Phone interview Qs

[peffy1962]

Hello!

So I have my first phone interview tomorrow for a Ph.D. program -- my top choice, actually, and I'm kind of freaking out. I've read everything I could find on the forum about phone interview tips and tricks and the like, but I have a couple of specific questions remaining.

1) When people say to "ask intelligent questions," should such questions be geared more towards the program itself, or the professor doing the interviewing? I.e., should I ask theoretical questions about his/her work, or stick to asking questions about departmental requirements and pedagogy, faculty interests and the like (beyond what is included on the program website, of course).

2) How do these interviews generally wind down? What sorts of parting words should I use? "I look forward to hearing from you... thank you for your consideration?" I'm probably over-thinking everything, as I tend to do, but I'm really stressed about how the call should wind down, and what sort of final impression I should make.

Thanks in advance for any input. I'm excited the next step in the application process has arrived, at least!

[fuzzylogician]

First off, congrats on the interview!

1. I assume you know who your interviewer is going to be? If they are a potential advisor, it couldn't hurt to be informed about their work. For interviews after acceptance, I found it was a good way to gauge how passionate people were about their research. It's not expected of you, though, so you don't have to sit and read whole papers by every interviewer!

Mostly you should concentrate on general questions about the program, which aren't obviously answered on the website. Actually, I've found that even when I asked questions that were answered on the website, I got more detailed and often more current information. So it's worth it to ask about the program curriculum reqs, funding, TA reqs, advising.. it's useful hearing it straight from the horse's mouth.

Here are some resources to check out (and references therein):

http://members.terra...ch/success.html

http://community.liv...thread=35706541

2. You're overthinking things here, just go with the flow. Thank your interviewers for their time, say you enjoyed the conversation and that you are looking forward to hearing back from them soon.

Good luck!

Edited January 7, 2010 by fuzzylogician

[socialpsych]

My favorite interview questions:

- (if a potential advisor) What have you been working on recently?

- What kind of student does well at this program?

- How would you characterize the atmosphere in this program?

Those two usually got me pretty far, together with follow-up questions and further investigating whatever sounded interesting. In my field, there is some variation in the way advising works (e.g. whether and when incoming students are assigned a primary advisor, and how much they are expected to work with other profs) so sometimes I asked about that as well. Finally, if I'd heard of anything that was unique or specific to that program, I often asked people to comment on that.

This is mostly subjective rather than factual stuff, because I thought that would be the most valuable thing to ask, but it is okay to ask for facts as well, as fuzzylogician said.

The person interviewing you may or may not say something about when you will hear from them next. If so, go with the flow. If not, ...well, what fuzzylogician said.

Congrats...and have fun! You've officially reached the fun part of this process!

[SomeoneTakeMe]

I had a phone interview this morning. Obviously i thanked them for their time during the conversation and for the opportunity. What is the appropriate etiquette regarding thank you follow ups? Should I write a follow up thank you email following the phone call or is that overkill?

Edited February 2, 2010 by SomeoneTakeMe