tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth?

[quest09]

Hello all, I am married with children, an older student (early 30s). I plan to be honest about myself and my situation @ my upcoming interview. Is there any reason to be more cautious? Thanks in advance.

[punkybugsy]

Hello all, I am married with children, an older student (early 30s). I plan to be honest about myself and my situation @ my upcoming interview. Is there any reason to be more cautious? Thanks in advance.

I don't know much about your field, but I would assume your position in life would give you great perspective for counseling psychology... I would just put a positive spin on how your family helped foster your interests in the field.

[waytooold]

Hello all, I am married with children, an older student (early 30s). I plan to be honest about myself and my situation @ my upcoming interview. Is there any reason to be more cautious? Thanks in advance.

I would suggest mentioning it only to the extent it provides you with a competitive edge. Bringing up needs for accomodation in an interview sounds a lot like a high-maintenance grad student. You are not compelled to disclose this information and they are not permitted to ask.

[jlloyd87]

I could imagine that they might be worried about you being unwilling to relocate an entire family (if you were applying to anywhere far away that is...).

[sadiem]

Hello all, I am married with children, an older student (early 30s). I plan to be honest about myself and my situation @ my upcoming interview. Is there any reason to be more cautious? Thanks in advance.

I'm in your same age range and similar situation. Personally, I wouldn't mention anything about family in an interview, unless it's somehow relevant to your qualifications for the program. I think of a grad school interview like a job interview: the interviewers already know that you have other responsibilities in your life outside of their program, and it's really just up to you to determine how best to balance those. You might ask them questions related to the program's flexibility in terms of scheduling required classes, lab meetings, etc., but I would save specific questions about family life (such as family housing or child care facilities) for after you're admitted. I'd say the interview is about why they should accept you, based on your qualifications and interests, so I wouldn't give them any reason to think that working with you might get complicated. Just my opinion.

[cogneuroforfun]

I'm in your same age range and similar situation. Personally, I wouldn't mention anything about family in an interview, unless it's somehow relevant to your qualifications for the program. I think of a grad school interview like a job interview: the interviewers already know that you have other responsibilities in your life outside of their program, and it's really just up to you to determine how best to balance those. You might ask them questions related to the program's flexibility in terms of scheduling required classes, lab meetings, etc., but I would save specific questions about family life (such as family housing or child care facilities) for after you're admitted. I'd say the interview is about why they should accept you, based on your qualifications and interests, so I wouldn't give them any reason to think that working with you might get complicated. Just my opinion.

The thing is, its not really like a job interview. A huge component of the interview is finding out if the program/school is a good fit for you. This includes whether they have daycare or family accommodations or whatever concerns you. No one is going to count having a family against you. Look at it this way: probably the majority of faculty and a good chunk of grad students at any program already have a spouse and kids. None of them are going to think you can't raise a family where they already are, so none of them are going to count you out because you have a family. If you have some question about family life, ask a professor/interviewer/DGS and they'll either answer it or get you in touch with another student/faculty that has the same situation.

[Aspiring Shrink]

Hello,

I am in the same boat, nearly 30, 2 kids. The advice I received was to use information that is pertinent to the interview. You don't need to mention it unless you feel that it will work to your advantage. However if you are asked about your persona/family life I see no reason to hide any information. What I would do is think of a way to respond with a positive spin i.e. "my wife and kids would be thrilled to move to Colorado given the beautiful nature etc" or "Being married with children, while studying and working helped me hone my multitasking skills so I am eager to undertake this next challenge"

Best of luck,

[Aymee]

I was really nervous about mentioning my family because the last research presentation I did as an undergrad was on maternal profiling & discrimination: ( http://www.feminist.com/activism/momsrising4.html ) and it was very fresh in my mind. What scared me was that when I read the comments after the stories like these, over and over again I heard from women in the field of academia. Anecdotal, but definitely seemed to keep popping up in that field. I played the middle ground with my application, mentioning my older children being almost old enough to drive--making scheduling easier for me than it was as an undergrad (I just graduated with my BA) but not mentioning my three year old. (I have three kids, 13, 11 & 3. I didn't get specific with older kids' ages though.)

In the interview, I thought it didn't hurt me, and in fact helped me, because given a group interview role-play scenario that involved children, I was the only applicant in the group who was a parent. BUT, out of 35 interviewees, and 21 chosen, I didn't get accepted. So, did it hurt me? Maybe it did. I don't know.

Given the choice again, I would NEVER bring it up.