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phdapply

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Why a PhD?

Why [insert area]?

Why [insert respective program]?

 

What field/line of research are you interested in (and why)?

Where and what do you plan to be doing in 5 years?

 

What is your biggest strength? Weakness?

 

The biggest:

"Do you have any questions for me/us?"

 

These are the majors that I was hit with last week.

 

Be as prepared as you possibly can for each of them.

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I simply wouldn't ask.

 

I don't think there would be anything wrong with asking? Knowing a ball park date can be helpful, for example, if you have other offers, but you're waiting on that particular school.

 

phdapply, I'm not sure what you mean by how to ask. There's nothing to it. Just ask them directly what the approximate time frame is for them to make a decision. Of course they may not be able to tell you exactly if you have been waitlisted, and they are waiting for someone else to make a decision before moving you up the list.

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Here are some thoughts:

 

1. Read through your SOP before the interview, and explicitly refer to it during the interview whenever needed. I did this and it seems to have worked out as it makes them perceive you as a person who knows his/her objectives and potentials well enough.

 

2. They are VERY likely to ask you to elaborate on how and why you became interested in the fields you have indicated in your application. Be prepared to very briefly but effectively develop a research question or two. This is too what I tried and seemed to have impressed them. However, be careful to develop research QUESTIONS, not HYPOTHESES! They won't expect you to be a theorist right now. I would even say it may seem a little weird if you imply this by trying to develop a hypothesis. What they expect you, IMO, is to have questions to answer which you need to do a PhD.

 

3. Avoid dueling on your technical abilities. Of course they appreciate your math skills, coursework, awards, etc. But what they are looking for is actually whether or not you know that research is far more than such credentials. Even if you don't have research experience, be prepared to appreciate the fact that one with the greatest possible scores will not necessarily make a good researcher.

In one of my interviews they asked me "what do you believe to be your greatest challenge in your phd education?"; My answer was "the nuances of how to conduct research". I also elaborated a little on it.

 

4. At the end of the interview, they will likely ask you if you have any questions. I wouldn't ask a question if you can find its answer in other resources (like their website, forums, a friend of yours who's a phd student there, etc). To ask such redundant questions is not gonna affect your chance of admission negatively. However, I suggest avoiding such questions because we all know one of their primary goals of conducting interviews is to get to know you as a person, and because this way you demonstrate that you are an organized person and you respect their time.

 

5. Do not think too much into what you are going to say. Do not hesitate to politely let them know if you don't agree with them on something or if you believe a question that they have asked should be redefined.

 

6. Good luck on your interview(s)

Edited by Soheyl
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Good guide questions to be prepared with. Any idea on how to ask when are they going to finally disclose the result?

phdapply

 

I didn't ask this in any of my 3 interviews. But each of them told me about that in detail at the end of the interview. So, even if you plan to ask, make sure that you won't get the answer without asking.

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Good comments so far. I've been on 5 interviews in the last few weeks an would agree with most of what's been said. Let me echo some of the earlier comments about asking when they're going to make a decision. I see absolutely no problem with this. I simply asked, when it seemed the interview was wrapping up, "when do you anticipate making a decision?" A couple of times the interviewer revealed some very important information in response to this question, aside from the date. They've told me how many other applicants they're bringing/talking to and when. They've also said at a couple of different schools, "we expect to complete the process by x date but I feel confident that you can expect an offer by ___"

 

I agree with the basic questions

Why PhD in ___?

Why here?

What are your research interests?

What faculty members would you like to work with?

What are your plans after graduating/ in X years?

 

Since I'm an older applicant (36) I was asked

Why do you want to do a PhD now?

I was also asked about my family and marital situation

 

In preparing for my interviews I found it very useful to read/reread at least one recent article from every faculty member I was interviewing with. I don't think that faculty mind if you can genuinely say, "I was reading your article on this and it got me thinking about some questions I'm interested in pursuing"

 

I developed stories for all of the interview questions I anticipated. This technique has always been useful for me professionally and academically. Without going on too long I find that having natural sounding story answers prepared is really helpful for me in being concise, consistent and knowing what not to say and when to stop talking.

 

One more thing. I think it's super important to get an idea of how much the professor likes to hear themselves talk as soon as you can in the interview. With those kinds of professors, I think you can simply say a few things early on that make them realize you are a good candidate and then let them go on and talk. With those kind of people I felt it was important to use some of the time they gave me for questions to hit some more of my good points that we haven't yet covered. For example, they will ask if you have any questions. I might say, "One of my goals is to have X publications in A journals during my PhD program, do you think that sounds about right?"

 

Good Luck!

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  • 1 month later...
Be sure to have questions to ask them about themselves, the program, the school, or anything else you want to know. You will have more than enough chances to ask questions and they expect you to have quite a few. Additionally, if you come away from an interview without knowing if you would like it there, then the flyout has been a waste from your end.
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  • 10 months later...

[quote=

 

-Since I'm an older applicant (36) I was asked

Why do you want to do a PhD now?

