Interview Questions you may encounter (Feel free to add some)

[PsychGirl1]

Heh. I can see the headlines now.  "Would-be psychologist arrested in flaming penguin incident: I did it for the interview!" 

 

"Flaming penguin incident".... I like where this is going. :-)

[stefanka]

           Prof, D. R., & Grad, S. (2013). Limits of would-be graduate student behaviour after mock interview process: from nudity to flaming penguins. Journal of Experimental Psychological Sciences, 10(2), 114-117.

Edited January 29, 2013 by stefanka

[PsychGirl1]

           Prof, D. R., & Grad, S. (2013). Limits of would-be graduate student behaviour after mock interview process: from nudity to flaming penguins. Journal of Experimental Psychological Sciences, 10(2), 114-117.

 

Now that's a paper I want to be on my CV!!!

[jitterbug1472]

For the "If you're accepted to graduate school, what are your plans?" question, would a good answer refer to your academic plans, financial plans, plans for after obtaining your degree, or something else?

 

"How will you be able to make a contribution to this field?" and "What do you believe your greatest challenge will be if you are accepted into this program?" Does anyone have suggestions for good or bad responses to these two questions? It seems hard to know the answers to both at this stage in the game.

 

And, I see it debated again and again, but what do you think is the best way to answer "What other schools are you considering?" For me, this is tricky because my first interview is in Florida but all of my other programs are centered around NY and PA and I don't want them to get the wrong impression that I'm trying to stay close to home/would be unwilling to move.

[RubyBright]

For the "If you're accepted to graduate school, what are your plans?" question, would a good answer refer to your academic plans, financial plans, plans for after obtaining your degree, or something else?

 

"How will you be able to make a contribution to this field?" and "What do you believe your greatest challenge will be if you are accepted into this program?" Does anyone have suggestions for good or bad responses to these two questions? It seems hard to know the answers to both at this stage in the game.

 

And, I see it debated again and again, but what do you think is the best way to answer "What other schools are you considering?" For me, this is tricky because my first interview is in Florida but all of my other programs are centered around NY and PA and I don't want them to get the wrong impression that I'm trying to stay close to home/would be unwilling to move.

 

If you have long-term plans that are more than just "make enough money to eat," go ahead and let them know. But they're probably more interested in your during-the-program plans, unless they specify after the degree.

Good or bad responses? Just be honest and be humble. If they ask about your greatest challenge, give them something real (not "I think I work too hard"), but not overly serious, and tell them how you're going to overcome it. Anytime you tell them something that may be negative, try to pair it with a positive.

As for the schools, just tell them something like, "A couple of my top choices are School X and School Y," preferably in two different states, but don't give them the full list. They'll assume there are more schools than the ones you named.

[clinicalpsychphd]

What are some potential questions that you may encounter during an interview with a graduate student? 

[GingerbreadLatte]

(delete)

Edited February 3, 2013 by GingerbreadLatte

[DarwinAG]

For those of you that didnt know specifically who you were interviewing with, how did you prep and how did it turn out?

 

From my experience, you will usually interview with a host of people that you haven't even considered in your radar. I think they just want to get a you a feel for faculty. I did not really prepare anymore than I would for someone I was interviewing with. Most of these interviews are just to assess what you already know about your research and your ability to think critically and talk about research. If we have gotten to a point where we have an interview, these are skills we already have. Most of my interviews have been very casual and relaxed, even with some of the big names in the field. I've had a lot of fun just talking about different studies. When I don't know about something, I say it. When I think I am confused about something I don't try to hide it. Know your strengths and weaknesses and try not to hide anything imo. It's been working out well for me so far.

 

Of course, you may mean that actually interviewing with someone who you didn't apply to but may want to work with you? In which case, I would just allow them to dictate the conversation.

[hobochic15]

Just wanted to add that I had an interesting conversation with a POI where he asked me about obscure events/ historical figures etc. just to see if I would claim to know about them when I in fact did not. I'm not sure whether this has ever happened to anyone else... Anyways, never pretend to know more than you do- it's much better to admit that you are uncertain about something than to get caught in a lie. Be honest and then steer the conversation back to something you DO know about. 

[Angua]

Thought I would add a few questions I've gotten about my interests that might apply to others (particularly those applying to heavily interdisciplinary programs or departments):

 

• We (in X Social Department) do a lot applied work, but we also do a lot of theory-building work.  Which would you say is your preferred balance of applied/theory work? [or] You've done a lot of applied work, are you open to and/or interested in more theoretical work?  [or] Let me ask you the (Name of Professor in the Department)-question: what does your (applied) work tell us about the way the brain works?
• What is your preferred approach to research? Is it analysis of existing datasets, quantitative methods, experimental (etc.)?
• If you had all the resources you wanted, what's the first question you would set out to answer?

[Lisa44201]

• How would you apply my preferred statistical analysis to your specific area of research interest?
• What's the thing that worries you the most about the field of psychology today?
• What would you say has been your greatest accomplishment to date?

[abeilles]

I had two interviewers at one program ask "If you were offered a million dollars right now to conduct any study, what would it be?"

[psychsquirrel]

The only question that caught me off guard was, "What questions do you want us to ask you?"...this was after we had spoken for a while

[zapster]

1st question - are there any other specific programs you are seriously considering.

 

Was sort of expecting such a question but not straight upfront.

[earl.palamino]

The hardest first question i got was:  "So, what can I tell you?"

[kaister]

The hardest first question i got was:  "So, what can I tell you?"

Ugh! I got this same question too.  And it was like my last interview so most of my questions had been answered already.  Needless to say it wasn't a great interview.

[ShiningInShadows]

I wish I found this thread weeks ago! Fortunately I still have about 165 hours until interview time (probably the only interview I will have... trying to not obsess too much!).

 

 

For those of you who go/have gone in with the research proposal question in mind, how developed should this generally be? In preparation I've generated a couple ideas for potential dissertations but I haven't totally fleshed them out partially because I'm not sure on what limitations I'm going to have, what the impact of my advisor will be (fortunately we have very close research interests) and in truth I'm busier starting a paper I'd like to try and get in press before I return to academia (there's an assumption or two in there I know) and I have a precon next month I'm doing solo so my attention has been fairly divided. I feel like I should get more details as to what could be in a proposal but I fear I'm overthinking it.

Edited March 11, 2013 by ShiningInShadows