Mastering the 'Tell Me About Yourself' Question in Interviews (Full Transcript)

Speaker 1: So, of course, the most common question in all types of interviews is tell me about yourself. And I want to remind you that this is a question where you can and should take your time. And there are a few boxes that you might want to check when you're thinking about your approach to this question. So in my opinion, you should be making sure that you touch on your identities, who you are, what's important to you, where you're going, and how this program fits into that. And there are a number of ways that you can address those three things. Here is what I would say if I was answering this question as an applicant for a PhD program in clinical psychology. Well, I'm a first-generation Latina. I'm the daughter of an immigrant, the daughter of a single parent, and I was first intrigued by psychology at a very young age and knew that I wanted to be the person that other Latinx people can talk to about things that they may not have ever told anyone about. And my current interests lie at the intersection of my identity as a Latina and this interest that I've had in psychology for a really long time. So now I'm pursuing graduate study as part of my larger goal to be a clinical psychologist and serve my community. So that is why I'm interested specifically in this program because I believe it'll give me the tools that I need, the training I need to succeed in my larger goal. So that was a sample answer. It was not a perfect answer, but I touched on my identity, something that means a lot to me. I touched on my values or my upbringing. I also touched on my mission and my interest in the field. And then I touched on how the program that I'm interviewing for is tying into my bigger goals. So this is a way that you can kind of tie together who you are, tell me about yourself, and what they're really asking when they're asking you to tell them about you is tell us how you fit here. Tell us something about you that's in alignment with us. And I think that this is a way to do that. So think about as you're preparing your answer for this question, think about who am I, what do I want to convey to the person or people who are interviewing me, and why am I applying to this program? And then kind of weave that into telling them about you. I really hope that this video was helpful for you. There are so many common questions, and I honestly believe that the best way to prepare is to start thinking about how you're going to answer those common questions and also be prepared for some curveballs. So check out my other videos about the questions that I was asked, the potential questions you should ask at interviews, and also some of my other sample answers. For more tips related to graduate school and graduate school applications, feel free to follow me on Instagram at gradlifegrind and on TikTok at gradlifegrind. And don't forget to subscribe.