ion_exchanger Posted January 20, 2014 Posted January 20, 2014 Just a sidenote: It was funny and sad at the same time that I was interviewing in a pants suit with PI's who were wearing ripped jeans and no shoes. biotechie, braaaaaiinnns, pyrocide and 1 other 4
ss2player Posted January 20, 2014 Posted January 20, 2014 Just a sidenote: It was funny and sad at the same time that I was interviewing in a pants suit with PI's who were wearing ripped jeans and no shoes. No shoes? That sounds...unsanitary. And smelly. perfectionist 1
Adenine_Monarch Posted January 20, 2014 Posted January 20, 2014 Has anyone encountered a need for formal attire during an interview? It is science after all and I get the sense is that casual dress is the norm, but since I'm coming from abroad for several interviews I'm hoping not to have to pack a suit. Well, I just came from the USC PIBBS interview and their culture is definitely business formal. The men were all in suits and the ladies in skirt suits or nice slacks/blouse/jacket or nice dress combos. It was a two day thing and the second day everyone seemed to dress down a little but it was only slight. And of course for hanging with the grad students, it was casual. I'd say just do whatever your program tells you to do, erring on the side of looking nice since you can always dress down from formal if you need to. I think it's better to look serious about it all than not. It is like a job interview, after all. I have been told that UUtah and Stanford are both casual, btw. perfectionist 1
threading_the_neidl Posted January 20, 2014 Posted January 20, 2014 USC is probably a bit of a formal outlier as far as west coast style goes.
mike0982 Posted January 20, 2014 Posted January 20, 2014 Is it appropriate to ask a PI about their mentoring style during an interview? (i.e. how often do they like to talk face to face with students, how they handle the process of paper writing, how available they like to make themselves to students, etc?)
wwellington Posted January 20, 2014 Posted January 20, 2014 I would say that is one of the more important things to ask a potential advisor. Chimeric Phoenix and ss2player 2
ashcanpete Posted January 20, 2014 Posted January 20, 2014 Is it appropriate to ask a PI about their mentoring style during an interview? (i.e. how often do they like to talk face to face with students, how they handle the process of paper writing, how available they like to make themselves to students, etc?) That is definitely something you can ask, and I don't think it would offend anyone. I might first try to ask related questions instead like: how many grad students are in your lab now, how many post-docs? If the lab seems big, I'd ask how many papers are you typically working on at any one time, that seems like a lot of projects you have going. . . and see what they say. I think its even better to ask a grad student/post-doc in their lab, you might get a more direct answer. Keep in mind that some PIs may present themselves differently in an interview than when you are working in their lab (I think its pretty rare, but I've met a few people that had a PI like this). I'd try to get opinions from multiple people before I made any judgments. Also,be aware that people can be very polarized in their opinions of PIs, so everything heard second-hand should be taken with a grain of salt.
Adenine_Monarch Posted January 20, 2014 Posted January 20, 2014 USC is probably a bit of a formal outlier as far as west coast style goes. That was why I wanted to point it out - so that people wouldn't think that all Cali schools were generally informal....
msr420 Posted January 20, 2014 Posted January 20, 2014 Did anyone get interview invitation or rejection from Neuroscience program at Baylor College of Medicine? I applied about at the mid December. I know they send interview earlier who apply before 1st December, and later if applied between 1st December and 1st January. The PI, whom I contacted with before application, wrote me two days ago that he was not involved much in the admission decision this year, but he could try to collect some information about my application status in the next few days. I have received no further correspondence though. msr420 1
Signal transduction Posted January 20, 2014 Posted January 20, 2014 (edited) Is it appropriate to ask a PI about their mentoring style during an interview? (i.e. how often do they like to talk face to face with students, how they handle the process of paper writing, how available they like to make themselves to students, etc?) I never been to a graduate program interview, but i had been working in a major food company for few years now and went through few academic job interviews as well. I would say you need to dress up that question differently. Like, "What are your expectations from your graduate student?" Mentorship is something it builds up after working together as well; so frame your question more "bucketwise" so that at least you both are on same page. And then hopefully everything will go right. Thankfully I got a great mentor where I work, wish you good luck on that! I know how important getting right mentor, as that is one of my first priorities too. Edited January 20, 2014 by Signal transduction
T.J Posted January 20, 2014 Posted January 20, 2014 Are schools working today? (NYC?), I have a holiday here in Houston.
Chimeric Phoenix Posted January 20, 2014 Posted January 20, 2014 Are schools working today? (NYC?), I have a holiday here in Houston. It's a Federal holiday, so no state schools will be working.
