U of Toronto Bioinformatics MSc Interview

[hungryhungryhipster]

So yesterday I got an email from a top professor at UofT's Ontario Cancer Institute asking for an in-person interview. As an undergrad, I have been doing research for 2 years on pretty much the same topic as he is (protein interaction networks), although I tend more towards the comp sci aspects of it than he does. My bio background is admittedly pretty weak, but as I applied to the Computer Science department, and my degree would be strictly a Computer Science degree, even though I do bioinformatics, I would think that would be expected. In truth, I didn't even apply to his specific department. I just applied to the general CS program.

Anyway, his inital email was like this:

"After reviewing applications for the University of Toronto Computer Science graduate program a few of the computational biology faculty including me were very interested in your application. I am therefore following up with a request for an interview.

Would you be available for a meeting this week? Idealy Friday. We can setup skype or webex call.

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,

--First name only (followed by a lengthy signature with his full name and like 10 pages of distinctions, but he typed his first name as the signature, the rest was just added by his email client)"

Any thoughts? Should I be overly worried? I made no secret of the fact that I am predominantly a computer scientist rather than a biologist, and my transcript would have shown that as well (all I have is an intro organic chem course and a genetics distance ed credit, and nothing in high school after grade 10). Should I voice my hesitation in that I don't want to be in over my head? Just in case you aren't familiar, this professor is in computational biology, which, as opposed to bioinformatics, focuses more on biology than algorithms.

Also, I actually proposed that we meet in person, as I was going to be visiting my folks in the same city this weekend anyway. He said that would be even better. I was not even aware that grad schools interviewed people until now. U of Alberta and every other school in the country (I applied to all the top schools) accepted me without an interview, and their website said nothing at all about interviews whatsoever. Overall, my impression is that things in Canada are much less rigorous. For example, undergrad admissions are based solely on high school grades. That's all the universities can even see before admiting you. Contrast that with the American process of taking standardized tests and writing essays and such.

Anyway, I guess I should actually ask something lol. I get the impression that my qualifications are not in doubt (I actually had a glowing reference letter from a pioneer in the field, one of the founding members of SHARCNET and the IEEE floating point specification, as well as the inventor of paging, along with my current supervisor of two years who seems to like me on a personal level as well). So, should I just play it cool and make sure I'm likeable enough or should I still worry about being "good enough" in terms of qualifications? I don't usually have any trouble thinking on my feet, so I'm thinking of just winging it (I know my research like the back of my hand anyway, and besides they only gave me a couple days notice). People say I speak like Obama, in that I give the impression that I'm thinking everything through before I say it. I think my biggest weakness is cutting people off in conversation. Unfortunately, it's a classic symptom of my ADHD, and often I don't even realize I'm doing it.

Edited January 26, 2012 by hall1k

[Alphonse23]

I'd be ecstatic if I got this from a professor, and just for an M.Sc. You should review his research, and look up his published work, specifically the work that is related to yours. That's probably why he's interested in talking to you. The interview will probably be very polite, he's not going to put you on the spot or anything. If anything he'll probably try to convince you that UofT is right for you, and if you're applying anywhere else, you should choose UofT. M.Sc aren't usually that big of a deal, like a Phd is.

[hungryhungryhipster]

Thanks for your reply. I think I did just need some kind of reassurance. Coming from such a small town, the concept of even being contacted by someone of his calibre just blows my mind.

I am starting to read up on some of his papers, though I don't have as much time as I'd like. I'm going to bring a copy of the two papers I've had published (one in OC&I - optical communications, and one in RECOMB - a major bioinformatics conference). I think my main strength is that I have been doing graduate-level, novel research in the exact field he is interested in for two years already (since my 3rd year of undergrad), so I'm going to build on that. My biggest weakness, though, is that my background in biology is at about the grade 12 or early first year undergrad level. That said, if he points that out, I will make sure to politely remind him that I never claimed to be anything but a computer scientist, and that I applied to the computer science program specifically, not computational biology, which is his own faculty. Of course, I'll be sure to put it a bit more tactfully than that.