Tips and Tricks on getting into the Disney College Program

Hello friends!
I’ve been wanting to give some tips and tricks on getting into the Disney College Program ever since I was accepted into my program. I wanted to give my advice because I searched and scoured the internet for tips myself. Today is 25 days until my program starts (yay!) and about 45 days until Spring applications come out, so I figured there isn’t a better time than now to give some advice!

So I talked about my own experience on getting into the Disney College Program in my previous blogs, but in this post I wanted to be more direct on things you should and shouldn’t do. Here we go!

(Scroll down to the bottom if you’d rather watch my video than read all of this haha 🙂 )

Applying:

• If you’re like me, and you want a future with Disney, then when applying, you’ll probably want to be VERY open to anything and everything, that way you have a better chance at getting accepted.
• What I’m talking about is role preference and park preference (DLR or WDW).
• If you want to work for the company no matter what (to get your foot in the door and stuff), then apply to both Disneyland and Disney World, and don’t list ‘no interest’ on any of the roles. (You have to decide if you’d rather have a role at Disney that’s not as glamorous as all the other roles, or have the possibility of not getting into the program at all.) What i did was listed about 7 roles for high interest, 7 for moderate interest, and 4 for low interest.
• If you want to do this program, but are not interested in a career with Disney for the long run, then by all means, feel free to put ‘no interest’ on the roles you have absolutely no interest in.
• Research (read and watch you tube videos) every role before you submit your application to know for sure what each one entails and think about if you can envision yourself in that role or not.
• I suggest applying within the first 7 days. Phone interviews fill up fast! To increase your chances of getting in you want to get your phone interview done with in 3 weeks because the first wave of acceptances are usually 21-25(ish) days after applications come out. (From my experience DLR Fall tends to only have 1 wave of acceptance and DLR spring tends to only have 2 waves).

Web Based Interview:

• When getting your WBI in your email, don’t start taking it until you have the time to finish it all at once (it’s timed).
• What I did, and what I suggest you do, is have someone who knows you REALLY well take it with you. I’m a bad test taker and I have ADD so it’s really hard for me to concentrate, especially on time tests! I sat down with my mom and I read the questions out loud and choices out loud and I would tell her what I thought best described me and she would tell me if she agreed or not. Doing this helped because she knows be so well so she could tell which answer was better if I was stuck between two or something.
• This also helped me because you have to be consistent! They will ask you the same question twice but worded differently to see if you’re lying.
• Be honest. At the same time, keep in the back of your mind what Disney is looking for. If you’re late to work sometimes or lazy when it comes to work, you probably don’t want to admit that in this interview. Obviously they are looking for punctual, reliable, responsible people. If that doesn’t sound like you, or doesn’t sound like someone you’d be willing to be, then don’t even bother applying. (Surprisingly some people don’t pass this part, but don’t be too worried because honestly it’s the easiest part of this whole process.)

Scheduling the Phone Interview:

• Schedule your phone interview in a few days. Give your self enough time to prepare for it. Don’t feel like you have to do it the next day (if that’s even one of the options).
• You might not want to apply the first or second day because I’ve seen people do that and for some reason their application was over looked (like there was a problem with the system) and they didn’t even get a WBI or PI. (…then again some people did apply the first day and got accepted).
• One more reason to wait and apply the 2nd or 3rd day is so that your PI doesn’t have to be scheduled for 1 or 2 days later. Waiting to apply gives you the chance to have a week of PI preparation 🙂

Preparing for the Phone Interview:

