thegirldetective

Minnesota's one interview event is this weekend.

My adcom member interviews were like this as well. It was clearly more of a recruitment interview than anything else, and we talked a little bit about science, but mostly about the program itself. That said, I'm sure it's different with different programs.

If you are in a position where it's a deal-breaker if you both don't end up getting into the same place, it might be worth discussing with the program director. There might not be anything they can do, but if you definitely aren't going if your fiancé doesn't get in, what do you have to lose?

Based on me and my friends: Anywhere from three months to one week, with most coming in around 1-2 months. Shorter notice (~1 week) usually means someone backed out and they are pulling you off the wait list, which doesn't seem to happen very often.

I'd second all that, but I'll add two things: 1) Wear shoes you are comfortable walking in. Depending on the program, you may have to walk a quick ~15 minutes between buildings for interviews. 2) The colder climate places seem to be a tad more relaxed on dress code. You definitely don't want to wear jeans or anything, but they understand that not freezing to death may come at the expense of some professionalism. For my interviews, I wore dress pants (either black or gray) with a nice blouse and a sweater or cardigan. A few people wore suits, but not many. Edit to say: Unless explicitly told to dress casually, I'd aim for business casual-ish for all events. If it's just like, a dinner with students on the night you fly in, nice jeans and a good sweater will work.

For long term job prospects, all that matters is what you publish and where you publish it (and, unfortunately, who you know.) No one cares what department you are technically in, especially for a field like neuroscience that tends to house faculty members in a range of departments.

Depends on the program. In some cases, they straight-up won't give you an alternate date. In other cases, they will happily set up an alternate weekend for you. I don't think just *asking* about an alternate date will hurt you in most cases, but I'd proceed with caution.

In addition to your list: 1) Average time to degree 2) Retention rate 3) Departmental procedure for what happens if your advisor leaves before you are done

Chicago Neurobio sent out a round of invites awhile back - I can't say for sure, but I certainly didn't get the impression they were sending more. I don't know about Boston GPN, other than the one result on the Results page from about a week ago, but historically they send out invites now-ish.

HI there, I'm not familiar enough with biochemistry to recommend specific schools, but I have a few pieces of advice. 1) Make sure you stay in touch with your research mentor from the summer you spent doing research. Not to scare you, but their letter could make or break you. So do what you can to cultivate/maintain that relationship. Recommendations from professors are good too, but it's your research mentor's letter that will matter the most. 2) A 3.3 is a little low, but not an awful GPA, especially if you have great GRE scores, letters, and SOP. I would contact a few programs you are interested in and ask them what the range of GPAs for accepted students are, and if they have any hard cutoffs. This will help you determine a reasonable range of schools to apply to. 3) As Microarray said, any PhD program in the physical or life sciences worth going to will give you tuition and a stipend. They typically do not admit students who they aren't planning on funding. Masters programs are often unfunded, however.

I couldn't tell you how they're ranked in my field, either.

I definitely can't.

Dress like you would for an in-person interview. Definitely wear pants, just in case you have to get up during the interview. If possible, test out your interview location by Skyping with a friend to make sure you have reasonably flattering lighting and camera angle, your microphone works, etc. As far as interview questions go, it will probably be like a regular in-person interview. Check out these resources: https://sites.google.com/site/gradappadvice/notifications-and-decisions (Cog Neurosci specific) https://ncatmarc.wikispaces.com/file/view/UNC+2012+Grad+School+Interview+Guide.pdf (Bio specific, but probably applicable)

Would the funded degree still get you where you want to go, job-wise?

Yeah, I really would look into this. No matter how well intentioned the other professor is, an ombuds will know more about how you can protect yourself.

Contact the program coordinator (or whoever seems to be organizing the interview itinerary) and tell them this. They can then tell the grad students not to go to places that ID at the door, and it diffuses the awkward of you personally needing to tell the grad students as y'all are on your way out the door. If you're at a faculty member's house, a simple "I'm fine with water, thanks!" should suffice. I doubt anyone will give it a second thought. Also, I would try to banish the "I'm a baby who's too young to drink" mindset and cultivate the "I am smart and have my shit together, as evidenced by the fact that I graduated early" mindset

Pros: - Get a research job (additional research LOR + some additional skills, potential for additional publications and presentations) - Take a break from classes - Additional time to explore graduate programs, figure out exactly what you want Cons: - Very likely means having to move an additional time - You have to start paying back your student loans after 6 months

