I don't think the point is to make them tell you what awesome things they have already accomplished. Maybe they've accomplished nothing. But they've probably go

I don't think the point is to make them tell you what awesome things they have already accomplished. Maybe they've accomplished nothing. But they've probably got some experience on their resume, or you wouldn't be talking to them. Maybe that's only class projects, but that's enough. The point is to get them to talk about something they have spent hundreds of hours thinking about. Something on which they are the experts. They should be able to go into detail and tell you what they found interesting. Both of those things are very informative.