• When you apply, take a screen shot on your computer of your role preferences and the order that they’re in (label your top 4 choices because they most likely will ask you what those are- have your reasons why you want it & why you’d be good at it ready too).
• Do plenty of research on your top roles, print the description out of each one, and highlight the words and characteristics that the role requires that also describes you. This way you can use these words and phrases when describing your previous work (ex: cash handling, stocking inventory, multitasking, solving problems, answering questions, cleaning… ect.)
• Prepare an extraordinary answer for when they ask you why you want to do the Disney College Program. This is one they’ll FOR SURE ask you.
• You’ll probably be nervous when they ask you this question, so instead of reading off the paragraph you prepared, break it down into bullet-pointed words and phrases to give you a cheat sheet (if you just remember those words and phrases in the right order, then you’ll be GOLDEN when it comes time to answer).
• Use words like: dream, passion, opportunities, resume, networking, magic, happiness, family, and guests.
• Talk about the internship aspect of it and the classes provided rather then just working at Disney. If they think you’re applying just to work at Disney, then they’ll probably deny you because you can just apply for a job at Disney instead of just doing the program.
• Look up common DCP phone interview questions, copy and paste them into Word, and read and answer each one. Just by being able to think about it and brain storm your answers before hand will really help you prepare for what it’s going to be like. DO NOT READ YOUR ANSWERS WORD BY WORD IN THE INTERVIEW. That’s what I did last time and I sounded like a rehearsed robot- I defiantly didn’t sound genuine.
• There is a REALLY good chance (like 99%) that your interviewer will ask these 6 questions so have these prepared:
  1. How would you handle an emergency?
  2. Do you prefer fast vs. slow pace?
  3. Do you prefer to work as a team or by your self?
  4. Do you prefer to work indoors or outdoors?
  5. How do you deal with repetitive tasks?
  6. How would you get a task done while being interrupted by guests?
• Prepare 4 situations that you have dealt with in your previous job (like if they ask how you’ve made someone happy or dealt with an upset customer ect.) Use your past experience, it helps to relate your answers back to your jobs (or if you’ve never had a job then volunteer work, school, or just life). They want you to be specific when they ask you questions so go ahead and take your time answering their question in detail and with examples.
• It also wouldn’t hurt to think of three positive qualities and three negative (but in a positive way) qualities about yourself.
• Have 1-3 questions ready for the end when they ask if you have any. Even if you’ve done your research, it shows that your really interested and you want to know more.
• Do a ‘mock interview’ a couple times with a family member or friend to practice what you’re going to say and practice your improv skills. It’ll help you feel more confident and relaxed. Just don’t do it too much or when it comes to your real interview you’ll sound rehearsed. I had my brother call me and pretended to have a real phone interview. He stayed in character and if something didn’t go right, we just went with it like a real interview would.
• Lastly, write uplifting, encouraging notes for yourself!! I took some flash cards and colorful sharpies and wrote words on them like: Be positive, Smile, Passion, Confident, Slow (take your time), Relax, Speak clearly, Friendly. And I hung them up where I was going to have my phone interview:)

The actual Phone Interview:

• Disney says they can call anywhere between 15 minutes before and 15 minutes after your scheduled time, so just pretend like they’re suppose to call 15 minutes early and you’ll be good to go (they are pretty good about being right on time though).
• Have your cheat sheet already in front of you. I suggest having like 2 pages of organized typed out bullet points to help keep you calm and not so nervous during the process.
• So about 20-25 minutes before your scheduled PI be ready: go to the bathroom, get water for when your mouth gets dry in between questions, get a pen, put some chap stick on, grab some tissues… yeah I was really prepared lol.
• Have your interview in a quite place (like your bedroom when no one is home, or ask your family to be silent during your interview).
• Don’t spend a lot of time sitting in one area before they call or you’ll psych your self out. You’ll get antsy and nervous and that’s the complete opposite of how you want to be! (I watched Americas Funniest Home Video before they called so I can laugh a little and relax.)
• Make sure your phone is charged and has service. I used my home phone and my phone died right before my interview was over. Yeah, true story.
• The 3 C’s: Cool, Calm, and Collected. I know this sound cheesy, but it’s true!! They need to hear these 3 things in your voice.
• What do you do for the 15 minutes while you’re waiting? I know this might sound a little stupid, but literally smile, be happy and tell your self you’re gonna do great. Try to calm down and mediate a little so your voice doesn’t shake as you answer the phone. As your smiling and waiting, glance over your notes (don’t feel rushed to read through it all before they call).
• I really loved this piece of advice I got from someone: pretend like the interviewer is a distant relative or a friend you haven’t talked to in a long time. If you do this, I promise you you’ll feel more relaxed. I pretended that the interviewer was my one of my moms friends that I’ve never meet before so I tried being sweet, nice, funny, positive, outgoing, appreciative, and just acted like I was that daughter that all my moms friends would love to meet haha (i know it sounds silly but it helps).
• Talk slow! Pretend that the interviewer is hard of hearing so you have to talk slower so she could hear and understand you. You can take your time! Don’t rush, yes they have to keep on a schedule, but your interview can be 30 minutes if you and your interviewer have a lot to discuss.
• On that note, try to treat it more like a conversation rather than an interview. If you want to make the interviewer laugh a little, go for it!! I made my interviewer giggle and I giggled a little myself:) I think it shows them that you can interact with guests well.
• When they call you, take a deep breath and smile before you answer the phone.
• They’ll say their name so go ahead and write it down so you can use it at least once during the interview to make it more personal. (If you didn’t hear it, ask them to repeat it- that’s what I did).
• Use different tones of voice to show your excitement and passion when answering questions and when saying words that really mean alot to you.
• Be YOU, ok yes, this is extremely cheesy but honestly I wasn’t being “me” my first 2 phone interviews. They want unique people in this college program that are different and want it really bad. So show them why they should choose you!!

