What to ask at Interview

[GCBrittany]

With interviews coming up, I wanted to know what are some good questions to ask my interviewers to seem interested and prepared.

Obviously being engaged and asking typical program questions are a given, but do you have some conversation starters/questions to bring up during the interview that I haven't thought of?  

Thank you,

Awkward Interviewer. 

 

 

[MadamDirector]

IMHO, a good way to approach this might be to ask follow-up questions about information that is available about the program online (or in print, or anywhere else you're getting your info). Asking for more detail or specifics about things you've already learned about the program seems to me like a good way to show that you've taken the initiative to do your research, while also getting more details about the things that pique your interest. 

[butwhyisallthecoffeegone]

It might be worth it to ask about their plans for how to deal with the upcoming tax on tuition remission, and steps the university is taking to assist students with staying in school. 

I also check in about publications (as that's something super important to me) and about what my potential mentor's style for working with their students is. 

[01sonal]

re: @lpulicefarrow's  comment, the final approved version of the tax bill actually maintains graduate students' current status, so our tuition will not be taxed. (Source)

Some good questions to ask would be: 

• What is your mentorship style? 
• What has been the career trajectory of graduates from the program/your past graduate students specifically?
• What are your authorship policies? 
• What qualities or experiences make a student successful in the program? In your lab? 
• What kinds of supports are available in the program/department/university for graduate students wanting to learn how to apply for funding?
• Any questions about the funding package that you may have, e.g., will you be provided with summer funding
• Any specific research-related questions about one of their papers you have read
• Contact information of current graduate students in the lab

Some questions that were relevant for me, that may not be for you: 

• For my Master's thesis and/or dissertation, will I be able to collect my own data or will I primarily be doing secondary data analysis? (many POIs already  had large longitudinal data sets)
• Are there opportunities to collaborate with other faculty members and/or graduate students? How about with faculty outside of the program/department?

 

Keep in mind that interviews are all about information gathering. You want to get a good feel of the program and what your experience in it will be like just as much as they are wanting to get to know you and your strengths/weaknesses. It is always better to err on the side of caution and ask questions about things you may not even consider to be relevant at this point in time, because down the line you may have several programs to choose from and making the final decision will require you to look at those kinds of details.

Also, if you don't get enough time to ask all the questions you have, don't worry about it. You can always email your POI to set up a phone or Skype call to ask any lingering questions.

Edited December 27, 2017 by 01sonal

[SerenityNow!]

Not so much questions but three helpful strategies:

1) When I did some informal interviews earlier in the fall I found it incredibly helpful to chat with my interviewer's current Ph.D. students before the interview. Their students usually said something interesting about the program that I never would have known from the website (e.g. I found one research group spends all Friday afternoons together discussing papers and critiquing research ideas while another professor makes it a goal to co-author three papers with every student they take on over the course of the program). This information allowed me to ask the interviewer questions that showed I had really done my homework about the program and I think really impressed them.

2) I would second reading some of their recent papers that way you can explicitly link your research interests to their recent work. Just like any job interview you want to give them all the information they need instead of leaving it to them to connect the dots themselves (sometimes they don't see the connection that seems to obvious to you). Additionally you can ask them if they plan to continue in the same trajectory of ideas or if they are actually hoping to branch out into a new field, something you can't necessarily tell from their websites. Frequently at the end of research papers, at least in my field, there are further research suggestions so you can at a minimum ask to see which of those that are of interest to you that they anticipate working on in the future.

3) Ask any question that would help you answer the following two questions for yourself: will I enjoy living and working here AND will I be able to graduate from this school given the structure of the program. For example if you know you need a little babysitting make sure you are getting a program that has a strong cohort model where students move through the program together and you will have regular structured meetings with your advisors and cohort. Or if you absolutely love rock climbing and you will be super depressed without access to outdoors sports make sure there is a community for that. You can't survive on research alone so I think it is perfectly fine to ask about social aspects of the programs as well.

Good luck!!

[GCBrittany]

Really great points here everyone, thanks for the suggestions. I'll def be using these!

First interview is in Feb!

 

 

[00ber]

When I want to learn more about a program and I have the opportunity to talk to faculty or current/past students, there are two questions that I find super helpful:

1. What characteristics does this program have that distinguishes it from other similar programs in this field? 
2. Where do you see room for improvement in the program?

Question #1 is helpful because it goes beyond asking about the strengths of the program. It's asks why this program is unique. As for question #2, I've found that students (and even faculty!) are always willing to discuss potential limitations of the program, and this information is just as important as the program's strengths. Examples of program limitations that I've heard from talking to faculty in various programs include: not having many opportunities for students to get experience presenting their work, no formal training in grant writing, limited money for travel grants for students, etc.