10 Past Banneker Key Interview Questions

Many thanks to the people who made this series possible!

Are you a Banneker Key Scholarship semifinalist? Do the stories on College Confidential about the interview scare you? The available information from UMD explaining the Banneker Key interview is limited and doesn’t help much either. So I decided to interview current Banneker Key students (specifically underclassmen) in my attempt to provide less intimidating, more accurate information on the interviews. Here is the last part of the series. (Interview Tips here and Experiences here.)

I asked some current Banneker Key scholarship recipients (all underclassmen) what questions they were asked during their interviews. And this is what they responded with:

1. What are you really involved in?
2. What was something you took initiative to do yourself and what did you get out of it?
3. What are you passionate about?
4. How do you see yourself at making a difference at Maryland?
5. If you are given the scholarship, what you are going to do with it? (or some variation of that)
6. Why are you interested in this field of study?
7. What are you post graduate plans?
8.  What is your proudest achievement?
9. What are your 2 greatest accomplishments?
10. Do you have any questions for us, the interviewers?

A.C. adds, "The interviewer also asked me about a part of my application essay. And some questions were response-driven."