Berkeley interview

[Albertlulu]

Hi, I received an interview request from one of the POIs at Berkeley stat and I was wondering if anyone can share how Berkeley stat interviews are usually like? Also I noticed that some people received two interview requests but I have only received one so far. Does anyone know how this process works?

[catbug]

Following cuz I wanna know too, even tho for a different program:) Im curious about what their post-interview acceptance rate looks like esp for in-person interviews.

[bigbabydavis]

Did you hear from them after the interview? I wonder whether the offers have been sent out. Thank you!

[Stat Assistant Professor]

My department conducts interviews with a "long list" of applicants that we are considering admitting. The way that we do it is:

1. In the first half of the interview, we (one of the faculty in the department) typically ask the applicant some questions based on their application. So if we see that the applicant is the co-author on a manuscript, we usually ask them to explain their contribution to the paper, what challenges they faced and how they overcame them, etc. If the applicant has teaching/tutoring experience, wrote or is writing a thesis, worked as a Research Assistant or did an REU, or mentioned some research interests in their statement of purpose, then we often ask about that. We don't "quiz" the applicant about their knowledge of their stated research interests -- it's more like, how did you become interested in this area? If there was one or two semesters of weaker grades, the applicant also has an opportunity to explain this.  

2. In the second half of the interview, we ask the applicant if they have any questions for us, and we answer their questions to the best of our ability. This is probably one of the most important parts of the interview, as it conveys your interest in the program and shows that you have done some research about the program. If an applicant does not have any/a lot of questions or if they say something that comes across as a "red flag" (like the applicant confusing our program with a different one -- it's happened before!), then it might give us pause and cause them to be rated down a little bit. But if the interviewee asks very thoughtful questions, then it can definitely help improve their rating/ranking. 

After the interviews are conducted, the admissions committee meets again and re-scores/re-ranks all the applicants, and then the top [x] ranked applicants are sent first-round offers. Everyone else on the long list (typically about half of the long list) is kept on the waiting list and has to wait to see if spots open up.

[bigbabydavis]

Thank you for sharing!

Edited February 21 by bigbabydavis

[bigbabydavis]

On 2/14/2024 at 8:19 PM, Stat Assistant Professor said:

My department conducts interviews with a "long list" of applicants that we are considering admitting. The way that we do it is:

1. In the first half of the interview, we (one of the faculty in the department) typically ask the applicant some questions based on their application. So if we see that the applicant is the co-author on a manuscript, we usually ask them to explain their contribution to the paper, what challenges they faced and how they overcame them, etc. If the applicant has teaching/tutoring experience, wrote or is writing a thesis, worked as a Research Assistant or did an REU, or mentioned some research interests in their statement of purpose, then we often ask about that. We don't "quiz" the applicant about their knowledge of their stated research interests -- it's more like, how did you become interested in this area? If there was one or two semesters of weaker grades, the applicant also has an opportunity to explain this.  

2. In the second half of the interview, we ask the applicant if they have any questions for us, and we answer their questions to the best of our ability. This is probably one of the most important parts of the interview, as it conveys your interest in the program and shows that you have done some research about the program. If an applicant does not have any/a lot of questions or if they say something that comes across as a "red flag" (like the applicant confusing our program with a different one -- it's happened before!), then it might give us pause and cause them to be rated down a little bit. But if the interviewee asks very thoughtful questions, then it can definitely help improve their rating/ranking. 

After the interviews are conducted, the admissions committee meets again and re-scores/re-ranks all the applicants, and then the top [x] ranked applicants are sent first-round offers. Everyone else on the long list (typically about half of the long list) is kept on the waiting list and has to wait to see if spots open up.

Thank you so much for sharing!

I was on the long list. However, I got rejected rather than waitlisted. Does this happen a lot?

I also wonder whether the ranking changes a lot after the interviews. Or is it like most applicants are unchanged or changed only slightly?

[Stat Assistant Professor]

31 minutes ago, bigbabydavis said:

Thank you so much for sharing!

I was on the long list. However, I got rejected rather than waitlisted. Does this happen a lot?

I also wonder whether the ranking changes a lot after the interviews. Or is it like most applicants are unchanged or changed only slightly?

It could vary from department to department. At my department, we do not reject anyone that we interviewed until early April. But UC Berkeley might expect a higher yield so they're comfortable rejecting applicants on the initial long list shortly after the interviews.

From my personal experience: Overall, the rankings change slightly or not at all for the majority of applicants on the long list after the interviews. However, for some applicants, a mediocre/bad interview can make them drop out of consideration for first-round offers. For those that are considered borderline, a stellar interview might also push them into the first round of offers. A great interview typically won't push these "borderline" applicants into the very top tier (i.e. the top rated applicants being considered for fellowships and graduate school topoff awards)... but they could get pushed up a few ranks and secure a first round offer.

Edited February 21 by Stat Assistant Professor