PhD Phone Interview

[Ibn Anthropology]

I am an international student with a Master's degree from a U.S. school. I just got an email regarding a phone interview with the anthropology adcom of Rutgers University. I have applied for the PhD anthro program there.

I have never had this experience before so I just want to know what I should expect. They have indicated that the interview will be 15-20 mins long. What sort of questions will they ask? How specific will they be? Will they be right out of the material I submitted as part of my application (say smth from my SOP or writing sample) or will be much wider or as I suspect, both? How should I "introduce" myself? What are they looking for in a candidate? How familiar must I be with the faculty's work?

Just anything you guys can help me with!

Also, how many people are usually interviewed? Does this mean I am "pretty close" to being accepted or is this quite preliminary?

Thanks!

[Tall Chai Latte]

Hello there,

I just asked a similar question. Refer to this thread and it could give you some rough idea of what to expect:

Good luck!

[Ibn Anthropology]

Thanks TallChai! I will follow that thread too.

Good luck with your interview! I hope we both do well.

M.

[Tall Chai Latte]

Hehe thanks. And if you ever get invited to a formal interview (i.e. campus visit, talking to faculty members face-to-face), follow this thread here:

[eucalyptus]

What sort of questions will they ask? How specific will they be?

Most of the questions I've heard were very general, and were along the lines of "So tell me about your Masters thesis" or "What research do you see yourself doing here?". Sometimes, they'll interject with more specific questions about methods/results/theory etc, but not in "testing" way, mostly because they're curious!

Will they be right out of the material I submitted as part of my application (say smth from my SOP or writing sample) or will be much wider or as I suspect, both?

You can usually count on the fact that they've read your application, but you have to fill them in on the details. If you talked about some substantive research in your SOP, they'll almost certainly ask you about it (or about your research experience in general, to which you can talk about it). I've never had any questions that sounded like they were testing me; it's usually just a case of them trying to get an idea of what you've done, what you want to do, and what kind of person you are.

How should I "introduce" myself?

I'm not sure what you mean here, but one thing that happened a lot at my in-person interview was people asking "So tell me about yourself". You get pretty good at a 2-minute spiel about your background and research interests when you have to answer this 5-10 times in a day! Make sure you include both your general and specific research interests when you're answering this.

What are they looking for in a candidate?

If they're interviewing you, they already think you're a good candidate. Just try to sound reasonably confident, curious, and as if you know what you're talking about with regards to your prior and future research. You don't have to be incredibly eloquent or anything like that, but sounding capable is never a bad thing.

How familiar must I be with the faculty's work?

I've read a handful of abstracts before each of my phone calls, which has never turned out to be necessary. In all cases, the prof told me about relevant and exciting research they're doing and didn't expect me to already know about it (especially since most on-going research isn't yet published). For my in-person interview, however, I read a couple of papers and it did turn out to be helpful: it helped make me sound interested in their work and I was able to ask questions about them.

Also, how many people are usually interviewed? Does this mean I am "pretty close" to being accepted or is this quite preliminary?

I think this varies by discipline. They wouldn't bother interviewing you if they weren't interested though so congrats!

[liszt85]

My phone "interview" for a Gatech MS program was "What work are you comfortable with? This is to assign you a job for your RA position. We look forward to seeing you in the fall". That was about it..the director of the program himself called and told me about the various options and asked me what I preferred.

I had another phone interview with a professor from Finland. He asked me mainly if I was serious about attending his program.. and I told him the truth "I prefer the US schools for the preparatory phase (which european schools lack in)..but since I'm interested so much in field X and since you do cutting edge research, I'd be very happy to consider seriously an offer from you if made." Sure enough, he didn't offer me a position.

So its almost never technical..be prepared to answer such general questions about your goals, intentions, etc.

[repatriate]

I've gotten this email twice. The first time, it was a preliminary interview to determine whether to invite me to the interview weekend held by the department. The faculty member who called asked me about my research interests and also about my previous research experiences (what methods were used, the hypotheses of the studies). This was a long interview, about an hour, I think.

The second time, it seemed more like a recruitment call than an interview once I got on the phone. The faculty member asked how strongly I felt about attending the program, told me about current research, and asked a little about my interests. This call was about 30 minutes.

[Ibn Anthropology]

Thanks for sharing your experiences- this is great feedback. The interview is tomorrow at 8 a.m.

Espresso Shot- special thanks to you for answering all my queries so well.

[Ibn Anthropology]

I meant to thank eucalyptus. Clearly I am a newbie here (or like it says, "decaf").

[fuzzylogician]

All of the above.

Also, look at this thread and the links in it:

Good luck!