What to expect for "Chat about my application"?

[jurniss]

I received an email from a professor at one of my top 3 schools for PhD in Computer Science. It's a very competitive school.

 

I came across your application to our graduate program... I would like to chat with you for 15 mins regarding your application.

 

The professor didn't mention any official capacity like an admissions committee, or specifically describe the chat as an "interview".  The quote above was pretty much the entire email.

 

What should I expect to talk about in our call?  I'm obviously reading up on the professor's work, and preparing to talk about my background/goals.

[fuzzylogician]

15 minutes is pretty short so my guess is that this chat has two main purposes: first, to get a feel for you as a person and potential student (including making sure that you can stand behind your application and talk about the things that are written in it), and second, to get a better idea of how you fit with the program.

 

I think it's likely that the conversation will mostly be about you and your interests, and how they fit with the professor or department you are applying for. You should be able to answer questions about anything you mention in your application (e.g. past research projects, classes you took, what you want to study in grad school, what particularly draws you to school X) and things that recommenders might have mentioned in their letters. You should also have good answers to "why work with me" or "why do you want to attend our school" and in that context it might be useful to know something about the professor's current and recent research, including their recent publications or projects. I don't think it's necessary to know the specifics of the papers, since it's unlikely to come up, but if there is anything in particular about this prof's work that you admire, make a point of mentioning it or asking about it. Finally, make sure you prepare a few questions for the professor. These interviews normally end with "do you have any questions for us?" and it's good to have something ready for that (though 15 minutes is kind of short so maybe you won't have time for that). E.g. you could ask about things like how many students the prof has in his lab, what his recent graduates are doing, what the characteristics of a successful student working with this prof normally are, or specifics regarding the program that you can't learn about from the website(!).

[braindump]

This is very helpful - thank you!!