[Conor Ryan]

Fill you in on how the judging process works:

1. Essay submitted online - this is step 1. Judges review this in advance, the judges look at accomplishments and get excited to meet candidates. Its more of a warm up so they know who they are meeting.

2. Interviews conducted. Every student nominated is interviewed, its a 5-7 minute interview. Talk to Pit Admin and get your interview time.

Best advice: Practice being interviewed. This isn't too different from other Merit scholarships. You need to be conversational and keep an engaging conversation for a few minutes to score highly. If you can show excitement and passion, combined with the ability to articulate what makes you a great candidate, it will be valued greatly.

Don't be nervous, be EXCITED. The judges are so happy that they get to meet with someone that other people think are awesome. Keep a few good stories and examples in your back pocket and have fun with this process. Don't sound canned, be a human (you need to show both bad times and good times) and have fun with it.

The key to winning here is building an emotional connection with the judges so they don't forget who you are. The interviews are literally a blur and anything you can do to stand out will help you.

3. Judges select the candidate that best represents the criteria outlined in section 6.6.2 of the admin manual.