Anyone have awkward/bad phone interview stories?

[pataka]

I just had a phone interview where I stumbled through my words for a significant portion of it. I got really caught off guard by one of the PI's early questions and got to a point where I had to apologize for not being able to find my words! Overall I am hoping the interview was okay enough to get me an invite for the face to face interview since I had good questions prepared and our research interests are a great fit. But man was it nervewracking. Anyone else have stories to share so I can curb my anxiety a bit? 

[01sonal]

No phone interview horror stories but during one of my in person interviews, I thought I would be fine so I didn't bring a water bottle into the room with me and then the entire time I was so dehydrated and my throat was so dry and I was literally struggling to get out even 2 words without coughing (not exaggerating). I was mortified and thought for sure I had ruined my chances, if my answers to the questions hadn't already done the job for me! Turns out things weren't as bad as I thought and I'm a first year in that program now All that is to say, try not to overthink things; even when it feels like you've performed as bad as you possibly could have, you have no way of knowing how the person on the other end of that interview perceived things. They may not have even given a second thought to whatever it was that you're feeling anxious about! 

BTW, congrats on both of your informal interviews - those are amazing schools! 

Edited December 27, 2017 by 01sonal