Not told names of interviewer PIs

[eevee]

For most of my interviews, I've been sent a personal itinerary including PIs that I'll be talking to, which is useful because I like to do a little reading up on them before I meet them. However, I have an interview weekend starting in two days and haven't gotten such a list; I've only received a "general" itinerary which says "interviews - refer to individual interview schedules." Is it acceptable to contact the program coordinator to ask where my individual schedule is? 

[rising_star]

You could ask but, if they haven't sent it to you it's probably because they haven't worked out all the details yet. I'd just prepare for everyone.

[TakeruK]

Most of the time, I got my individual schedule the night before or the morning of the event. Sometimes halfway through the way, there are people added/removed. Best to prepare for everyone (or at least, everyone that one could reasonably expect you to prepare for)

[naturevnurture]

I just got back from an interview where they gave us the interview schedule/itinerary on the morning of, with no prior information to what the day would be like at all. One of the graduate students mentioned that they do it every year on purpose to see how students respond. Your ability to be flexible/adaptable is definitely something graduate students and faculty look for and take into consideration during interviews, so just make sure to with the flow and not be difficult/inflexible with last minute scheduling!

[TakeruK]

1 hour ago, naturevnurture said:

I just got back from an interview where they gave us the interview schedule/itinerary on the morning of, with no prior information to what the day would be like at all. One of the graduate students mentioned that they do it every year on purpose to see how students respond. Your ability to be flexible/adaptable is definitely something graduate students and faculty look for and take into consideration during interviews, so just make sure to with the flow and not be difficult/inflexible with last minute scheduling!

Wow, that's harsh! I think evaluations on metrics that are not revealed to the applicant is a little unfair, and this kind of thing means some people with anxiety may be disadvantaged. I completely agree that being flexible/adaptable is an important skill for graduate school though. 

For what it's worth, when I wrote about getting schedules at the last minute above, they were all for places where the student has already been accepted and it's just recruitment. So it's not an evaluation in the same way anymore. The last minute schedule is just due to how hard it is to schedule things! So just in case people are worried about what may be secret tests, just a note that sometimes they are just logistical issues Don't overthink it!