How to Prepare for a Major Scholarship Interview Like Loran or Terry Fox

What to expect at a Loran interview

The Loran Award runs its selection through two separate interview stages, according to the program's own FAQ page . Semi-finalists interview first, online through videoconference, with at least one week's notice before the session. Outstanding semi-finalists then move to National Selections, held in person in Toronto over several days.

At the semi-final stage you meet local volunteer interviewers, community leaders who also serve as evaluators for the program. This round gives you interview practice before the national stage, so treat it as a real evaluation, not a formality. Loran also grants provincial and territorial awards and honour citations to semi-finalists who stand out at this level without advancing further.

National Selections bring semi-finalists together in person for a multi-day process built around interviews and shared activities with other candidates. Expect several different interviewers across the days, each one drawing questions from a different part of your supplemental application.

What to expect at a Terry Fox interview

The Terry Fox Humanitarian Award selection process runs one interview stage. After the program reviews every complete application, it shortlists candidates for a single face to face interview held in your home province. A Provincial Interview Committee made up of Terry Fox Humanitarian Scholars, alumni, and other program associates conducts the interview, usually in April. You cover your own travel costs to attend.

After your interview, the committee sends its results to the Terry Fox Humanitarian Award Program office, which reports them to a Selection Committee. That committee recommends candidates to the Board of Directors, who make the final award decisions. If you win, the CEO or a board member calls you directly with the news rather than a letter arriving first.

Know your own application before anything else

Both programs build their interviews around what you already wrote. Loran interviewers pick a topic from your supplemental application and dig into it. Reread your full submission the week before your interview and rebuild the details in your head: names, dates, numbers, what you did versus what a group did around you.

Write out the two or three stories you most want an interviewer to hear, then practice telling them out loud to another person, not only in your head. A story rehearsed silently comes out stiffer than one you have said aloud several times. Keep each story specific: a moment, a decision you made, a result you describe honestly, including where it did not go as planned.

Prepare for conversation, not a script

Neither program tests you on rehearsed answers to standard questions. Loran evaluates how you behave in unscripted moments, and a Terry Fox interview works the same way, built around a conversation about adversity, courage, and what you did about a real obstacle in your life. A memorized answer sounds memorized the moment a follow up question pushes past the script.

Prepare instead by getting comfortable with follow up questions. After you tell a story, ask what an interviewer would want to know next: what you would do differently, who else was affected, why you made that choice over another one. Practice answering those follow ups out loud so going one layer deeper feels normal by interview day.

Treat every informal moment as part of the evaluation

At Loran's National Selections, evaluation extends past the formal interview room into meals and group activities with other semi-finalists and program volunteers. How you engage with peers and alumni over a shared meal forms part of the impression you leave. Bring the same attention to these moments that you bring to a formal interview, without turning every conversation into a performance.

For Terry Fox, the panel format means several committee members hear your answers at once. Address the whole panel with your attention, not only whoever asked the question, and give each person a chance to follow up.

Handle the logistics ahead of time

For an in-person interview, confirm your travel and lodging early since Terry Fox interviewees cover this themselves. Arrive with enough buffer time that a delayed flight or a snowstorm does not put you into the room straight off a rushed trip. Dress for a professional context and bring a printed copy of your original application, useful if you want to check a date or detail during a quiet moment.

For an online Loran semi-final interview, test your camera, microphone, and internet connection the day before, in the same room and at the same time of day you will use for the call. Close other applications, silence notifications, and set up a backup plan such as a phone hotspot in case your main connection drops.

The themes both programs return to

Loran and Terry Fox judge different things on paper, community leadership and service on one side, courage in the face of adversity on the other, but both push you toward the same underlying questions. What did you do, who did it affect, and what would you do differently. Prepare answers around your own actions, not around a project or team's overall achievement.

Expect questions about a setback or a failure alongside questions about a success. An interviewer who only hears polished wins learns less about you than one who hears how you handled a plan that fell apart. Pick one story where things did not go well and be ready to explain what you took from it.

Expect a question about why this award matters to you beyond the money, since both programs invest heavily in mentorship and alumni networks after the interview stage. An answer built around your own long term plans lands better than a generic statement about opportunity.