"Tell me about yourself"

[Snails]

I'm prepping myself for interviews, and this is the one question I'm stuck on. It just seems so vague - where do you start? Should you just talk about research and academic interests, or also about your hobbies and personal life? How do you give a basic overview of yourself without just repeating what you wrote on the SOP? Does anyone who's done interviews have advice on how to approach this question?

[Strangefox]

I'm prepping myself for interviews, and this is the one question I'm stuck on. It just seems so vague - where do you start? Should you just talk about research and academic interests, or also about your hobbies and personal life? How do you give a basic overview of yourself without just repeating what you wrote on the SOP? Does anyone who's done interviews have advice on how to approach this question?

You know I was puzzled myself about this question

I prepared an answer but during two interviews that I had they did not ask me to tell about myself!

Anyway, I was going to start like that: "I am XX years old and I was born in XX city. I studied at XXXX University" And then I was going to tell how I got interested in the topic I want to study in grad school.

I think there are many ways you can approach this question. Do not go into details, make the answer concise and professional, not too personal. If they want to know some personal stuff, they will ask you.

And do not be afraid to repeat things you've written in your SOP. They have read many SOPs so they might not remember some details and even if they do they might want you to elaborate on these things.

Good luck!

[newms]

Should you just talk about research and academic interests, or also about your hobbies and personal life?

I think primarily you want to focus on your research interests since that's the main focus, but you should have a few sentences to start off just introducing yourself, where you're from and your background. I wouldn't have a discussion of hobbies/personal life in my standard answer to that question, but be willing to talk about them if the interviewer asks a related question.

Edited January 28, 2011 by newms

[HappyCat]

I'm prepping myself for interviews, and this is the one question I'm stuck on. It just seems so vague - where do you start? Should you just talk about research and academic interests, or also about your hobbies and personal life? How do you give a basic overview of yourself without just repeating what you wrote on the SOP? Does anyone who's done interviews have advice on how to approach this question?

My general rule of thumb is something I gained from my business-oriented husband:

If you were on an elevator with the CEO of the company, what are the most important things you could tell him in that 30 second ride down?

Likewise, what are the most important things you can say about yourself in 30 seconds? I don't like jumping into the research right away, so I break the ice with explaining why my name rhymes (seriously, my first and last name rhyme): "It's my married name, and it was a choice." Always fun :-D Little background info, and then how I got to where I am academically and professionally.

[arkel]

I was asked this in a phone interview, and I focused on briefly outlining my "journey" to realizing that I wanted to attend grad school in my field (for me it started in university so I didn't have to go back too far), and it kind of led up to "so now I am applying to the University of X for grad school". I really emphasized the pivotal moment(s) that made me realize how much I love my field and why I would be happy to study it for many years to come.

I took a lot of the content from my SOP and elaborated on it a bit. I think it's a really good opportunity to show your enthusiasm for your proposed field.