help much. Not only will it not help you, it’s also disallowed and could end up disqualifying your application.

The questions are designed to get you to talk about yourself, think creatively, and most important of all, to prepare you for actual job interviews with questions that could very possibly be asked in your co-op interviews.

Why should I do an optional interview?

That brings me to my first tip about the video interview: do it.

Think about it. In competitive programs like Waterloo Engineering, there are going to be so many people competing for the spots that are doing whatever it takes to get ahead. Doing the interview provides you with a small boost in your chances of admission that basically everyone else will gladly take. Besides, even if it doesn’t affect your admission chances (it does, by the way), you lose nothing by doing it anyway, and you’re building interview skills for future jobs and co-op placements, like stated above.

How is the interview graded?

So what do I mean that it does affect your admission chances? It’s simple. Your admission score has 4 elements; your academic average (out of 100), the AIF (out of 5), the video interview (also out of 5), and the adjustment factor (if you live in Ontario). In case you didn’t read the page on academic grades, the admission score is calculated by adding your average, your AIF score, and video interview score together, and then subtracting your adjustment factor. So how is the video interview scored?

As stated earlier, the video interview is scored out of 5. As with the AIF, this marking is done holistically as well and there isn't some kind of checklist for things you have to do to score perfectly.Typical applicants are scored a 5. Even if you botch it and think you’ve lost all hope of admission, don’t worry. There is no penalty for a bad interview, and there is always a small bonus for even attempting the interview of 0.5 points. The only case where you can expect to get a 0 is either if you don’t do it or you act wildly inappropriately during the interview (please don’t try this, this will not turn out well if you like being admitted into university). With enough practice, you can be confident in your ability to perform well on the interview.

Preparing for the video interview

So where do you start? How does it all work?

The interview process starts in November to December (and later if you submit your program choices to OUAC later), and you can begin accessing practice sessions and even submitting your interview if you feel so inclined. The interviews are not arranged with any kind of interviewer, you are only recording yourself and at most, watching recordings of people reading the questions out to you. This will all be emailed to the email you registered with OUAC. If you do end up submitting to OUAC later, don’t worry. The deadline for interview submission is at the end of February, and the OUAC deadline is the beginning of February, so you have at least four weeks to prepare, which should be plenty of time. I recommend submitting your OUAC application as soon as possible to avoid rushing anything.

Once you receive the material by email, the first step you wanna take is doing as many practice sessions as you can, no matter how infuriated you might get at the repeated content, yourself, etc. You can take these practice sessions at any time, however many times you want. Doing this is the best way to get used to the video interview process, and, again, it helps you prepare for all sorts of job interviews as well.

Tips and advice

Now on to the reason you're probably here; here are some tips and advice for preparing for your actual interview:

1. Be patient with yourself.

   Remember, you have unlimited practice sessions, but only one shot at your submission. Make sure you're confident about the interview before the real deal. Don't settle for getting it out of the way as soon as possible. Complacency kills. Nobody’s looking at your practice sessions, don’t be afraid to keep trying; pick yourself up and dust yourself off from the mistakes you make. Make a note of what you need to improve on, and keep practicing to fix them for your real interview.

2. Be yourself.

   When you’re being unnatural and not yourself, it shows. It’s also much easier to not have to feign confidence. This is where the practice comes in. With enough practice, confidence in being able to develop your answers quickly and smoothly will come naturally.

3. Be clear and to the point.

   Make sure you can clearly communicate your motivation and future aspirations to the evaluator. Former admissions officers have said that that’s one of the marks of a 5 point submission. In general, quality comes before quantity. Don't try to use all the alloted time if you don't have to or if you can't make use of it.

4. Be professional.

   Dress for success! Wear what you would to an actual job interview, whether that means putting on a suit, tie, dress, etc. Not only does this make you look more presentable and professional, wearing formal clothes can actually make you behave more formally as well, conditioning your body into realizing the importance of the interview.

5. Be mindful of the time you're given.

   Pace yourself, make sure you don’t make your answer too short or long for the amount of time you’re given. Develop your answer to fit the amount of time you're given. Practice, practice, practice; it really helps you make use of the time you have to prepare your answer.

6. Lastly, be confident.

   This is way easier said than done. However, once again, this comes with hard work and practice. Being fully prepared helps you to relax and make less mistakes like saying filler words you use such as “uh” and “um”, as well as losing your train of thought due to nervousness. The level of preparation people need for things like this video interview is different for everyone, so trust yourself and yourself only when it comes to assessing your readiness. When you're ready, go for it. Even during your actual interview, you don’t have anything to lose. Be confident about yourself, you’re going to do great!