Grad school interview advice & what to expect (especially biomedical sciences-type programs)

Описание: Grad school interview advice (especially biomedical sciences-type programs cuz that's what I know). I thought I’d share some of the advice I of my own, and some of the advice I got from actual interviewers, here so anyone who has interviews coming up (and congrats by the way!) can benefit. Today’s post features thoughts and advice from the bumbling biochemist, IUBMB president-elect and UCSD Prof, Dr. Alexandra Newton, and my grad school PI (lab head), Dr. Leemor Joshua-Tor. So let’s talk about what may be in store! 
 
blog form: http://bit.ly/gradschoolinterviewadvice
 
Let me start with some words about your attitude - okay, that sounded weird, but what I mean is that you should approach these interviews recognizing that they interviews are really 2-way. You are checking them out too! Just getting offered an interview means they are seriously considering accepting you. When I had my first interviews, I was just so excited to have interviews and I went into them feeling like my only task was to sell myself to the school. But then I got there and they were trying to sell themselves to us. And I started to realize that they recognize that choosing a school is a big deal and I needed to give serious thought into which school was a best fit for me if I were to be in the fortunate position of having multiple offers.  
 
I’m not saying you don’t want to make the best impression possible - you do! And that’s why I want to help you nail the interview!(sssss) But that shouldn’t be your only focus. And you shouldn’t go into it just feeling like “how the heck did I get here? there must of been a mistake!” - that was certainly how I felt when I had my interview at Cold Spring Harbor’s Graduate School of Biological Sciences. And I am sooooo grateful and privileged to have gone here, but I honestly never thought I could possibly get here (and often still have trouble believing I did!). So, if you’re like that past me, have some confidence in yourself. You deserve it! 
 
quick note before I get started: if you applied and didn’t get an interview, I really hope that you don’t find this post saddening or offensive in any way. Yes, getting an interview (even if you don’t get a subsequent offer) is a huge accomplishment, and if you do get one(s) you should be proud of yourself. But there’s also a lot of luck that goes into it - from what life opportunities you’ve had, to who wrote your letters of rec, to who read your application, etc. So don’t take a rejection personally. And, remember, there are lots of great programs and labs outside of the big name schools.  
 
okay, now let’s get to some advice.  
 
A major caveat to start with is that the process is greatly different for different types of PhD programs. In some fields, you apply to grad school planning to work directly in a specific lab whose PI has agreed to take you. But in the U.S., biomedical-science-type programs tend to be set up so that you apply to a program and not an individual lab. Instead, you get to try out a few different labs in “rotations” before choosing where you want to do your thesis research. So it’s really important that the schools you’re applying to/interviewing at have multiple labs you could potentially see yourself working in. And you might even get to meet some of those lab heads during the interviews… 
 
Interviews typically take place during “recruitment weekends” - these weekends serve a couple purposes. As an anxious, insecure grad student, it’s easy to think that the weekend is all about the school choosing you - and that’s certainly a big part of it - but it’s also important that you choose the school - so they do their best to convince you the school’s really cool! So, apart from the interviews themselves (more on these in a sec) there are things like program overviews & Q & A sessions with administrators, as well as presentations from profs, current and past students highlighting some of their work. This year will be weird because of COVID making things go virtual at some places, but schools are trying to make the best of it.  
 
The virtual ones will likely have virtual tours of campus, as well as virtual meet-and-greets with current students. These are your windows into the world of that school! Feel free to ask them questions about their experiences (in particular be sure to feel out things like course/teaching work load, campus environment, ease of getting into the labs you’re interested in, etc.).  

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