Interviews by field

[purplesmoke]

Hi y'all,

I'm just wondering, it seems like schools either interview people in one field, or don't in another. Why is this, and which fields go which ways?

[waddle]

The earth sciences programs don't often do formal interviews, I think. Virtually all biology & biomedical sciences programs do some form of interview prior to admission.

My hunch is that the programs that admit students without a prearranged advisor (e.g. in the life sciences, each incoming student generally does one or two rotations before choosing a thesis lab) do interviews because they want to see if the student can be compatible with the faculty in general. Also, I think most applicants in these fields won't have had any contact with a potential advisor prior to applying. In fields where a specific match of research interests is crucial (e.g. in the earth sciences, where getting in touch with potential advisors (or at least, trying to ... ) is the norm), I don't think there are formal interview days, but they do often arrange informal 'visit' days for applicants (but at this stage, most of them are already admitted).

[eklavya]

In fields where a specific match of research interests is crucial (e.g. in the earth sciences, where getting in touch with potential advisors (or at least, trying to ... ) is the norm), I don't think there are formal interview days, but they do often arrange informal 'visit' days for applicants (but at this stage, most of them are already admitted).

Slightly different opinion here. In my field (plant breeding and molecular genetics), most students get their MS before moving on to PhD. Furthermore, students are expected (required, in several schools) to make some sort of contact with POIs. Yet, applicants are invited for interviews before offering funding and admission. This, as you mentioned in your post, is for the purpose of matching students and profs with similar research interests. Meeting people in person, taking tour of the lab and facilities, getting to know the to-be cohort of grad students, etc are all beneficial for both student and prof on the long run. Another reason for in-person interview is for recruiting top students. If one school likes a student and wants that student to attend their program, chances are, that student is also liked and wanted by another good program to attend their program. So, schools invited students for interviews to show them that they are better than other schools. But yes, you are right. Virtually all lifescience programs invite students for interviews.

It is hard to segregate programs into inviting and not-inviting groups as it seems most programs invite students these days. Mostly research-based programs tend to send out interview offers than others (eg, skill-developing programs, teaching programs, etc).

[tso123d]

I was actually wondering the same thing. For instance in chemistry virtually no programs have formal interviews (by which I mean meaningful interviews, which act as a round of selection as opposed to simple recruitment meetings). I believe that's true for most programs in the sciences and engineering. The biggest exception is for the life-sciences where it appears that interviews are the norm. What the reason for this difference could be I have no idea. And in some cases the distinction seems to be completely arbitrary, e.g. in "chemistry and biochemistry" departments people interested in biochemistry don't have interviews but where a slightly different departmental arrangement exists, all of the sudden people wanting to wok in biochemistry are classified as being of the "life-science" type and have to go through interviews. In any case, I don't really see what would justify having such a different approach for admissions to different science programs. Perhaps it's just a matter of tradition?

Edited January 14, 2011 by tso123d

[Langoustine]

Hi! I just discovered Grad Cafe and I think I found a fix for grad school talk! I'm pretty sure my fam is way tired of hearing me gripe about it constantly! Anyways, glad I found this because I have no idea what to expect for grad interviews. So far it sounds like schools give these interview/visits before an official decision is made right? Is this true for people in biology/ecology programs? And when? I have a field job offer that might interfere with visits and I have until next week to tell them yes or no...

[eco_env]

Hi! I just discovered Grad Cafe and I think I found a fix for grad school talk! I'm pretty sure my fam is way tired of hearing me gripe about it constantly! Anyways, glad I found this because I have no idea what to expect for grad interviews. So far it sounds like schools give these interview/visits before an official decision is made right? Is this true for people in biology/ecology programs? And when? I have a field job offer that might interfere with visits and I have until next week to tell them yes or no...

I'm in ecology. I got invited to 1 interview so far. the interview at this school is happening after the admissions committee decided I'm "acceptable" but before I got an advisor, which is required for admission.

[Haustier]

Interviews for engineers are extremely rare......of course unless that is you're a biological engineer for some reason. Then again, I've never understood why biologists always interview but chemist never do

[jynx]

I can only speak for my field, but I've never heard of any clinical psych programs that admit grad students without interviewing them first.

[daliu87]

I'm getting ready for bioengineer/biomedical engineering interviews right now. For all my schools, the programs that are closely affiliated with a medical school or in the medical school have interviews, but the ones that reside in the engineering college don't require interviews.

Definitely seems like it depends on the culture of the field and college, traditionally medical sciences and biological sciences do interviews, while engineering and comp sci rarely do.