Like all of the other SMU educational programmes, we interview those applicants who are short-listed for admission. Students frequently ask us what we look for during the interview and how to best prepare for it.

The types of characteristics we really care about when we “probe” you during the highly interactive interview session are shown below.

It might surprise you that we DO NOT ask you any specific questions about your knowledge or skills related to information technology. Apart from the usual type of applicants with prior relevant experience, a number of our freshman applicants have never taken any formal courses related to information technology and some of them have turned out to be our very best students.

Given the diverse backgrounds of the students we interview and admit, we take this "prior knowledge about IT" factor out of the equation. We are convinced that this type of prior experience is not as important as the characteristics shown in the list. Therefore, no applicant or no student being interviewed is at a disadvantage or advantage due to their prior knowledge about IT.

What is much more important to us than any particular type of prior study experience are characteristics noted above, as well as the real and true depth of the types of passions noted at the bottom of the list. Note that the final item listed under passion relates to understanding the current and future possibilities of how IT applications and solutions can be used to transform the way people work together, and the way a business goes about “doing its business”. One only needs imagination and a perceptive way of looking at the world around him or her to cultivate this type of interest and a related passion for exploring the possibilities.

Watch a real interview session below: