PhD Interview Prep

[JennaMiller221]

I applied to a handful of US History PhD programs, one of which replied last month with the following:

• Your application to the US History program has been sent to the committee for review. The program expects to contact applicants who are selected for an interview in early February. You will receive an email once a decision has been made.

Granted, I may not even be selected for an interview, but on the off chance that I might, what advice do you have for applicants preparing for such interviews? What notes, if any, can we bring with us? What should we be expected to discuss? Any past questions to share? Last-minute advice?

Also, do all programs require an interview? Does being called in for an interview mean you are a weaker candidate? 

I would appreciate any and all advice. Thank you!

[semling]

Being asked for an interview is a sign that you're in the top tier of candidates. Based on the numbers from the school that I interviewed with, when I first applied I had less than a 10% chance of acceptance, but the fact I had been selected for an interview meant that I now had about a 58% chance of acceptance. So a big jump.

As far as the interview itself, you can google "grad school interview" and you'll find lots of articles with sample questions and advice. In short: Be prepared to talk about your background and research interests extensively, and make sure you really know the program and the research interests of your POI(s). Have some intelligent questions to ask.

And try, as much as possible, to relax and be yourself. (A professional version of yourself of course.) A lot of the interview evaluation is "I'm going to spend the next several years with this person, would that be enjoyable or would they drive me crazy."  :-)

(BTW, I don't know my results yet. My advice here is based on experience on the other side of the table in job interviews and on an Ivy League undergrad admission committee.)

Edited January 25, 2018 by semling

[Elephas]

On 1/16/2018 at 9:34 PM, JennaMiller221 said:

Granted, I may not even be selected for an interview, but on the off chance that I might, what advice do you have for applicants preparing for such interviews? What notes, if any, can we bring with us? What should we be expected to discuss? Any past questions to share? Last-minute advice?

Also, do all programs require an interview? Does being called in for an interview mean you are a weaker candidate? 

I would appreciate any and all advice. Thank you!

Advice: 

• Read your interviewers website, research they're currently doing and general info about the department it is
• Be able to ask questions about the department and the person specifically
• Have like 10-15 questions because I had one interview where he literally had no questions for me and he just wanted me to ask him questions and find out things about the program etc etc.
• You can expect to discuss anything in your statements of purpose. Research they are doing and how you could fit into that. Maybe a point of weakness on your application if you have some.
• My interviews have been over the phone I just wrote a list of questions and notes and had that in hand. In an in person interview I'm not certain.
• Being called in could be anywhere on the spectrum: 1. seeing if you fit the college. 2. you had a weakspot want to know if it can be overcome 3. really like you but they need to interview as a part of admissions so they just throw one out there
• In my field not all programs require the interview and i'm sure that's similar