Interview Day: Before the Interview
In this article category, I will describe a general interview day experience. Let’s start with ‘before the interview’.You would have slept on time yesterday. I’m happy that you have got a good slee...
Interview Day: During the interview
You are waiting in a line inside the US embassy waiting for your turn. People before you are answering the VO’s questions. Some are confident, others are stuck or trembling. Some are receiving green slips, others are receiving yellow. Some will go out dancing, others will just walk away silent. You will see this. Your heart-beat will slowly count up. You will start remembering your answer for every single question VO asks to other students.
You should calm yourself down in this situation. You have prepared the best way possible, you will answer the best way possible, you are to receive that green slip. This is what you should think about.
Slowly students before you will decrease and you will eventually reach the VO’s window (counter). Your luck will decide which window you will go to and which VO will interview you. But you can be a little clever and jump behind the student being interviewed by the VO whom you want to be interviewed by.
Finally, you will be standing behind the counter. The VO will be standing on the other side of the counter looking at his computer. There will be a bar-entry at the bottom of the window to pass in your documents. Greet the VO and pass your passport, I-20, and +2 transcript.
The VO will start asking questions. Listen to him/her properly (maybe with a smile and curiosity), and answer the questions with confidence. You should not look like you are reading the memorized questions. Pass some counter questions, confirmation questions or ask for pardon if you missed to hear anything. Understand the question well before you answer.
The VO doesn’t want you to come through consultancy. So, he will ask about your university, professors, the state you are going to and so on. Do enough research for that and answer with confidence. I had seen many students unable to answer the question “Where is your state?” and returned with a yellow slip. Don’t make these silly mistakes.
If you answer the questions with confidence and curiosity, you will definitely receive the green slip. What to do next, I will talk about in the next article.