Ok, so time for a review. Prepare and practice, but don’t rehearse and sound like a robot. Be genuine and show it in your voice (and your smile) that you really want it! Don’t say you want to do the DCP because you want to work at Disneyland/Disney World. Be open to anything. Convince them that they should choose you! YOU GOT THIS!

I also decided to make a vlog on my tips on how to get in, you can watch it here:

Good luck and have a magical interview!

My Phone Interview

Right after applying to the Disney College Program, on February 9th, I got a ‘Thank You for Applying’ email. I was thrilled and was awaiting to receive an invitation for a Phone Interview (PI) soon after that. Normally after the ‘Thank you’ email, Disney invites you to complete a Web Based Interview (WBI) first, but since I passed mine last Fall I was not asked to do it again because it is only required once a year. (A WBI is pretty much a timed quiz that asks you as series of personality and work related questions to see if you’d be a good fit for Disney.) I went ahead and scheduled my PI for February 19th, 10 days later! Ah!:( I was hopping to take it sooner then that, but there were only 2 dates available at the time. I scheduled it for the evening so I would be able to take it when I got home from work, but luckily I was fortunate enough to have that day off being that work was so slow.

The good thing about having 10 days before your interview is having time to prepare and practice! I had already rehearsed and rehearsed so much last time that I had pretty much still remembered all my answers to the questions. This was actually a blessing because now that I knew what I wanted to say, I could focus on coming off as genuine and more myself. I didn’t really practice the first couple of days because I knew that if I did, I’d be a nerves wreck. When my interview was inching closer and closer, I went back to my Word Document where I had typed up all my Q&A’s from last time and read over them. I found that some of my answers didn’t really flow off the tongue or maybe weren’t quite what Disney was looking for. I decided to copy and paste the questions and answer them again so I could make this interview newer, fresher, more personal- especially since I had worked 5 months at a new job since my last interview.

Last time I had focused so much of my time on the ‘maybe’ Q&A’s but this time I decided to focus my preparation on the definite questions I knew they were going to ask. As you can assume, “Why do you want to do the Disney College Program” was the question I had spend the most time on. This might sound easy to most people but, “because I love the company” or “because I love going to Disneyland,” are definitely not the answers they are looking for. Millions of people love the company and visiting the parks, needless to say, you need a much more thorough, thought out answer. Something that really shows your dedication and passion. Something you can get your finger prints all over and really make it your own.

