Interview horror stories?

[amccjl]

I was wondering if people could share their experiences with in-person interviews. I was invited to interview at a university that I am very much hoping to get into. All of my travel and expenses were funded, so I know that they are seriously considering me. However, they are also inviting twice as many applicants as they can accept, so it's crucial that I stand out. Unfortunately, I tend to get very nervous and panic when under pressure. It's something that I've been working on and have gotten better at, but my best strategy for dealing with this is to be prepared for absolutely any situation that I could possibly encounter. Therefore, I would especially appreciate insight on the following:

a. Has anyone had any particularly terrible experiences in interviews? 

b. Any trick questions or weird scenarios that have stumped you?

c. Any particular component of the interview that you didn't prepare for?

d. Any general advice or tips? I'll be meeting with the director of graduate admissions, faculty member on the board of admissions, in addition to a myriad of other faculty in the department. It also concludes with a dinner (cue social anxiety).

 

Thanks!

[pterosaur]

One lesson I've learned: when you don't know something, admit it. They'd prefer the honesty, and there's no way you can prepare for absolutely every possibility. But be willing to speculate and think about what they've asked. PhD interviews aren't usually interrogations, though, so I wouldn't stress out about that too much.

The other thing that I've felt makes a big difference is standing up straight. I usually slouch all the time, but when I make a point to stand up straight and pay attention to my posture, I end up feeling way more confident.

[amccjl]

That's good advice- there's nothing worse than listening to someone pretend to know what they're talking about. The experts in your field will detect this instantly. To your second point, there are actually studies that show that feigning confidence in your body language even when you don't necessarily feel confident improves your performance and others' perceptions of you, so that's good advice for all involved in the interview process.  

[StrongTackleBacarySagna]

6 hours ago, pterosaur said:

PhD interviews aren't usually interrogations

That would be hilarious

[knp]

The admissions version of this:

http://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/faq-the-snake-fight-portion-of-your-thesis-defense

[quanto]

If it calms you down any, I just got back from an interview weekend where, at one point, our whole group was walking down the sidewalk. One guy tripped and fell onto a cactus. On top of that, he ripped a gigantic whole in the crotch of his nice pants he was wearing for the formal interview part. It can't get any worse than that. It was awkward as hell and really weird, because no one could figure out why he fell. Guess he just tripped over his own feet.

Edited February 8, 2016 by quanto
misspelling

[madbiochemist]

I also had quite a bit of anxiety surrounding my first grad school interviews. I was actually getting to meet experts in my field. I had to talk to them for 30 minutes-1 hour alone without sounding like too much of a dweeb. I feel like thinking about it that way really put me in a bad place for the first one, but luckily the professor was really nice and genuinely excited that I was interested in his work. So after that potentially terrible experience turned out okay, I decided to reframe the experience in my mind. I stopped thinking of it as an interview and started thinking that I had the opportunity to ask these brilliant scientists questions about their work and share a little bit of mine for an hour. Once I thought of it as a conversation, I felt really confident (which is really difficult for me) and I think it showed. So no horror stories, just some advice. Even if it doesn't work out, you've gotten the chance to have a great conversation with someone really smart. And I feel like if you approach it that way and make sure you can explain your own work well enough, you can't really go wrong.

Good luck with your interviews!

[bandinterwebs]

My first interview experience was actually quite horrible, and at a school in which I was particularly interested, too. 

1) I read one forum that said a good leading question is to ask which research projects your POI is most excited about. This did not work out well for me - the professor looked insulted that I was not already familiar with his work. I'd done some reading on his work, but not enough to pointedly ask about Project X. In other words - due diligence - feel comfortable with the portions of their research to which you can speak.

2) Another forum suggested asking if they had space in their lab for more students. This was also a bad idea. Perhaps because I'd already irritated him in Step 1, I immediately felt that this was too aggressive.

3) Because there aren't a ton of professors doing research in my area, I also signed up to interview with professors in other research interviews. The first question I was asked was, "Why me?" or "What interests you about Subject X?" (My resume is very tailored to what I actually want to do). I had no idea, and I realized immediately that I could not fake an interest in these subject areas. News flash: Don't try to fake an interest in something that doesn't interest you.

I have at least four more interviews coming up, so let's hope I got the bad one out of the way!

[Diamond League]

Had a very bad interview for PhD ahead of Spring 2016. I agreed with the professors to do a skype interview. had already set up everything on my computer and possible questions and answers.  was expecting everything to go smoothly. But the day of the interview, skype blanked out globally (sometime in October 2015) for a few hours.

When time for the interview came, I got so disoriented and worried about what to do. Interviewing committee members then asked me if I could use phone instead and I did. I lost my bearing in the first 15 minutes of the phone interview but caught up later on, by then was too late, blabbed a lot in the first few minutes.

If possible, I'll advise you to prepared for the worst before an interview. I'm having some other interviews coming up again in a weeks, I'll try my best to be there physically. I think that works better for me,

[savay]

I had to do a Skype interview with the Chair of the department and another professor in my secondary research language (Danish) -- which let's just say is not my strongest spoken tongue. And because of their schedules we had to do it very early in the morning and I am not a morning person. I was dreading it. So much. 

I could understand the bulk of our conversation, but replying in kind was absolute torture and ridiculously embarrassing. My limited spoken vocabulary became apparent within the first minute. Fortunately I made it very clear in my application that it was not my primary research language. I was putting in so much effort to just follow the conversation that I had no ability to be strategic or intentional with my answers -- being understood was my only priority. They asked which program was my first choice and without thinking I mentioned a different school, realizing with dread after the fact that I could have been a bit more diplomatic with my answer.

Ugh, I managed to get accepted to the program with a decent offer, but I still don't like to think about that interview.

[EdNeuroGrl]

On 2/6/2016 at 9:32 PM, knp said:

The admissions version of this:

http://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/faq-the-snake-fight-portion-of-your-thesis-defense

aaaaaaand I lost it... started laughing in the middle of the library... thanks ;-)

[knp]

I assure you, the snakes are very real...:D so funny