Is it tacky to answer a previously asked interview question within an email?

[agej]

Hi.

 

So, I had an interview to my dream school three hours ago. It went ok, but not as good as my previous two. Had 6 people interviewing me - wasn't expecting that. Got asked a question that threw me...I'm wondering if I can respond to this question via email to the person directly, even though the interview is over. They did mention I could contact them regarding any questions I had about the program.

 

Is it tacky to admit that you cocked up the question in the interview, but can give them an answer now without the pressure?

 

[selecttext]

If you really think that your answer to one question would result in a rejection then yes. otherwise, it is  kind of desperate.

[uromastyx]

I would also caution against this. Indeed, it may seem a bit desperate.

Also, it's really hard to get a feel for how an interview goes. Most likely, it was better than you think.

[Lulubelle]

Unless you said something horribly offensive, then I'd tend to agree with the others. Most interviews don't hinge on one single question. And I wonder if they'd even take your new answer into consideration. It would sort of defeat the purpose of holding an interview and not just emailing you a set of questions to fill out.

[agej]

Unless you said something horribly offensive, then I'd tend to agree with the others. Most interviews don't hinge on one single question. And I wonder if they'd even take your new answer into consideration. It would sort of defeat the purpose of holding an interview and not just emailing you a set of questions to fill out.

 

 

I would also caution against this. Indeed, it may seem a bit desperate.

Also, it's really hard to get a feel for how an interview goes. Most likely, it was better than you think.

 

 

If you really think that your answer to one question would result in a rejection then yes. otherwise, it is  kind of desperate.

 

 Thank you all...I'm definitely not going to send the email now. I'm very glad I asked...

 

As you said - it may have gone better than I think...only time will tell.

 

:-)

[RandiZ]

I don't think there is anything wrong with emailing a thoughtful answer to a good question. It is not about correcting an answer per se. It should be about, "I had time to think about one of your questions. It was so thought provoking that I wanted to give you a supplement to my answer." Seems very PhD material to me. As long as the answer legitimately adds something substantive to the conversation. Might want to just include it in a "Thank You" email so it doesn't seem out of place.

[ak48]

Good call not sending it out!

[rising_star]

You should send a thank you email/card to everyone that interviewed you. And, in the card to that particular person, you could say something like "I've given additional thought to what you asked about X and here are my more extended thoughts" type of thing. This is done all the time when people interview for jobs.

[smmmu]

My general advice would be that if you're concerned about the validity of an email you want to write in such a situation, come up with a question you need to ask the recipient to make the message more legitimate. E.g. instead of saying "I've thought about your question regarding my research interests a bit more and I would be interested in topic X as well I think.", say the same and then ask "Do you think this would be appropriate for your research group?". 

That way it sounds less like you're desperately trying to impress them, and more like you are legitimately interested in whether their group would be a good fit for you. I think for most topics you could come up with a similar follow-up question.

[St Andrews Lynx]

Sometimes interviewers ask questions that are designed to throw the applicant: to see how they respond under pressure, what their thought processes are like and determine where their knowledge barriers lie. I don't think that emailing an extended answer is necessary, just leave it be.

 

In future interviews if you get a question that you can't answer, I think it's OK to say "I need a bit of time to think about that - can we come back to that question a bit later?" 

[agej]

Thanks everyone! This morning I sent some thank you emails to the faculty members I was interviewed by. The responses have been pleasant, so I can just hope my cock up was not too disastrous. :-)