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Good news! I applied to Stanford's biosciences Ph.D program, and I just received an e-mail telling me that I have been invited to visit for a weekend and interview. For those of you who have been through Ph.D interviews, what can I expect, and do you have any advice?
Posts: 3546 | Registered: Jul 2002
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They are sure to ask you why you want to go to their program. You should have a better answer than "it is a great program" or "it has a high ranking" Talk about specific research that they do that is likely to complement your interests. Have an idea of which professor you would like to work with, and talk about their research. Know what you would bring to the program. What are your interests, how could you go about turning them into a successful research program?
Also, ask the grad students what the program is like. Get a feel for how people get along, and what the work environment is like. Don't think to much on how to get into the program that you forget to think about whether you really want to get into the program. Be yourself, and try to have a good time. Posts: 1901 | Registered: May 2004
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I didn't have to interview. But let me offer some caution that I suspect is fully unnecessary. They will probably take you out for a few drinks do *not* get so drunk that you lose control. Someone in a program here did it and not only was it the talk of the U but some students tried to block this persons admission. The person did get in but people had a lot of misconceptions when they showed up. If you like to drink have one or two. But you're still interviewing at this point to a very small degree. In otherwords small things you say won't make a huge impact but something really really memorable like falling off a table might be held against you.
Posts: 872 | Registered: Mar 2002
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Holy smokes! Graduate school already? Time really has flown by . . . congratulations and go get 'em! Posts: 5609 | Registered: Jan 2003
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Talk to the grad students of the people you might want to work with. They will usually give you the straight story about what the advisor is like.
- Find out what their management style is. Are they someone who is at your desk every day asking where the paper is, or do they disappear for weeks at a time?
- Ask how long it takes to graduate with that advisor on average.
- Is your advisor still current with the research area? How much help will they be? Do they send you to conferences, etc?
See if you can figure out what your funding situation will be. If you TA, it takes up about half of your time, and it will take you that much longer to get out.
Also figure out how easy it is to switch advisors. It's hard to figure out whether you truly like a research area until you start doing research in it.
Posts: 159 | Registered: Jun 2006
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just remember that you're there to build an impression / secure your admission, and not to get drunk... pretty much the same goes for "lunch-interviews"... you're there for the opportunity, not the food Posts: 142 | Registered: Feb 2006
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Oh, I'm not seeing this as a vacation or party And I won't be drinking at all. Except maybe water. And some milk. And pineapple juice if they have it. I love pineapple juice.
Thanks for all the advice, everyone!
Posts: 3546 | Registered: Jul 2002
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Chanie gave some great suggestions for things to look for. One thing to pay attention to is the way that people say things. Grad students are going to give you the scoop, but they might not want to go on record telling a stranger all the bad stuff about their advisor. (I know students who have had stuff they told students repeated hence the caution.) If a student doesn't *rave* about an advisor pay attention. Especially if they say things that could be taken both ways. Let me give you some examples.
"Yeah so and so is very smart and really good in their field. He/she knows their stuff" - probably means the only reason I stay with this jerk is because his name is getting me the job of my dreams when I get out of here.
"So and so can be a little tough" - Good luck he/she is evil incarnate.
"We had problems my first x years. But things seem to be better" - Now that I magically know what I'm doing my advisor is happy but they certainly didn't help me get here. Or maybe I'm just imagining things are better because I'm closer to graduation.
The nice thing is that grad students will tend to dish out dirt on other faculty if they're not their advisors. Oh and if you ask some random student about advisor xyz and they only say something like "Oh you need to talk to Student X" and then they take you directly to that person. This is generally a bad sign. A good sign is "Oh yeah Advisor Smith is great. His students really love him. You should talk to Student X or Student Y."
Posts: 872 | Registered: Mar 2002
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