Questions to ask during an interview

[Edotdl]

So there are a decent number of threads talking about what questions you get asked during an interview, but I was wondering if there are some good questions to ask an interviewer who's not a POI (ie different research interests). I thought of funding, coursework, rotations, and picking research advisors from an external department. I feel like there's stuff I'm not thinking of though.

[peachypie]

You should probably (and most importantly) ask them about their research.  Just because they aren't someone you *think* you will want to work with, doesn't mean you shouldn't give them equal time and consideration that you do to those that you *think* you'll want to work with.  Things change and you can't anticipate that you'll be working with the people you named in an SOP, that they are accepting students, or that they are a good fit for you environmentally.  Therefore you should approach interviews and conversations with PIs as a great time to learn more about what kind of science they are doing.  I wouldn't ask about picking research advisors from an external department...that might be a question you ask after you get in. 

[toxicdevil]

In addition you could ask about current students, internship opportunities, placements of graduates, when will you have to choose an advisor, i.e. from the start or maybe later in your degree and about how funding relates to advisor, e.g. if you get an RA with one professor but you want your thesis advised by someone else.

[Biohazardia]

Talking with current graduate students and having done an interview myself, I would say questions that helped me out most were:

- About their lab atmosphere and mentoring system (Does the PI directly mentor students, or do post-docs mentor grads?) 
- Possible collaborations with other students, labs, hospitals, companies, etc.
- How students in their lab are funded
- What core research facilities and equipment does the lab have access to
- Do they let you network and go to conferences 
- For a non-POI I would ask if they will assign you a project or if you come up with your own project. If you are allowed to come up with your own project you may get to work on something closer to your own interests if you do end up working with that prof.

Then I would add 2-5 questions about their research anyway.