[Yeah now you have no more excuses to not study Psych]
It went better than I thought =)
I'm glad I went for UCS's interviewing skills session- allowed me to roam and explore my mind and my past a little.
I'm glad that I prepared for the "Tell me about yourself" question this time. (please refer to the post on the Cornell interview experience LOL)
I won't be revealing names because my blog is actually pretty public--- (please refer to comments on the post on the Cornell interview experience ^^;;)
I'll just run you guys through the interview process (did they ever forbid us from telling ppl what happens during interviews? dun think so- else they wouldn't have encouraged us to talk to CAs)
Anyway whoever wants to apply to be a CA, feel free to make use of my experience lol.
11.30am - Orientation- just some briefing, and getting into designated small groups, get to know each other. Each group had a different schedule.
12.00pm - Lunch break: chatted among ourselves a little; I learnt that UChicago off-campus is not a very safe place to be O_O
12.45pm - Group Interview: We were given a bunch of 'criteria' (Elder Hall, picture of Willie the Wildcat- NU's mascot, goal-improve interpersonal relationships btw residence, and 50 bucks) and we had to design an activity/program to do this.... So we came up with a "Wild Day with Willie" telematch/sports/games on the field event where students would form teams and play games. CAs reminded us that Willie the Wildcat has to be booked, and sometimes we have to pay to rent Long Field, and safety is an issue.
1.30pm - (CAs i knew were concentrated in this room =D Of course it doesn't matter coz CAs can't spot ppl they know) We were given a bunch of scenarios, and we had to discuss what was the issue of concern, how to solve the problems, what r the obstacles, and so on. We got:
- Ppl come complaining to you coz ppl say stuff like "You're so gay!" and "That's so gay!" and it's really offending.
- You have organized a ski trip n you're really excited about it. A week before the trip, a resident complained to another CA that you didn't consider wheelchair accessibility on the bus---thus leaving him out coz he uses a wheelchair.
- You know that residents in your hall drink (?) but you have never caught them drinking in their rooms [to non-NU ppl: it is illegal for students under 21 yrs to drink or to be in the presence of alcohol in dorm] You trust these kids, and one day they ask you whether they can hold a dance party in the lounge, and they assure you that there will not be alcohol.. You will be out on the evening they're having the party, so you can't check on them. You give them permission to hold the party. On that night when you come back, you find a bunch of CAs breaking apart the party coz the partiers've been drinking. When questioned they said you gave them permission. The CAs are upset and look at you. |||
- An Asian American girl named Jenny comes crying to you about how a bunch of girls like to talk bad and complain about an Asian(?) TA and saying that he's stealign jobs from ppl who are more qualified and speak good english etc. She says that this affects her and other residents too.
- It's Green Cup! (an inter-dorm competition to see which dorm is the 'greenest', i.e. save most energy use least resources per person). Somebody goes and defaces and writes discouraging comments on the green cup flyer, like "NU is trying to save money".
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2.15pm: I enjoyed this one! There's a mat in the room with lots of squares in grids. It's a maze. The whole group has to get from one end to another by stepping on squares that are not 'radioactive pockets' (= they won't start beeping if u step on them). Only one person could be on the mat at a time, and if you step on the radioactive one you have to start over. We had a simple systematic strategy, where we would start from the leftmost square and move forward until it beeps. Then we would move left and go forward again- if doesn't work, we move right and go forward. if doesn't work, we went backwards. (Sorry if u don't understand what i'm talking about---i'm getting sleepy x.x) For the first mat, we could talk. For the second mat, we were not allowed to talk. Our group were on the same page regarding the strategy, so that was good =) Funny that on both occassions I was the one who successfully crossed over first. (i was the last/2nd last person to cross- maybe that's why).
3pm: Scenario: You forgot your cell phone, and you haven't checked ur email all day. You come back to your room at 5pm. You were swamped by ten emails/voice msgs/texts which required your response. Rank these from 1 to 10, (1=immediate attention, 10=can be attended to aft things calm down). And then rank these as a group.
Stuff included:
- residents askign you to sign room change form
- fellow CA asking you whether you can switch duty; reply by tonight
- AreaCoordinator (Residence Life Staff) reminding you to do Incident Report
- Professor askign for your resume & ?? coz he's nominating you for a scholarship- a year of paid tuition O_O
- Your best friend- movie date in 20 mins
- Your old friend in town want to have dinner (u've ditched him twice b4)
- History project- your group members computer rosak and the powerpoint you guys were working on last night is lost and the project is 75% of grade and is due tomoro at 8am =.="
- Your mom says she has something important to tell you n ask you to call back
- Someone who was going to give a talk to residents at ur dorm tomorrow had an emergency n cannot make it.
- An angry parent of one of the residents complaining about his daughter's roommate.
3.45pm :One-to-One Interview with a Res-Life-Staff
The basic questions one would expect:
Tell me about yourself
A situation where you had to work with/deal with people who were really different from you
An emergency situation where you had to act fast
What is the role of a CA in a dorm
How could a CA help the hall government
Tell me how you would organize your schedule to fit in the CA duty which is time consuming
Why do you think you should be a CA? (I liked the way my interviewer put this: "We will have a meeting when we discuss the candidates. What do you want me to say about you when they ask "Why should XXX be a CA?")
And do prepare questions to ask the interviewer: Mine were
What is the worst and best thing that a CA could encounter?
What do you think i can do to prepare to become a better CA?
My interviewer was really nice...gave me time to think about my response, gave me his business card. Now should i send him a thank you email or a thank you note? (Never written a thank you note before.) But I like him and I feel in a creative mode (yay Alicia liked the birthday card i made for her and said it was 'Very creative' =D )
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-Owari-
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Wish me good luck for my Anthro Project Draft Summary+Short 4.5 min Presentation on Tues and Psych Exam 2 on Thu ( i have expectations to live up to). Both worth 30% of the grade.
And wish me good luck with getting enough sleep too!
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Xin Nian Kuai Dao La~~~~~ *heart*
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