Questions to ask non-POI faculty

[PhD_Wannabe01]

Hey all,

I am having a little bit of difficulty thinking of questions to ask faculty members that I will be interviewing with that are NOT my POI. Specifically, as part of the application process, I have to be interviewed by other faculty members. I have ZERO CLUE what to ask... Any help would be greatly appreciated.

P.S. If you have any good questions to ask in general, feel free to throw those my way too!

[Jay's Brain]

There's certainly a few things you can ask non-POI faculty members! You can ask them about the culture of their program, for one thing. Hearing it from more than one source is a good way of checking to see what the strengths and possible weaknesses are, and to get an idea of what to expect. They will probably draw from their own grad students' experiences, so you'll get a sense of the dynamics of the other labs and see how comparable students are doing (i.e., what kind of resources are available, how the other faculty members treat their grad students, what opportunities do they get that you can think about when you're in the lab of choice). Also, ask them about the opportunities for collaboration! What kind of research roles can you find yourself being involved in outside of your own lab? Does your POI work alongside the other ones and publish regularly? (fact check: you may also want to take a look and see if they do!)

All the best!

[JacobW83]

I always like to ask faculty (including my POI) why they're passionate about their research specifically, or how they got interested in it. I like hearing people talk about what they're passionate about, and it helps me get to know them better - plus they seem to enjoy discussing it too!