Ok so I’m interested in auditioning for college Jeopardy, and there is an application to fill out online, but all they ask are very general information such as name, address, etc. I’ve applied in the past but they never have called me. Does anyone have any inside information about what it takes to secure an interview with them? Also, does anyone know why Jeopardy would ask such basic information, instead of going more indepth like GPA or major or something like that like?
From the millions (well, all right, tens of thousands) of online applications received, they will select, more or less randomly, probably, a certain number of applicants to take the test and be interviewed in person. So they only need the basic info in the first step. There’s no way to know how many applicants they’re getting and how many they want to interview to get the rather small number who will appear on air.
You chances are somewhat better than the lottery, though, since you’re going for the College tournament.
–Commasense
One-day Jeopardy! champion, 1991. ($7,201, if you must know.)
I believe what you are filling out is just a card that will go into a drum, from which some cards will be drawn at random. There is no shortage of people who are basically qualified to be on the show, so they screen people out for reasons like being from Los Angeles (they want geographic variety), being an actor (too many of those also), being funny-looking or having a weird voice or accent, or having a boring job or no interesting “anecdote” that Alex Trebek can ask you about during the first break. I think you would probably have a better shot at getting on the regular (not college) show, if you live in a city where they have tryouts.
I tried out at one of their regular sessions here in LA. First you fill out a card on which you actually have to list your occupation and “interesting anecdote” (apparently they take the anecdote seriously). You then take a written, timed test of 50 questions from the $1800 and $2000 categories. You have to get 45 of 50 in order to go to the next step. The next step is to play a “mock game” in groups of three on a fake set where you have to pick questions off a board, use the buttons to ring in, and phrase your answer in the form of a question. They don’t keep score in the mock game, but they take notes about your appearance, speech and general ability to deal with the format.
Some of the people really choked during the mock game, and obviously washed out at that point. I nailed all the questions in the mock game but they still never called me. They said they call something like a third of the people who do well in the mock game.
In addition to commasense a regular on this board played on Jeopardy and won a substantial amount of money (5-day winner). Maybe he’ll post some tips.
As Hyperelastic said, the anecdote seems to be important, as is the way you give your self-introduction (which included questions from the judges like: “what would you do with the $25,000 if you won?”) and handle the mock game. This is where I washed out when I went, way back in '93.
The anecdotes, btw, appear to be where Alex gets his questions during the interview stage. I guess my sense of humor didn’t really match what they were looking for (“So, Sublight, I understand you once shot the president of Bulgaria.” (I was a news photographer at the time)).
They don’t ask GPA or major because those are irrelevant to the selection of candidates for the show. The only reason it’s the “college” version as opposed to the regular version is that all the contestants are college students. Jeopardy doesn’t care if you’re already supposedly smart or not; that’s why they don’t ask for IQ test results on the regular show.
Good luck getting on!
I rented the Jeopardy game for the Playstation 2 and it had a section to take an application test, I never got around to finishing one before I returned the game though but it might be worth checking out.
During my last time trying out for the show they blocked my buzzer in the mock game. The other two applicants were not getting a chance to audition.
My older girl made it into the contestant pool for the Kid’s Week last year, but I believe they did not call her because even at twelve she was taller than Alex. My younger daughter did not make the cut; I am encouraging her to read a wider variety of material this year.
I had a conflict with the Boston date this year so I had to decline the audition this week. Curse you, my humourless Teutonic overseers.
They couldn’t swap me into the New York tryouts in June, so I had to reapply for the drawing. Haven’t heard from them yet for myself or the girls (Teen Tournament and Kid’s Week applications).
Search for the other Jeopardy contestant threads.
I’m not the 5 day winner. That would be our own 5 time champ.
Call me a one day loser. I came in second - enough for a one-week trip to Puerto Rico.
I can confirm that the anecdotes are important, and the mock game is crucial.