Ph.D interview

SpaceBlaze

I have an interview for a funded Ph.D project coming up. Just wondering could anyone give me any tips on what to expect and what is appropriate attire to wear. This will be my first meeting with the supervisor.

the_syco

Check the following forums:
Graduate
Mature & Non-Traditional Students
Postgraduates
and maybe College
for info. I'd say the postgraduates forum would be most appropriate.

Roro4Brit

Hi SpaceBlaze,

I had an interview 4 months ago for a funded PhD which I was successful in. I can share with you what I know...

Firstly, wear a suit if you can or as smart as possible. I know it's for an academic position but it's still an interview so neat dress is essential. I treated it the same as a normal job interview.

I had a panel of 3 interviewers, one which was head of the marketing school in dit, another head of graduate studies in dit and a third who was a research fellow with the college.

I had to present for 15 min on my topic using powerpoint then I had a Q & A session with the panel. The presentation was great as its something that I have no problems doing at all. The Q & A was a little trickier.

As far as I can tell - and this is based on feedback after the interview...the main thing they liked about me was the fact that I really had an interest in a career academia. There were 10 others short listed and I know they were looking to make sure people weren't applying simply due to lack of other job opportunities etc. So my advice is to stress that you really think you can make a contribution to the field by way of continued research and article publications....colleges rely heavily on their students/staff publishing decent articles for many reasons....

Here are a list of the Q's I can remember being asked?


Why do you feel you want to progess to PhD level? (My advice is dont say its cos you want to lecture! That's not what funding bodies are after...its more that you want to genuinely advance knowledge in your field)
Tell us about previous research you have conducted, why you conducted it, which research paradigm you chose and why, the results, limiations and things you'd do differnetly?
How do you think your PhD may contribute to literature/theory extant?
What are your strenghts as an academic?
What excites you about the thought of working in academia?
Do you prefer qual or quants or mixed? Why?
Have you spoke to other students/researchers/lecturers about your topic/the process/what involved etc?
Have you looked into any other PhD's that the school currently funds (luckily I had just been to two presentations of just completed phd's from dit a few weeks before so I hit em with that and they loved it!).

Thats all I can remember so far! If I can think of anything else I'll let you know?

btw where is it and in what field if you dont mind me asking?

Good Luck!!!

microbio

Hi there, it really depends on the type of institution interviewing you.
My PhD 'interview' was a chat about current house prices and various other non-phd related questions. There was only one interviewer and that was my phd supervisor.
Prior to the interview, I had read the supervisors most recent publications and revised my undergrad thesis. Have a good idea of the project, be sure to show you are interested and keen.
They will probably be fussy abotu who they take on now as there is an increase in students applying due to lack of grad jobs. They will ask you why you want to do this phd. Have a decent answer prepared, preferably something which shows you have an idea of topic and you want to build on your own strenghts (weave them into the answer). Otherwise, prepare as you would for a normal interview. Know about dept/academics/current (even unrelated but within that dept) research/big researchers in the field/any major happenings in the field (if a newsworthy item e.g. cancer drug development etc).
Just remember, you are being interviewed to become a novice in a subject so an in-depth knowledge is not required.
best of luck