Dressing for interviews

[RM17]

10 hours ago, TakeruK said:

And the places that are really warm most of the time are in a literal desert. It will get much colder at night!

That was one of the most shocking parts of leaving California for college - I marveled to all my friends that I didn't need even a light sweater when I was out late at night in the summer. They all thought I was crazy, but "layers" had been the mantra of my youth, and it was definitely necessary year round when I was growing up...

[RM17]

10 minutes ago, VirologyPhDinTraining said:

First, my situation isn't typical. So take what I will say with a grain of salt. I went with very business casual. Expensive jeans, nice white button down shirt and a blazer. I got into all programs I interviewed for as well. Now the reason I say take this with a grain of salt is that I walked in with a masters, multiple first author publications, 3 long, very strong letters of rec, two from people well recognized in their fields. And the real kicker is that I am now in a program I didn't even apply for.

I would say that dress is the last thing I would be concerned about. I would practice interviewing, being able to talk fluently about any research you have done, and ask intelligent questions about their research (I would suggest, once you know who you are interviewing with read all pubs out of their lab in the as 2-3 years).

I definitely agree that attire isn't overly important, within reason, although I understand the concerns of folks especially who don't have experience interviewing for jobs and/or with the weather in an area they'll be visiting.

I also agree that it's super important to be able to talk about your own work, why it interests you, and what you want to do in grad school - that is, after all, why they're bringing you in, and what will be the deciding factor the admissions decisions.

However, I don't think you need to read every article for every person you're interviewing with - I did this for my first interview, and I found it to be overkill (and I also got into all schools I interviewed at). I would definitely familiarize yourself with their biosketches, and read more for the people you're really interested in - maybe a couple articles and a few more abstracts. Though there was a lot of time for me to ask questions during the interviews, and though I did speak to why the lab environments of the people I wanted to work with were interesting and a good fit for me, there just wasn't that much time to get into the nitty-gritty. It was almost like explaining my research to friends and family, albeit slightly more technical - but only a couple people I met at each school had an in-depth knowledge of my field of study (and vice versa).

I'm definitely not advocating going in blind, but depending on the school you could be meeting with 5-10 faculty members, and that is A LOT of reading...like with everything else, though, if it makes you feel more comfortable (and you have the time), do it! I wouldn't say, though, that you should agonize about being underprepared if you can't get to all of their recent papers.

[VirologyPhDinTraining]

6 hours ago, RM17 said:

I definitely agree that attire isn't overly important, within reason, although I understand the concerns of folks especially who don't have experience interviewing for jobs and/or with the weather in an area they'll be visiting.

I also agree that it's super important to be able to talk about your own work, why it interests you, and what you want to do in grad school - that is, after all, why they're bringing you in, and what will be the deciding factor the admissions decisions.

However, I don't think you need to read every article for every person you're interviewing with - I did this for my first interview, and I found it to be overkill (and I also got into all schools I interviewed at). I would definitely familiarize yourself with their biosketches, and read more for the people you're really interested in - maybe a couple articles and a few more abstracts. Though there was a lot of time for me to ask questions during the interviews, and though I did speak to why the lab environments of the people I wanted to work with were interesting and a good fit for me, there just wasn't that much time to get into the nitty-gritty. It was almost like explaining my research to friends and family, albeit slightly more technical - but only a couple people I met at each school had an in-depth knowledge of my field of study (and vice versa).

I'm definitely not advocating going in blind, but depending on the school you could be meeting with 5-10 faculty members, and that is A LOT of reading...like with everything else, though, if it makes you feel more comfortable (and you have the time), do it! I wouldn't say, though, that you should agonize about being underprepared if you can't get to all of their recent papers.

If you're meeting that many then it is overkill. Judicious reading is always a good idea, discussion, introduction and being familiar if there are procedures the lab uses all the time is a good place. As for dress, at interviews its not really the case, but there is definitely a casual atmosphere that makes you stick out if you overdress.