Are interviews necessary?

[boneflower]

Hello all, 

 

I sent in my applications on December 10th, and have not heard anything back from any school yet. Each time I check online my application says "Submitted", so no updates there. I see a lot of students here hear from their PhD programs POI in form of an interview in late January/Early Feb before they are notified of admission. I'm getting worried because I haven't gotten any invites for interview. While it is a possibility I will get rejected from all of the PhD programs I applied to (coming directly from BA), I was wondering if anyone could give advice to the structure of interviewing system?

 

I am studying Near Eastern Archaeology, and applied to U Chicago, Berkeley and Brown (don't expect to get into Brown due to not fitting well in their program).

 

Thanks!

 

[lxwllms]

This will probably be unhelpful, but I think it really depends on the school (and the program). Not every program does it the same way, and the admissions process can even differ between different programs within the same school (I believe). For example, from some of the schools I applied to I received an email/phone call directly from a POI inviting me to interview. From others I received a generic email from a department head, program coordinator, etc.

 

That being said -- I wouldn't fret just yet! Sometimes interviews aren't the norm. If that's the case, you wouldn't need an interview to be admitted. When they are the norm, they're sometimes sent out in waves, so it's possible you just weren't part of that first wave of invites sent out. Like I said, it really varies. One of the programs I applied to even had rolling admissions.

 

It you're super concerned, you could email a graduate program coordinator and ask about the status of your application (or just where the program is in the admissions process). I think there is a separate thread on that though.

Edited February 9, 2015 by lxwllms

[lxwllms]

Another thing I forgot to mention is that there is probably a FAQ on your programs website that states whether or not they have interviews. It might give an interview date as well.

[anthony218]

Maybe your post already addressed this, but I am wondering in cases where you are know there are interviews, if you can assume that you are not going to be accepted if you weren't invited to the interview weekend. I am assuming if they have, say 5 open spots, they bring in 10 people to interview. So, the only conceivable way that you would get in is if somehow all 10 people decided to go somewhere else. Otherwise I don't see how you could get in if you are not asked to interview by schools that do interviews?

[boneflower]

I don't know whether my schools all conduct interviews or not. Their websites do not explicitly say. I've looked at previous acceptances on the results search, and nobody mentions an interview but that does not mean that they don't happen.

[shadowclaw]

I'm not in your field (although archaeology is so cool and I almost decided to pursue it as an undergrad). However, from my experiences in my own field, programs that interview generally state this somewhere on their website in the prospective/future students section.

One exception to this was UTK, which didn't say anywhere that they do interviews, but on the weekly seminar calendar, a Friday is marked as graduate recruitment weekend. However, I can't be certain that means everyone will be interviewed prior to being admitted. FIU also does a recruitment weekend, but they don't invite everyone they are considering for admission, and it's not listed on the website (I got this info from my POI). Another of my programs doesn't interview, and doesn't make note of this anywhere. I have seen a few programs specifically state that they don't do on campus interviews.

So to summarize, if there is no specific mention of an interview weekend on the program's website, there's a good chance they either don't interview or only interview some people (perhaps those they aren't sure about). The best way to find out for sure would be to email or call the department secretary and ask.

[Aubstopper]

Are you applying to anthropology or NELC programs? I am only familiar with the NELC program at UofC, if that is where you applied.

[anfisa]

As a matter of fact I have a close friend that got accepted to OI at University of Chicago. I suppose this is where you applied. As far as I know they did not have any interviews at the time, which was 3 years ago, I don's suppose they changed it. They had their recruitment weekend late march. This was the first time he went there.  

I hope this was useful. 

[boneflower]

Thanks for all of your replies. I was not invited to interview at Brown, which was expected. Now people are posting in the results lists that they heard back (accepted) from the programs I applied to and I have yet to hear... don't think that's a good sign.

[boneflower]

Are you applying to anthropology or NELC programs? I am only familiar with the NELC program at UofC, if that is where you applied.

Yes I applied to NELC

[Aubstopper]

NELC at UofC does not interview (unless, I believe, there are some clarifying questions needing answering). They've already made their decisions according to my friends in the department and one of my LORs who is on the adcom. 

[boneflower]

NELC at UofC does not interview (unless, I believe, there are some clarifying questions needing answering). They've already made their decisions according to my friends in the department and one of my LORs who is on the adcom. 

Yes I just emailed the department and they said they would have their decisions out by the end of March, but if they already made their decisions, I'm not sure how to interpret this. Thanks so much for your input!

[Aubstopper]

Yes I just emailed the department and they said they would have their decisions out by the end of March, but if they already made their decisions, I'm not sure how to interpret this. Thanks so much for your input!

 

If you're anxious about decisions, I'd email your POI directly rather than administration. They're known, btw, to forward unsuccessful, strong applications to various MA programs around the university with partial funding (1/2 tuition with second year possibly fully-funded if you keep above a 3.5).