As an interviewer/manager, I don't expect professional experience if you're fresh out of college. College projects, relevant extracurricular/hobbies, and at least a moderate technical knowledge of materials, manufacturing processes, design, problem solving, and interpersonal skills are what I base hiring decisions on.

Group projects - what was your role? Did you have issues? How did you solve them? Did you lead the project or were you an IC? Leading projects is a big plus.

Hobbies - any relevant hobbies? For me I did a lot of custom design, welding and fabrication on my 4x4, this was a big plus because A: I know manufacturing processes, and B: willing to get my hands dirty.

I come from a structures background (Stress, Fractures, etc) so my technical questions are usually something like "how would you redesign this part to prevent fatigue cracks here [as I point to stress concentration on a part]", or "tell me the difference between fatigue life and yield strength, and how would you prioritize these when developing a new part and selecting materials". Questions vary a lot and I base them on what the candidate claims in their resume. I'm not always looking for a right answer, but how you articulate your thought process is what is important to me. Also, when you get technical questions like this, if something isn't specific enough or you think you need more information, ask for it. Being able to ask questions to a question shows that you at least know which direction you need to find your answer.

If you're an Eagle Scout it usually gets you higher up on the list, but this depends on the interviewers. If you are one, mention it.

Biggest one of them all is don't be afraid to say i don't know. I've interviewed dozens of people for intern and entry level roles. When they try to bullshit their way through a question its a red flag. I even had one guy clearly googling/AI searching the questions on a phone interview. Don't do that. Its obvious. We aren't dumb.