quietedge Posted February 15, 2015 Share Posted February 15, 2015 Just a question out of curiosity because I am anxiously waiting for decisions from schools after interviewing and even though it probably is program specific, I just want to hear different experiences or thoughts relevant to this question. My last interview went great. The professors I talked to were all very nice and it didn't seem like they wanted to "test" me much to help them determine if I would get in. This should be a good sign since everything went so smoothly, but it is just weird because the school does have to reject some people (although majority are accepted from what they told us). I am thinking maybe it was so relaxed because they already know who they want and don't want and it would be hard to determine which category you are in since everyone acts so nice. Of course, I do not know other people's interview experiences for sure, but most people I talked to had the same feelings about their interview as I did. I know there is no clear cut answer, but any thoughts are great! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
notsaxophones Posted February 16, 2015 Share Posted February 16, 2015 I was told at Washington (MCB) that their interview is pretty much a crazy-check. They accepted 32 of 33 interviewees from the previous interview weekend, and the only one that got rejected was rejected because she got so drunk she fell off a bar stool. (Their advice for us: Even though you're only with students, and even though we want you to have fun, you should at least try to be reasonably professional). Another person who was rejected in a different year was rejected for flirting with the professors she was interviewing with. I'm sure it depends on the school but there are definitely places where if you get an interview, it's like 95% certain you will be accepted poweredbycoldfusion 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crucial BBQ Posted February 16, 2015 Share Posted February 16, 2015 It seems that for the majority (all?) of biological sciences an interview is a strong indication of the programs' intent (to accept you). Not sure about other programs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ilovelab Posted February 16, 2015 Share Posted February 16, 2015 Depends on the program. The most competitive programs aren't "Crazy Checks' there is still a good chance you may be rejected after the interview. The undergrad in my lab last year said Arizona's ABBS program interviewed close to 100 applicants. They sent offers to 60 students hoping for a class size of 25-35 students. 40 people got rejected during the interview. I doubt they were all crazy. blinchik 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quietedge Posted February 16, 2015 Author Share Posted February 16, 2015 Yeah according to the acceptance rate they told us....around 30 people are going to be rejected. So I guess I'm wondering what factors they look at in order to determine who the rejected people are. It's scary to think that one can feel confident about his/her interviews and still be rejected. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blinchik Posted February 16, 2015 Share Posted February 16, 2015 I think it depends on the school. When I interviewed at Emory, I had two traditional interviews, and then I had two interviews where the two professors had clearly taken the time to read my application very thoroughly and said they were just making sure that I was a pleasant person. After that was ascertained, they really focused on why I should choose Emory instead of having me explain why Emory should choose me. They interviewed ~12 people and are accepting 6. Two days after the weekend, I got notified of admission and two fellowship nominations, so I think for the more competitive interview weekends, they have some preferred applicants and some marginal applicants that can go either way in terms of admissions decisions. I had the same experience as you where everyone thought they had a pleasant interview session, so I'm not sure precisely how they rank interviewees. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blinchik Posted February 16, 2015 Share Posted February 16, 2015 I think, though, that they look primarily at program fit and the student's ability to think critically and articulate their prior research, and the grad students have some input. For instance, at Duke, they really ensured that applicants would be interviewed by people they didn't request so they could see the diversity of the program and be introduced to research outside of their intended subfield (and also to test interest/preparation). I haven't been accepted or rejected yet, though, so we will see. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quietedge Posted February 16, 2015 Author Share Posted February 16, 2015 Yeah it is crazy how arbitrary the process can seem because I am thinking it has to do with the "vibe" they get from the person they are interviewing. Maybe I can feel fine, but they are actually able to read how confident I am at explaining science and if I am the person I said I was in the application, but I have no idea how because I'd have to be outside of my own body in order to know how I presented myself. I am definitely on the more worried side because I had lower numbers (I am assuming this as I did not ask) and less interviews at other places than most of the other people interviewing. I did get two people I did not ask for and the interviews did go differently than the rest, but they also happened to be my favorite ones. They really seemed to like me and my "story" and did not bring up my below average GPA at all. For some reason I was very scared someone would bring it up, but it didn't seem to be an issue for any of the professors I talked to. Everyone has to wait until March for a decision and I will constantly be over thinking this until then. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NSG-mdx Posted February 16, 2015 Share Posted February 16, 2015 During my interview, I met a professor whose research field does not match my research interest but it still ended up with a nice conversation. He started his topic on continental drift and asked me what ocean will shrink and what ocean will expand. Then he told me several phenomenons in his research and asked me to establish hypothesis based on the discovery. This is the most interactive interview I have ever had. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poweredbycoldfusion Posted February 16, 2015 Share Posted February 16, 2015 There are some interviewers who are on the adcom, and they meet with every candidate. It's very clear who these people are because they're usually not related to your specific research (unless you were interested in their work anyway), and they ask more questions about why you chose the program or what attracted you to it. I would say about half my interviewers were on the adcom, and my other half were professors looking for students. Anyway, yes, there definitely is a ranking going in, even if it is a loose one. It's clear that some people have more interviews from professors (as in more profs are interested in having them rotate in their labs). Schools interview students differently; some schools are basically interviewing their wait list and their acceptance list and some schools are only interviewing top candidates. Even at schools with very high acceptance rates, there are always going to be students who are rejected because a student behaved inappropriately, was arrogant, or the research fit was very poor (there ended up being a small number of profs for them to work with and they didn't interview well with those profs). Also, the fellowship/trainee grant thing exists so that the school can try and attract their top candidates because top candidates will usually get multiple offers. I wouldn't worry about not getting an acceptance yet, though. Some people on grad cafe have gotten accepted, but there are many schools who are still interviewing and won't notify for a while yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peachypie Posted February 16, 2015 Share Posted February 16, 2015 Yeah it is crazy how arbitrary the process can seem because I am thinking it has to do with the "vibe" they get from the person they are interviewing. Maybe I can feel fine, but they are actually able to read how confident I am at explaining science and if I am the person I said I was in the application, but I have no idea how because I'd have to be outside of my own body in order to know how I presented myself. I am definitely on the more worried side because I had lower numbers (I am assuming this as I did not ask) and less interviews at other places than most of the other people interviewing. I did get two people I did not ask for and the interviews did go differently than the rest, but they also happened to be my favorite ones. They really seemed to like me and my "story" and did not bring up my below average GPA at all. For some reason I was very scared someone would bring it up, but it didn't seem to be an issue for any of the professors I talked to. Everyone has to wait until March for a decision and I will constantly be over thinking this until then. I wouldn't assume anyone HAS to wait until march unless a school explicitly told you that no offers would go out until March. I interviewed at places their "first" weekend and knew they had interviews going into March but received acceptances prior to following interview weekends. just keep busy you have done literally everything you can at this point, time to relax as much as you can. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quietedge Posted February 17, 2015 Author Share Posted February 17, 2015 (edited) They explicitly told us March. And grad students from last year also didn't find out until March. At least I know when to expect the decision! Edited February 17, 2015 by quietedge Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HashtagKitKat Posted February 27, 2015 Share Posted February 27, 2015 I hope my interviews went well. I know when the adcom meets (they have it on their calendar) and know of a student who went on the first trip and was offered admission the day after their adcom met. I've been analyzing all of my behavior and god I hope I didn't come off as arrogant, disingenuous, or disinterested. What does it mean that I did not have an offer the day after adcom met? Am I waitlisted? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poweredbycoldfusion Posted February 27, 2015 Share Posted February 27, 2015 Yeah according to the acceptance rate they told us....around 30 people are going to be rejected. So I guess I'm wondering what factors they look at in order to determine who the rejected people are. It's scary to think that one can feel confident about his/her interviews and still be rejected. You're probably wait listed first. A prof confirmed this for me at a recent school. That said, being waitlisted at my preferred program and having to take an acceptance at my back-up still means I'm going to grad school. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ragneo Posted February 27, 2015 Share Posted February 27, 2015 I have a feeling some schools do... For example, one of the admissions committee members, who I interviewed with, told me that they really wanted me, and that's why they nominated me for a training grant and fellowship (there was about 2 of us out of 20). He was saying how they wanted to lay it all out on the table to make it clear they wanted me and make it convincing for me to accept their offer. Although, I have no doubt in my mind they would have rejected me if I had done anything behaviorally concerning. poweredbycoldfusion 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now