This is also why I think talking to the prof about their idea of how many first author pubs a grad student should have is key. Yes, they may say one thing and do another, but if they say that they believe a grad student should have at least X first author pubs before they leave, chances are they will help create opportunities for that to happen. And if early on your feel like you aren't getting enough, you can sit down with your advisor and say "Advisor, I'd really like to have a first author publication before I graduate. Can we discuss what sort of things I should do to make that happen?" Yes, some professors will still be awful and back track on what they said they were going to do, but I think the situation Lewin outlined above can be fixed in most cases by clear communication and expectations throughout the process. Another thing you could do it look at the last few years of graduates from your program, and figure out the average number of first author pubs they have. Then you can go to your prof and say "Based on the last few years, the standard seems to be that graduates have X first author pubs when they leave. What can I do (now, early in my grad career) to be on track to hit that number?" Again, some people will just be asses. But if your advisor gives clear expectations on what they think constitutes first-authorship, you can do what you can to make sure that you are fulfilling those expectations. Even if those expectations are particularly strict by the standards of your field/program.

I think the hierarchy is something like: research advisor in your field > research advisor in another field of science > professor in your field > professor in another field of science. With the exception that super big names can trump, as aberrent said.

I wouldn't make any assumptions about whether or not the interview is a "formality." Assume that whatever is true for the program as a whole is true for your specific situation. But yes, he is probably going to ask what his grad students/whoever else you interview what they think of you. And he probably trusts those people to make a sound judgement about whether or not you'll fit in with their research group.

This thread has a lot of helpful discussion: Busy and stressed is probably going to be true of most faculty that are coming up for tenure. But people often also complain about tenured advisors not really being around much to mentor grad students, or not having a realistic sense of the current job market. I've never heard of new profs not letting grad students be first author, but in my field the convention is for the PI to almost always be last author, so that could be a difference in fields. Just make sure you have a good, in-depth conversation with this person about their philosophy on mentoring, authorship, how graduate students should balance lab work with classes/teaching, etc. It's not as good as being able to talk to past grad students, but it can help to hear them articulate their ideals. Also: Does this person have postdocs or techs working for them? Those are good people to talk to.

In the sciences, it is generally seen as a red flag if your most recent advisor isn't one of your references. So a good-but-not-great reference might be better than no reference at all (which might be interpreted by new employers as "this person's grad advisor would have given a bad reference"). If you decide not to ask your advisor to be a reference, be prepared to explain why in job interviews (in a way that both doesn't make you look bad but also doesn't look like you're trashing your advisor). If you do decide to use your advisor, make sure you have other research references that are very strong. If your other references are very positive, your advisor's good-but-not-great reference may be viewed as more of a matter of personal style/tone, not necessarily reflective of you. Also, if you can get a reference from someone else in your graduate lab (a postdoc, maybe?) that could also help - while postdocs are generally not considered as good of a reference as faculty, having someone in your current lab vouch for you could be very helpful.

Pitt started sending out interview invites way back in December. They have several interview weekends, starting next week and going through February. Applicants were given their choice of dates. I have no idea if they are planning on inviting more people or not.

This is for Cog Neuro rather than straight Cog Sci, but you might find this helpful: https://sites.google.com/site/gradappadvice/notifications-and-decisions In general, for science programs, what I've heard is that its mostly a casual get to know you type thing, but *occasionally* faculty members will push you to the edge of your knowledge to see how you handle it when you don't know the answer to a question. This is not so much to judge you for not knowing as it is to see if you can maturely say "I don't know, but I could speculate X" or "I don't know, but maybe you could approach that question with X type of analysis" as opposed to trying to BS and hide that you don't know the answer.

Hi afinnega, I don't know anything about the school, but I have some suggestions for you: - Contact several faculty you are interested in working with, and ask them if they are willing to do Skype interviews with you. Ask them about their research, what their graduates have gone on to do, and what they think the strength and weaknesses of the program are, and what their mentoring styles are like. Be upfront about the fact that you have been accepted, but that you want to learn more about the program before agreeing to attend. - Contact the department and ask them to put you in contact with some current students. Ask them if they are happy, what their funding situation is, what their post-grad plans are, what the departmental culture is like, and what they think the strengths and weaknesses of the program are. They will probably be a lot more honest with you than program admins or faculty.