What not to say/do during an interview

[Genomic Repairman]

After dealing with candidates (n=15) these past two weeks here are some helpful hints of things not to say or do:

1. Do not ask me where you can buy drugs. I'm am not shitting you. I am here to get you from point A to point B and take you dinner, not here to help you find your next weed supplier.

2. Slag off on PI's that you have not yet met. Especially when their trainees are sitting across the table from you. As their trainee was fuming about your lack of brain to mouth filter, I will egg you on to say more and more dumb stuff that is going to bite you in the butt later.

3. Tell a graduate student that there research is boring and contributes nothing to field of science. This pisses the student off especially when she has a fellowship, multiple papers in C/N/S (the top dog journals), and some crazy groundbreaking research going on.

4. Get drunk at dinner. It sucks to have to make a pit stop and drop the lush off at the hotel when taking the rest of the candidates out on the town.

5. Lie to us about your GPA/accomplishments. Some of us do sit on the admissions committee and do actually look at you apps.

6. Oversleep on interview day. I will/did leave you at the hotel after waiting an extra half hour.

7. Update your Twitter while a professor is talking to you.

8. #7 also commits the heinous act of telling professor his hypothesis is wrong and that someone from her institution is doing it the right way. The professors that she speaks of works on a completely different project and have nowhere near similar research interests and do completely different things. Candidate then look strangely when the professor tells her to sit outside the door and wait for the next person to fetch her for the following interview after only interviewing with them for fifteen minutes of the hour.

Just some helpful hints folks. Watch your actions and more importantly your words.

[ScreamingHairyArmadillo]

I would like to say I can't believe people would be so dumb, but I really do believe it.

[dzk]

Yeah, I've seen more than a few of these happen. People get overconfident as the interview season winds down, and you start to see their true colors. You'd think they'd keep a lid on it because they're going to be colleagues with the people they offend.

I had fellow interviewees ask about street prices at two interviews in a row. So when the next one rolled around, I was legitimately curious, but nobody asked. Hey, cost-of-living is an important consideration!

...

[Genomic Repairman]

Most of the candidates that have come through have been bright, articulate folks that I think would be a great fit for the department and make a great contribution but there are always some rotten eggs in the basket. They provide for much humor and great stories to tell. And PI's have been known to notify their bad behaivor other departments that the candidate is applying to as well (as was the case of the wrong hypothesis professor).

[LadyL]

Wow. I've been told that interviews are often just a screening test to keep the crazies out and I can see why that's necessary!

So far I've seen an unfortunate trend where interviewees seem very impressed with themselves, and unimpressed with everyone/everything else. One person at my last interview was very critical of a presentation by one of the grad students that we attended as part of the recruitment weekend. He said something to the effect of "I go to a lot of really high level lectures so I am pretty discerning" or some crap like that. Both times I've seen this attitude it's been from people who come from well recognized, "prestigious" schools and I really get the sense that they think their fancy degree overrides them being jerks. Maybe it does, I don't know, but I just wonder why even attend the interview if you are that "over" the program before you even really see it. It's insulting to those of us who like it and would be excited to attend.

[Genomic Repairman]

Yeah we have had these kids before. One of them interrupted me to ask why I had not done something in my project yet in a real snarky way that they thought would have been easy. This came after many other snide comments and the kid texting while sitting in the front row of my seminar. I came down off the steps stood in front of them and told them the idea they had would take at least 6-8 months while I had only been working on my project for 3 months because they learned about the concept at their uni. And staring them in the eye, I suggested that maybe they no clue as to the reality is of timelines for projects in science. To top it all off and put the little braggart into their place I told him that science is like sports, its easy to mouth off sitting on the bench and to talk to me when he started playing. Needless to say this kid's acceptance was revoked. These pain in the necks are few and far between but don't screw with grad students who help out with recruitment activities. Its not our jobs, we aren't payed to do it, we do it out of goodwill for others that will walk out path and have little time for those candidates who grandstand and toot their own horns.

[herself the elf]

Yeah, I've seen more than a few of these happen. People get overconfident as the interview season winds down, and you start to see their true colors. You'd think they'd keep a lid on it because they're going to be colleagues with the people they offend.

I had fellow interviewees ask about street prices at two interviews in a row. So when the next one rolled around, I was legitimately curious, but nobody asked. Hey, cost-of-living is an important consideration!

...

By "street prices," do you mean drugs? Seriously?!

If so, wow! That takes some serious chutzpah! I can't help but wonder what discipline you are in and what drug they were asking about.

Is habitual drug use common in PhD programs? I know that in law school, many people quit pot and take up cocaine (all the reading); personally, I just drank an unhealthy amount of coffee.

