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Admission chance after interview


phd2020

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Hi all,

 

I understand that there is a lot of heterogeneity, but in general what would be the chance of getting an acceptance after interview? I had 2 interviews already, and I think they went well, but I haven't heard back from the schools, so I am getting nervous :cower:. I know it doesn't really make sense, but I want to have a target number of interviews so I could be more confident in my chance of getting admission this year.

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@phd2020 Just got contacted for my first interview. Can you tell me more about your interviews? How long was it? What were you asked? Is this mostly about fit and behavioral or about being able to talk about your background? Is it with professors or with administrators? Any tips?
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@phd2020 Just got contacted for my first interview. Can you tell me more about your interviews? How long was it? What were you asked? Is this mostly about fit and behavioral or about being able to talk about your background? Is it with professors or with administrators? Any tips?

I interviewed with 2-3 professors at each school, either separately or together. We mostly talk about basic stuffs like why the school, why PhD, my research goals, and their current research. I feel like they did more of the talking than I do.

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I interviewed with 2-3 professors at each school, either separately or together. We mostly talk about basic stuffs like why the school, why PhD, my research goals, and their current research. I feel like they did more of the talking than I do.

 

I haven't had an interview yet, but I have 3 scheduled and I asked one if there's anything I should do to prepare, and the professor said it was about me getting to learn about them and the department. There was no mention of them getting to learn more about me. I don't expect it to be that one-sided, but I found that response interesting. Doesn't seem like it's like job interviews where the job candidate does almost all the talking.

 

Regarding admission chance, I'm also curious and will ask the schools about this in my interviews. I remember reading in another thread here or on grad cafe that one program did something like 15 interviews for 3 slots. So it may range from 20% to 50% chance.

 

Edit: The example I had in mind is 6 offers for 3 slots with 15 interviews, so that's a 40% chance of an offer.

Edited by instajar
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I haven't had an interview yet, but I have 3 scheduled and I asked one if there's anything I should do to prepare, and the professor said it was about me getting to learn about them and the department. There was no mention of them getting to learn more about me. I don't expect it to be that one-sided, but I found that response interesting. Doesn't seem like it's like job interviews where the job candidate does almost all the talking.

 

Regarding admission chance, I'm also curious and will ask the schools about this in my interviews. I remember reading in another thread here or on grad cafe that one program did something like 15 interviews for 3 slots. So it may range from 20% to 50% chance.

Good luck! I keep checking my email nervously the last 2 weeks, but no new interviews saved for the last two lol. I'm afraid I'm gonna die from anxiety before getting an admission.

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@phd2020 Just got contacted for my first interview. Can you tell me more about your interviews? How long was it? What were you asked? Is this mostly about fit and behavioral or about being able to talk about your background? Is it with professors or with administrators? Any tips?

 

I don't remember the length of my interviews, but I guess usually about 30min-45min, with one professor at time.

 

The interviews were mostly about fit for both sides. I tried to convince them I was a good fit, and they tried to convince me they were a good fit.

 

Usually we started with something similar to the statement of purpose (why a PhD, why this schools, what are your topic of interest, etc.). Of course, background comes into play to explain that too.

 

Then, the professor also provided additional information about what they had to offer.

 

With lots of room to ask (and be asked) questions.

 

It's more like a chat to know each other than an interview.

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Regarding admission chance, I'm also curious and will ask the schools about this in my interviews. I remember reading in another thread here or on grad cafe that one program did something like 15 interviews for 3 slots. So it may range from 20% to 50% chance.

 

It may be good to remember that if a program has 3 slots and wants to fill them, it will probably need to extend more than 3 offers.

 

Just as an example, statistics from Duke regarding business PhD show that, in 2019, 28 were admitted but 14 matriculated. So, if Duke admitted exactly according to the number of slots they had, then many slots would be left empty as half of the applicants admitted didn't enroll.

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It may be good to remember that if a program has 3 slots and wants to fill them, it will probably need to extend more than 3 offers.

