Page 1 of 1

Grad school interviews...what do they ask you about?

Posted: Sun Jan 19, 2014 5:46 pm
by kap09c
I know that some schools such as yale have interviews prior to admissions. What do they ask you exactly?

Re: Grad school interviews...what do they ask you about?

Posted: Mon Jan 20, 2014 1:45 pm
by WhoaNonstop
The usual...

Can you play basketball? Do you like slip n' slides? Have you ever thought of a pool filled with jello? Is it possible to swim in? How many people were born in North Dakota during the 1990s?

What do you expect they will ask? You're over thinking something silly. They are going to ask questions about you, your relationship with physics and perhaps the reasons you want to go to X school.

-Riley

Re: Grad school interviews...what do they ask you about?

Posted: Mon Jan 20, 2014 2:25 pm
by AEP
"Have you ever had a girlfriend?"

Re: Grad school interviews...what do they ask you about?

Posted: Mon Jan 20, 2014 3:13 pm
by blighter
AEP wrote:"Have you ever had a girlfriend?"
"What's it like? Know what I mean? Nudge, nudge. Say no more."

Re: Grad school interviews...what do they ask you about?

Posted: Mon Jan 20, 2014 3:22 pm
by photomagnetic
horrendous comments guys.
yes the questions are obvious but no need to slap him in da face

Re: Grad school interviews...what do they ask you about?

Posted: Mon Jan 20, 2014 8:47 pm
by kap09c
WhoaNonstop wrote:The usual...

Can you play basketball? Do you like slip n' slides? Have you ever thought of a pool filled with jello? Is it possible to swim in? How many people were born in North Dakota during the 1990s?

What do you expect they will ask? You're over thinking something silly. They are going to ask questions about you, your relationship with physics and perhaps the reasons you want to go to X school.

-Riley
Thanks for the response. I don't think that it's incredibly obvious, though. There is potential for them to ask technical questions, which was my biggest concern. I'm not very good at thinking on my feet or small talk so if there will be a component of either I would like to prepare myself for it.

Re: Grad school interviews...what do they ask you about?

Posted: Tue Jan 21, 2014 12:24 am
by WhoaNonstop
kap09c wrote:There is potential for them to ask technical questions, which was my biggest concern.
They may ask technical questions, but I wouldn't expect a barrage of them. Really, how would you prepare for that anyways? I highly doubt they'll ask you anything like, explain to me how to solve this or what is 28348292/2893. I don't think Physics interviews are like "real job" interviews. You definitely won't get most of the stupid... "Tell us about a time you had a conflict with a coworker and how you dealt with it." To me, those are the most useless questions ever.

-Riley

Re: Grad school interviews...what do they ask you about?

Posted: Tue Jan 21, 2014 12:26 am
by WhoaNonstop
photomagnetic wrote:horrendous comments guys.
yes the questions are obvious but no need to slap him in da face
Sorry, everyone put on their SERIOUS face. :x

-Riley

Re: Grad school interviews...what do they ask you about?

Posted: Tue Jan 21, 2014 12:43 am
by pichinko
kap09c wrote:Thanks for the response. I don't think that it's incredibly obvious, though. There is potential for them to ask technical questions, which was my biggest concern. I'm not very good at thinking on my feet or small talk so if there will be a component of either I would like to prepare myself for it.
I've never been to one of these interviews, but I did meet with some professors at a school I'm interested in a couple months ago. Basically, they wanted to know why I got into physics and what my research was about. If you're doing research, all the specific things you do are going to seem really technical to them, just like their research will seem technical to you. But if you can summarize your research, and ask questions about theirs (or general research at the school), you can leave a good impression. I've actually heard a statistic that the more you talk in an interview, the more likely you are to get the job (or in this case, admittance).

Re: Grad school interviews...what do they ask you about?

Posted: Wed Jan 29, 2014 7:45 pm
by AEP
WhoaNonstop wrote:
kap09c wrote:There is potential for them to ask technical questions, which was my biggest concern.
They may ask technical questions, but I wouldn't expect a barrage of them. Really, how would you prepare for that anyways? I highly doubt they'll ask you anything like, explain to me how to solve this or what is 28348292/2893. I don't think Physics interviews are like "real job" interviews. You definitely won't get most of the stupid... "Tell us about a time you had a conflict with a coworker and how you dealt with it." To me, those are the most useless questions ever.

-Riley
Sorry Riley, you were wrong. Yale did ask those kind of bizarre interview questions.

[from my personal experience]