The interview, my favourite part of the PhD application process. If you have a PhD interview (or multiple) lined up, congratulations! That is you getting closer to a potential PhD offer. 

I’ve always preferred interviews over the written parts of applications, even when I was applying for medical school because I found it a lot easier to express myself speaking VS writing. (If you’re interested, my last post was on PhD CVs and personal statements.)  

In your interview prep, always prepare for the general questions: 

1. Why do a PhD? 
2. Why do a PhD specifically at this institute? 
3. Why this project? 
4. What are your plans after the PhD/wider career plans?
5. What makes you a good potential PhD candidate? 

Spend some time looking into the people who will be interviewing you. What role(s) do they have at that institute? This will give you an idea of the potential questions you may get from each person. 

Most PhD interviews will also have a research-related element. For example, I had a paper to critique in mine (the paper was selected by my supervisor). I was asked to briefly present the findings of the paper and to critique it. From there, I got follow-up questions about what I said in my analysis. I found this quite challenging since I didn’t do much critical analysis in medical school but remember you’re not expected to be perfect, what the interviewers are looking for is that you’re critically analysing the paper and showing that you can objectively consider scientific findings which is essential as a PhD student! 

You might also get asked to do a short presentation of your previous research. This wasn’t part of my MBPhD application since a number of us come from a background with little research experience prior to the PhD application but I have heard of other PhD interviews including this, where applicants may talk about things like their Masters’ research project. In presentations like that, the aim of your presentation is to show the interviewers how the experience(s) will benefit you when you come to start your PhD – what skills have you learnt, whether this is a specific experimental protocol or skills like coding? Remember to make your presentation appropriate for a wider scientific audience! 

My biggest piece of advice for a PhD interview is to make life easier for yourself by practising the predictable. If you have a presentation of some sort to do, you will be told in advance so make the most of that time to prepare for it. Run through responses for the usual questions about your motivations – these are easy things to nail so you don’t get too flustered right from the start of the interview. 

Try to see if your supervisors can help with interview prep in any way or form. It can be very useful to have mock interviews with friends, family or any academic advisors who have the availability to help. These interviews don’t necessarily need to be with people who work in science to be useful, even general feedback will help! 

And that is it for my PhD interview advice, best of luck if you have any coming up! 

Jean