Advise for my upcoming interview

[PhDchallenger]

Hi all,

I got my first and only interview invitation for next week. I'm nervous about what to expect and how technical might the discussion go. I'm certainly interested in the work of my POI but I'm not well versed in his works and definitely unable to carry out a lengthy discussion over it. I'm anxious that I will lose my chance because I'm unable to show that I'm interested through talking enough or showing that I know something.

HELP!

[vallaboop]

4 minutes ago, PhDchallenger said:

Hi all,

I got my first and only interview invitation for next week. I'm nervous about what to expect and how technical might the discussion go. I'm certainly interested in the work of my POI but I'm not well versed in his works and definitely unable to carry out a lengthy discussion over it. I'm anxious that I will lose my chance because I'm unable to show that I'm interested through talking enough or showing that I know something.

HELP!

I'm can't really help you out with what to expect (I have no idea myself) but as for your POI, I suggest reading a few of their most recently published articles to help you become more familiar with their work

[PhDchallenger]

34 minutes ago, cindyboop said:

I'm can't really help you out with what to expect (I have no idea myself) but as for your POI, I suggest reading a few of their most recently published articles to help you become more familiar with their work

I have been trying to familiarize myself with their recent work and reading their papers (especially ones that I feel matches my interest), but it's overwhelming. It's a lot of information to digest and sometimes I really lose track because I know for sure i can't know or memorize everything!

I guess I'm wondering what do they expect of me? For sure they know I won't know everything about their work or be able to discuss it with them. How much will the interview be focused on research topics!

[vallaboop]

24 minutes ago, PhDchallenger said:

I have been trying to familiarize myself with their recent work and reading their papers (especially ones that I feel matches my interest), but it's overwhelming. It's a lot of information to digest and sometimes I really lose track because I know for sure i can't know or memorize everything!

I guess I'm wondering what do they expect of me? For sure they know I won't know everything about their work or be able to discuss it with them. How much will the interview be focused on research topics!

Gotcha. Well it sounds like you've done your homework and they won't expect you to know everything. I think as long as you show you're familiar and interested then you should be fine. Try to prepare a few questions to ask them about their work and what they currently have going on. Other than that the interview will probably be more focused on you

[jk616]

Unfortunately I think it varies widely from program to program. For the most part though, programs probably won't grill you on how well you know their stuff. Just make sure you can talk about their work and how it relates to your interests. I think professors want to see that you can think critically and have an intelligent discussion about what you're interested in.  They also want to see if you're someone they could get along well with for the next 5 or so years. 

One great tip I've gotten is to bring a small notebook to the interview and write down a list of questions (as many as you can think of) to ask your PI. A big part of interviews is you asking them questions to see if it is a good fit for you as well and I have been told it's totally okay to pull out a list and jot down notes during your interview.  

[Timemachines]

Here's something thats helping me currently: I applied to programs and faculty with emphasis in neurospychology. There are a few annual conferences that are designed specifically for neuropsychological research and, as such, Ive looked up abstracts for people Im interviewing with to see what their most recent work is all about. Symposia and poster abstracts will not give excessive information away, however, you will know what's current..you'll also be familiar with their current preferred methodology and be knowledgeable about at least one active ongoing project in their lab. 

I'd also recommend looking for common factors across publications - do they publish with similar folks? are they publishing with a particular cohort? Feel comfortable name-dropping. You saw that your PI publishes frequently with so and so...this is cool because abc and xyz (remember to keep it focused) - or you see that your PI pulls data from the CDC...or some longitudinal cohort ...think about ways in which you could complement these areas of your PI's methods, or why you'd be interested in working with them. Pick 2 or 3 papers max that you feel like you can really speak about knowledgeably whether its because you were surprised about the results, or the limitations sparked your interest, or you were interested in the methodology or research question. This will definitely convey your interest in your PIs research!

Reread your personal statement too. I felt like I epically dropped the ball in a phone interview because I described very eloquently what I was interested in in my personal statement, but then never recapitulated over the phone until ~30 minutes into the conversation. This is a document you will not have in front of you so I think it's often overlooked to recap your own resume and pitch (via a statement) to a PI

sincerely hope this helps!!

[xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]

I think an alternative course of action is to read one or two of your potential advisor's theoretical papers. Those are papers where the researcher, rather than discussing a single study or a single series of studies, will offer some theoretical explanation for a phenomenon of interest. These papers are more general and often help in offering what a researcher's position on a given area or phenomenon is. If you're having trouble spotting papers of this sort in your potential advisor's publication list, it's possible that this researcher hasn't written a paper of this sort (especially if this research is a junior faculty member). If you want to DM me your potential advisor's name, I could have a look myself and send you what I think is your best bet. The reason why I think this is a good idea is that it gives you a general area to talk about, and its some thing about which you probably have some views of your own. Discussions of this kind are also less likely to require technical expertise.

[Neurophilic]

Prepare many many many questions for them. You’ve done your homework, but to truly show your interest they want you to ask about the program. Just don’t ask anything you can find on the website. 

You’ll do great!

[8BitJourney]

Hi all,

I went through this process twice (came out with accepts from 2/3 of my top programs this time around) and what I found that I did differently was that I was way less nervous and let the conversation unfold organically. This definitely means reading over their most recently published work and paying particular attention to the methods, results and the next steps they propose in the discussion (got waitlisted at one school for this XD because I was neck and neck with another applicant so this had to be our tie-breaker). But I found that for all of my in-person interviews it was more of a conversation rather than a q & a. Have questions but I don't suggest just throwing at them rapid fire one after the other; really get in-depth on crucial concepts if you can.

Another tip: think of your own study and a hypothesis+methods you would use for it. I had this come up both times I applied. It doesn't have to be super sophistication and grant application worthy just somewhat relevant to your PIs work to show that you did your homework.

Good luck!

[Clinapp2017]

So last season I applied to 10 clinical programs and was extremely fortunate to interview at 7 of them. I presumed I was waitlisted at 5 of the 7, although I got offers from 2 of my top programs (and took the very generous offer from the top program - a very prestigious/competitive program). Like 8BitJourney, I noticed that after attending 2 of the interviews my anxiety went down immensely. Not everyone has the luxury/luck I might have had last season, but here's my general advice:

 

1) Like everyone says, do your homework about your POI. Be familiar with your POIs works from the last 5ish years, and any major pubs in the last decade. If your POI has grant funding, look up the grant on the NIH grant website and read the brief description to think about how your potential dissertation work can fit under your POI's work while being unique enough. If the POI has a good lab website, look over it carefully... from this you can get good information about what other grad students in the lab may be doing, as well as what the lab may like to do socially. (My POI actually mentioned to me a few weeks ago that she still remembers how excited I was about the lab culture and the things that they do -- information I gathered from the website.) 

 

2) Do your homework about the program as a whole. What is the training model like? What can you expect in practicum? If these things aren't clear, ask during the interview to show that you care about your training! Some programs have some kind of weird stuff going on that have pros/cons (like an in-house guaranteed internship: rare), so asking about things like that without sounding presumptuous is important. 

 

3) Re-read your personal statement. People will mention it to you and ask you to tell you your "story." They'll also ask you "why clinical psych (or insert XXXX program here)." This should hopefully be spelled out in your SOP if you wrote a good one, so re-reading it once or twice before an interview (perhaps on the plane ride before or something) is a good idea. 

 

4) The 2 days before you leave for an interview, pack your bag. As silly as it sounds, I almost forgot to do this once between the stress of back-to-back interviews and my undergrad classes and other commitments. Make sure you have a suit ready and some more nice casual attire for the informal dinners/parties. I'd also REALLY recommend getting a thank you card and a small trinket from where you are from for your grad student host (if you are staying with a grad student). The personalized touch can really go a far way in showing you are thankful to them for going out of their way to let you stay in their home. 

 

5) On interview day: don't get into a competition with other applicants, but do be social with them. There is no need to compare experiences. Even if someone appears to be far more qualified, they are not. You are all there for the same reason and on an equal playing field. The important thing is that you focus on doing your best and being yourself around the POI and the program.  

 

6) To your main question: just be ready to have a conversation about their work and be excited about it! Talk about how your interests align with what you've read. Usually nobody is going to ask intense method details unless a background in the methods (e.g., neuroimaging) is essential to the work they do. 

 

Anyways, I hope this helps! Always willing to talk over PM too if you have any questions.

 

Best of luck!

 

-J

[wnk4242]

I just copy-pasted my answer from another thread regarding interview.

I had an on-site interview with four POIs at a university last week and a skype interview with 3 POIs this afternoon (3 hours after this skype session, I got an enthusiastic email from one of my POIs that said they were all very impressed with me and I got accepted...they usually extend offers in Feb...Also, English is not my native language, so, if I can do it, you can do it!)

Some important interview questions I have prepared include (and I think everyone should be prepared to answer these questions very confidently and fluently):

Your educational background;

Your best quality, characteristic, personality trait- this should be something that can facilitate your future research career, such as tenacity;

Why do you want to pursue a PhD- for me the answer is definitely that I love research; I love teaching; being a professor is a rewarding career;

Why do you want to do a PhD in this area (my area is quant psych/methods)- my answer is that I am more interested in methodologies and statistics than a substantive area; this is an area full of opportunities for growth; I love coding; great job prospects;

What are your research interests- I just gave a very general answer (in my area, POIs don't expect us to have a very clear idea of what topics you want to do in the future. You can just tell them you are interested in such and such area). If you have a more detailed answer and your interests match your POIs, that's even better;

What are your career goals- when it comes to goals, I think you should be specific, like I want to get 5 first author publications (you can even name a few prestigious journals in which you want to publish) ; I want to graduate within 5 years; I want to become an assistant professor in 6 years; I want to create very popular R packages; choose some challenging but realistic goals;

What is your greatest strength and weakness (yes, they asked me what my biggest weakness was)- I said that my greatest strength is my ability to solve problems in very challenging situations and I gave an example (very important); as far as my weakness, I said I don't have a strong background in math/stats but I'm planning on taking a few refresher courses like calculus online and after I begin the program I will take as many stats courses as possible (the truth is most incoming PhD students don't have strong background in math/stats in our field, so this is not a fatal weakness and it is something I can improve upon);

Which research project are you most proud of- they are giving you an opportunity to impress them, so be prepared with a great answer;

Why you want to join their program- I said my research interests match yours very well and I like the courses your program offers; I also said that I love this city;

Also, show your eagerness to learn and do research! They want to see that you are driven to do a PhD.

If you have these questions prepared, you will talk confidently in the interview.

One good tip I want to share with you guys is that keep your answers succinct, easy to understand, and to the point. I don't think they expect you to give very detailed and long answers within 30 minutes (that's the normal length of an interview). A very complicated answer is very likely to make them confused because when you are being interviewed, you will feel nervous, and your speech may become unorganized under pressure.

Also, think of an interview as a conversation, not a test. This is very important. If you think of it as a test, you are going to feel very nervous and uncomfortable. If you think of it as a conversation and an opportunity to tell them how great you are, you will feel very confident and look very confident. They want to see that confidence.

I never try to memorize my answers. I practice these questions by asking myself these questions while I am walking, cooking, doing exercises. At least for me, It's a very effective way to prepare for interviews.

Edited January 30, 2018 by wnk4242

[oddity]

One thing to try to keep in mind is that PIs are not trying to quiz you on their research. Obviously, you should be familiar with the kinds of questions they're interested in and perhaps theories they reference, but mainly so you can articulate how you might extend their work. I get ideas for this by looking for the open questions in the discussion section of their articles and I try to incorporate things I'm more familiar with into how I might address those questions. It's also helpful to look at the kinds of methods they use and try to find out what kind of resources they have so that you can propose something that it's actually feasible in their lab. If something about their work comes up in the interview that you aren't familiar with, you can always ask, show interest, and if possible, think critically about it! I've heard that in some rare cases, faculty can purposely try to throw you off by asking your opinion on some random theory. If you're familiar, that's great, but if not, they're also just seeing how you respond to the challenge. 

In my experience so far, most faculty just ask what kinds of questions I want to investigate with them. Sometimes they ask what specific IVs and DVs I think would be most interesting to look at but they don't expect you to have a full-fledged study perfectly planned out. One thing I keep hearing from my current advisors is that they really want someone who is great at articulating the research they've already been involved on. They understand that this is something that comes with training and they know you haven't been trained on their research...yet!