[Genomic Repairman]

Yeah, the kid was into cocaine. As far as I know with graduate students, beer is the drug of choice. I know a few who dabble in pot. But rarely any that can do or even afford harder drugs.

[bhmlurker]

Various retarded interviewee behavior redacted.

Good God, what's this world coming to?

I can't top that, Genomic Repairman, other than that once I almost got to pull the Heimlich maneuver on a female interviewee who choked on steak. Yes, I'm not kidding, the applicant ordered steak. Although it was on the menu, it was a Cheesecake Factory kind of place. I thought people usually watch what other people order and play it safe, in order to act professional. Not this lady, nope. Eventually she quit during her second year.

Another time I went to lunch with this idiot who proudly proclaimed that he's also applying to UPenn, and if he got into UPenn he wouldn't come here. Well, the SOB ended up here, despite my best attempt to relay that info up the chain of command and c'block him. For the next 3-4 years I don't think I've ever heard him ask a single question at dept seminar. What a royal waste of a stipend slot.

[xonglennao]

When I was younger, I decided to sample a wide variety of careers. That way, when I was ready to choose a career path I would be absolutely certain that I had found the right one for the long-term future. Now I've settled on this industry, and that's why I'm here today.

[belevitt1]

I thought I might pitch in to the venting about how recent college graduates are not yet mature adults and tell a story about a guy I interviewed with. On the final night of the interview weekend for my current program, the graduate students took us out to bars around town. This fella drank heavily, beyond what you might expect anybody to drink in an unfamiliar city. Upon returning to the hotel, he went from door to door (at 3 am) knocking to see if there were interviewees in that room. I can only imagine how intimidating it was for the non interviewee guests of the hotel to have an intoxicated guy slamming his hands on their door and slurring his words at them. The city police were called and found him curled up on the hallway carpet, after having vomited. The police called the director of the graduate program to pick him up. The director took him to the airport, despite the fact that his flight wasn't for many hours and told him that he would have his luggage shipped to him. I don't think this guy was offered a spot in my cohort.

[jaxzwolf]

All I can say is, I can only hope that my competition does just these things during my interview session. Sure would make the adcom's decision easier!

[Lisa44201]

+1

All I can say is, I can only hope that my competition does just these things during my interview session. Sure would make the adcom's decision easier!

[Genomic Repairman]

Keep it going folks, I want to hear some good or horrible stories from the interviews.

[qbtacoma]

All I can say is, I can only hope that my competition does just these things during my interview session. Sure would make the adcom's decision easier!

I do agree.

[neuropsych76]

I found this thread pretty humorous.

But it got me wondering, is it ever the other way around? Do grad students ever take prospective students out drinking/strip clubs/drug adventures ect?

I'm going to an interview in a couple weeks (at one of the nation's biggest party schools) so I'm a bit worried about this. I'd rather not get busted for drugs because of a grad student social.

[Genomic Repairman]

I found this thread pretty humorous.

But it got me wondering, is it ever the other way around? Do grad students ever take prospective students out drinking/strip clubs/drug adventures ect?

I'm going to an interview in a couple weeks (at one of the nation's biggest party schools) so I'm a bit worried about this. I'd rather not get busted for drugs because of a grad student social.

I'm pretty sure it would be rare for a grad student to F#ck up your chances at grad school, provided you are responsible and maintain control over yourself. Yes, sometimes we might take you out drinking to our local speakeasy, but to the strip club? I'm a man of class and distinction and wouldn't be caught dead in a strip club, plus I'm a grad student, do you think I can afford the cover? As far as you being complicit in a 4 day ecstasy bender, that's on you.

Watch how much you drink, what you say and what you try to poke and smoke and you should be okay.

[coonskee]

Does anyone have any more stories with which to update this thread??

[ktel]

These stories are ridiculous. I went on an interview weekend, which was more like a "please come to our school" weekend as they only invited a few applicants, and we went out the night before the interviews. All drinks, food and cabs were paid for by the department. I had a ton of fun, luckily didn't drink too much, and because of the time change I had no problem staying up late. I did have a problem waking up the next morning...but luckily made it to everything on time.

[ma7eb4i]

Not at my institution, but at a prestigious neuroscience program last year, one of the recruits had sex with three guys in the program interview weekend. The three guys in the program later found out, and I don't think she was offered a position.

So yeah.....do not sleep around interview weekend. People talk, and being a bicycle will not reflect well upon you.

[Kbk9]

This topic is an amazing distraction about how stressed out I am about getting in. Unfortunately I just came back from an interview and all the other interviewees acted well behaved...

[coonskee]

Well as long as you didn't do what was mentioned above, at least everyone did ok Good luck with the admissions!

I didn't have any particular stories from my interview weekend... one guy left the "fun events" really abruptly and came off a bit rude, but it wasn't anything awful. Alas!