 

Just as an example, statistics from Duke regarding business PhD show that, in 2019, 28 were admitted but 14 matriculated. So, if Duke admitted exactly according to the number of slots they had, then many slots would be left empty as half of the applicants admitted didn't enroll.

 

Yes. Sorry. I was remembering a Gradcafe result that said "was happy to be among the 15 to interview, heartbroken not to be able to break into the 6 people offered place in the program." So that's really a 40% chance. I will edit my previous comment.

 

I just completely botched another interview. Expecting rejection soon. Any tips not to get nervous during the interview?

 

Sorry to hear you got nervous, but I bet you did better than you think you did. I think a lot of professors also have been through many interviews themselves and understand that nervousness and applicant-quality are both factors in how people act during interviews, and they try to recognize how nervous you are and account for that.

 

I don't have any special tips for not getting nervous. Acknowledging it, taking deep breaths, and having someone around to talk through your nervousness with before the interview seem like some steps you can take. You could also mention it at the beginning about the interview, just a brief, "I'm feeling quite nervous, so please forgive me if I misspeak," could make sense? It might help calm you down and help them understand. But I don't know.

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I just completely botched another interview. Expecting rejection soon. Any tips not to get nervous during the interview?

 

 

It's hard right, and it doesn't get any easier. As someone who went through faculty job interviews, I will tell you that the nerves don't lessen. I've had a ton of interviews in my life between a ton of jobs, graduate school and now faculty positions. I've picked up a few tricks which may help you out.

 

1. Like someone else said, the interviewers want you to do well. They aren't looking for reasons that you'll fail. They want to let people in.

 

2. No one, and I mean absolutely no one, cares about you more than you care about yourself. I guarantee that you think the interviewers think way worse about you than they actually do.

 

3. You will ALWAYS do better if you are confident. ALWAYS. In every part of your life. Not over confident, but confident. And, thankfully, confidence is a self-feeding instrument. The more confident you act (regardless of how you feel) the more confident you will feel. That being said, this isn't exactly easy to act confident when you are feeling really really not confident, but hopefully the other tips I'm offering will give you just enough confidence to start the confidence chain.

 

4. You will not, no matter how great you are, bat a thousand. What that means is that you are going to fail. There will be schools that you don't get offers from. Once you realize that, life becomes much much easier. Maybe you didn't get an offer because you weren't good enough. Maybe you didn't get an offer because someone else was a better fit for any number of reasons that you can't control. No matter what, accepting that there is a place for you, and that you won't fit in everywhere will give you the confidence you need to do well in your interviews. This can be helped significantly with my next tip.

 

5. Know who you are and what your strengths and weaknesses are. Know where you actually fit. Most people are not good fits for Stanford or Chicago. Be realistic about that, it will keep you from being too disappointed when Harvard doesn't call you for an interview. Obviously, there will be schools where you think you are a perfect fit, but still won't get an interview or offer from them. At that point, I refer you back to point 4. It's going to suck and it's going to hurt when you don't get that dream school offer from the school you thought you were perfect for. Don't let my tone suggest that you shouldn't grieve when you don't get what you thought would be perfect. By all means grieve, feel your feels, but then pick yourself up.

 

6. The biggest tip I can give you is to act confident, until you are confident. I can't stress enough how important that really is. It will get you through so much in your life. Absolutely do not lie, but be confident that you belong in a PhD program. Good luck.

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Thank you guys for the advice. Going back to the main point regarding admission chance, I get a feeling that schools are interviewing more people this year, at least the schools I'm applying to. Most said their shortlists had 10-15 people (for Quant Marketing), so the admission rate is much lower than 50% even after shortlisted.
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Thank you guys for the advice. Going back to the main point regarding admission chance, I get a feeling that schools are interviewing more people this year, at least the schools I'm applying to. Most said their shortlists had 10-15 people (for Quant Marketing), so the admission rate is much lower than 50% even after shortlisted.

 

I would expect that kind of number (10-15) for Marketing as a whole. If that's really only for Quant, another possible explanation is that many schools are accepting more Quant applicants (and less CB and Strategy). But I don't really know the reasons for an increase like that.

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