T.J Posted January 20, 2014 Posted January 20, 2014 Oh thanks . I'm international. My colleague didn't know if she used to get a holiday during her grad school. Chimeric Phoenix 1
byt2104 Posted January 20, 2014 Posted January 20, 2014 Columbia is closed - yay paid vacation! I assume the other private ones are too.
ss2player Posted January 20, 2014 Posted January 20, 2014 (edited) Columbia is closed - yay paid vacation! I assume the other private ones are too. You would be wrong! Everyone's at work today where I am and we're a private university. :-/ Probably due to the hospital affiliation. Edit: unless you mean NYC specifically. Don't mind me, just bitter that I have to work while many friends are off! Edited January 20, 2014 by ss2player
microarray Posted January 20, 2014 Posted January 20, 2014 Just got my invite for UMich EEB! Interview weekend Feb 13-15. They make travel arrangements so no need to worry about reimbursement, etc. iheartplants, ss2player and jl2782 3
iheartplants Posted January 20, 2014 Posted January 20, 2014 (edited) Just got my invite for UMich EEB! Interview weekend Feb 13-15. They make travel arrangements so no need to worry about reimbursement, etc. Way to go, microarray! Both schools- UofM and MSU are great schools and have great EEB programs! (I'm from The Mitten myself) Edited January 20, 2014 by iheartplants
ERR_Alpha Posted January 20, 2014 Posted January 20, 2014 I'm jealous of all of you who have casual interviews. Spending the day shopping for clothes has been hell. Settled on a long dress, a suit jacket, and nice blouses if I choose to wear pants. elanorci 1
microarray Posted January 20, 2014 Posted January 20, 2014 Way to go, microarray! Both schools- UofM and MSU are great schools and have great EEB programs! (I'm from The Mitten myself) Thank you iheartplants! I'm so excited for UM, it's my top choice! I actually applied to the micro program at MSU (more microbial ecologists in that dept). I was surprised by how much I liked the school and would be super happy there as well. I love how all of you Michiganders show the mitten when you talk about where you're from. Super cute. Can't wait to live there (hopefully!!) iheartplants and lasercats11 2
iheartplants Posted January 20, 2014 Posted January 20, 2014 Thank you iheartplants! I'm so excited for UM, it's my top choice! I actually applied to the micro program at MSU (more microbial ecologists in that dept). I was surprised by how much I liked the school and would be super happy there as well. I love how all of you Michiganders show the mitten when you talk about where you're from. Super cute. Can't wait to live there (hopefully!!) Haha, the hand is an immensely valuable geographic reference tool. Pretty soon, I'm sure you'll be using your hand-y map too (Delighted that I can drop bad puns on here and no one knows who I am) Enjoy Ann Arbor! Good luck at your interview!
lasercats11 Posted January 20, 2014 Posted January 20, 2014 I'm jealous of all of you who have casual interviews. Spending the day shopping for clothes has been hell. Settled on a long dress, a suit jacket, and nice blouses if I choose to wear pants. It was the worst. I spent hours trying to find a blazer that wasn't too stuffy and didn't make me look like a box. None of my interviews have specified a dress code, so I'm just trying to find some middle ground between my usual cardigan and a business suit. ERR_Alpha 1
nns91 Posted January 20, 2014 Posted January 20, 2014 (edited) Having my first one this coming Thursday-Saturday. I think I am just going to wear khakis pants, dress shirts, a tie, and my navy blazer. Sounds business casual enough? Planning to bring my suit pants, just in case Edited January 20, 2014 by nns91 LAguy 1
mmw77 Posted January 20, 2014 Posted January 20, 2014 Did anyone get interview invitation or rejection from Neuroscience program at Baylor College of Medicine? I applied about at the mid December. I know they send interview earlier who apply before 1st December, and later if applied between 1st December and 1st January. The PI, whom I contacted with before application, wrote me two days ago that he was not involved much in the admission decision this year, but he could try to collect some information about my application status in the next few days. I have received no further correspondence though. Yes, I received an interview invite from them on 1/9…. but I'm not sure if they are still inviting.
Justin123 Posted January 20, 2014 Posted January 20, 2014 Has anyone received a rejection email/something from MIT bio? hashirama 1
LAguy Posted January 20, 2014 Posted January 20, 2014 Having my first one this coming Thursday-Saturday. I think I am just going to wear khakis pants, dress shirts, a tie, and my navy blazer. Sounds business casual enough? Planning to bring my suit pants, just in case This is what I plan on wearing for my interview even though it might be considered "east coast" business casual and I'm interviewing at a western university.
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