I was also asked about my family and marital situation

 

-I don't think that faculty mind if you can genuinely say, "I was reading your article on this and it got me thinking about some questions I'm interested in pursuing"

 

-I developed stories for all of the interview questions I anticipated.

 

- "One of my goals is to have X publications in A journals during my PhD program, do you think that sounds about right?"

 

Good Luck!

 

 

 

Thanks Piparoo, those are some really helpful tips. Had some questions,

 

- What was your reply when they asked you what took u so long to decide to do a PhD?

 

- Did your age have a negative or a positive impact on being a potential graduate student?

 

- What advantage do you have on being a PhD students if you are married or single, have kids on don't? Can you please tell me if you were married and had kids? (Well ofcourse one should tell the truth, but I am just wondering how do the faculty think - whats going on their mind if they are trying to find if you are single or married with kids? As in, are they thinking (A) oh he has small kids, so he will not make a very dedicated PhD student OR (B) Hmm he/she already has small kids so she will not take any maternity time off and will devote all time to PhD or © OMG she is 36 and still single, may be she is not a likable person or if she decides to marry and have kids 'during' her PhD, that would be a waste of our time as she will be gone on maternity leave?? )

 

- You said you developed stories for all the interview questions - what exact did you mean by that? What type of stories?

 

- To tell them that one should have X number of publications A journals seems a bit premature to me. How can you ask that?

 

Thanks a lot in advance for your answers,

Best regards,

 

RR

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Thanks Piparoo, those are some really helpful tips. Had some questions,

 

- What was your reply when they asked you what took u so long to decide to do a PhD?

 

- Did your age have a negative or a positive impact on being a potential graduate student?

 

- What advantage do you have on being a PhD students if you are married or single, have kids on don't? Can you please tell me if you were married and had kids? (Well ofcourse one should tell the truth, but I am just wondering how do the faculty think - whats going on their mind if they are trying to find if you are single or married with kids? As in, are they thinking (A) oh he has small kids, so he will not make a very dedicated PhD student OR (B) Hmm he/she already has small kids so she will not take any maternity time off and will devote all time to PhD or © OMG she is 36 and still single, may be she is not a likable person or if she decides to marry and have kids 'during' her PhD, that would be a waste of our time as she will be gone on maternity leave?? )

 

- You said you developed stories for all the interview questions - what exact did you mean by that? What type of stories?

 

- To tell them that one should have X number of publications A journals seems a bit premature to me. How can you ask that?

 

Thanks a lot in advance for your answers,

Best regards,

 

RR

 

Hi RR,

None of the programs that I applied for, and the one that I'm currently in, would be considered top 25. That may make a difference in the sorts of responses you get from faculty on the issue of age/family. With that in mind, I can tell you that the program I eventually settled upon (Alabama) has been perfect for an older student with family like myself. The professors are all understanding of the additional personal responsibilities, which is nice, but they end up giving us all the same amount of work regardless of our personal lives!

 

To your questions, my response when asked what took me so long was to talk about the development of my academic and professional careers. I talked about my undergrad degree, how I was not as dedicated as I would have liked, and then talked about my life in business-emphasizing the path which led me to pursue my masters. Both of those bits were brief, I spent the most time responding to that question discussing my masters preparation and my discovery during that program that I was very interested in a career in research, wrapping up with the supportive comments I received from my masters faculty on my choice to pursue a PhD.

 

I'm not sure what impact my age has on me being a graduate student. As I mentioned above it may definitely have a negative impact at some of the most competitive programs as faculty may be concerned about how many productive years you will have. That said, I can tell you that I'm older than one of my advisors and about the same age as a number of the other faculty members, but surprisingly I'm not the oldest one in my cohort. Personally, the age thing is not a big deal for me.

 

I have a young daughter and a wife and I was more concerned about sharing that information with the admissions committee than anything else. I'm not sure what to say about the advantages or disadvantages to having a family while doing a PhD program. I can tell you that there's a Glick et al. article in Journal of Organization Behavior from 2007, "Making a life in the field of organization science" that flat out says you can't get a PhD with spouse or kids. It may be worth a read as I remember it may address gender and maternity as well. My experience so far has been pretty positive though. I can say that the majority of the PhD students, at least in management and marketing, in our program are married. I'd say maybe 15-20% have kids.

 

Regarding the stories, I try to imagine every likely question that I'm going to be asked during an interview and then develop a flexible but articulate story response that answers the question, is brief but has a beginning middle and end, always trying to end on a high point. Obviously, some questions don't require that type of response and if I'm ever not sure, I usually aim to say less.

 

I didn't ask about the number of journal pubs I wanted, I formed that as a portion of my response to the question I thought I would be asked about what are your plans during and after grad school. Signaling a research agenda during the interview process is very important. I think having an idea of what you're interested in and with whom you'd like to work are very important, but more basic than that, telling ad coms that your primary goal in doing a PhD is to do research and publish signals strongly that you know what the PhD is all about and are motivated to be successful.

 

I hope some of this helps. Best of luck to you!

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