After editing and revising my answer numerous times, I had finally come to decision on how I wanted to portray to my interviewer why I wanted to do the Disney College Program and why it was so important to me. I practiced what I wanted to say pretty much at every free opportunity. Last Fall my mom and brother had helped me with some ‘mock interviews’ which is pretty much just pretending like you’re really interviewing on the phone. That helped me out a lot, but I didn’t want to ‘rehearse’ this time so we just casually went over my answers in person to make sure they sounded good.

The time had come. All of my months of research, practicing, and praying had led up to this. It was a Wednesday and I had school that afternoon. Thankfully I knew I didn’t need the class anymore since I was changing my major, so my excitement and anticipation wasn’t really disturbing me from my class work. (You might be wondering why I hadn’t dropped the class yet if I didn’t need it. Well, you need to be enrolled in a college class to apply to the DCP, so I remained in the class so I could be sure that that wasn’t hindering me from getting accepted.) Once class was over I rushed home and spent the day practicing for my interview.

It was that time. Disney tells you that your interviewer can call anywhere between 15 minutes before or 15 minutes after your scheduled time. This being extremely important and all, I had everything ready for me to start my interview right at 7pm (15 mins before my scheduled time). I literally had everything you could think of there: my cheat-sheet, my positive note card reminders, my questions, a pencil, water, kleenex, chapstick. Yeah- I was serious. I sat there relaxing so I wouldn’t be nervous when the phone rang and calmly glazed over my notes one last time. I wanted this interview to be totally different then my last two. From 7-7:16 I sat there smiling to get my excited and pumped up about the company and the interview.

My home phone rang! My interviewers name was Nina. She seemed kind of bored and drained from the day. No magic in her voice. Sure she was nice, but I was kind of nervous on this interview going south because what if she didn’t laugh at my jokes? What if we didn’t connect? What if she strictly asks the questions without a nice, bubbly conversation? Yes, all these questions were going through my mind in a matter of seconds. Thankfully when I said ‘Aw, Nina, that’s cute!” she gave a slight giggle. Victory! I kind of felt like I broke through. It was all smooth sailing from there. I mean, how would you feel if you had a hundred interviews in one day… on the phone. Yeah, I don’t blame her.

From my last two interviews I thought I knew the format and order it kind of goes in. Nope. Because pretty much right away she asked me why I wanted to do the DCP. It through me off guard. Wasn’t she suppose to go over my roles of interest first? It must have been because I was open to ANYTHING. Anyways, I only had a second to get myself together. “…Because… *clears throat*…I really want to do the Disney College Program because…” I had to show my confidence. NAILED IT! I got that answer out of the way and it was all down hill from there (in a good way). Nina continued to ask me questions that I had prepared for and I didn’t even get any difficult ones- HAZAH! It was seriously so relaxing and fun compared to my last two. I remained smiling the whole time (something that is a necessity since they can hear it in your voice) and maintained calm, cool, and collected.

Our interview was ending and it was just about 25 minutes long. She asked if I had any questions and I asked her the 3 that I had prepared. My last one was regarding her personal experience with the company and how she got started with Disney. She started to tell me about her first affiliations with Disney and then… silence. Yep, my phone died. I started freaking out! I ran to the living room phone to see if the line was still connected but it was too late. The call had been dropped, there was nothing I could do. It took me a second to realize- there’s still a chance! I had forgotten about my cell phone and how I silenced it. I ran back to my room and flipped it over- it was ringing! I picked up and started apologizing explaining how my phone had died. She was nice about it and said it was fine, she explained how the interview was technically over but wanted to know if I had anymore questions. I told her I didn’t but unfortunately didn’t get to hear the ending to her story. She finished it up and we got a few good laughs in!:) I thanked her for her time and that was it!

Everything was in Disney’s hands now. I did all I could do and that would have to be good enough. The only thing else I could give is my soul (which I learned from the Little Mermaid is NOT a good trade lol). My heart was already poured into the company and I think that showed during my interview. If I didn’t get in this time, I honestly don’t know what I would have to do the next time. From the wise words of Walt himself, “Why worry? If you’ve done the very best you can, worrying won’t make it any better.” So then I just had to wait.

Here are the emails I received:)