How to Prepare for Your Interview with a Grad School Professor
Scholarship Interview Preparation Strategy
Today is one of those days when I am not feeling inspired. This email newsletter and my YouTube channel are my favorite creative outlets, but not today. I was reading Bag of Bones by Stephen King right before writing this. He is probably one of my top three favorite English writers. Stephen king has promised himself about 50 years ago not to go to bed without writing 3000 words everyday no matter what. The quality can be good or bad but you can't skip. Wow, discipline. So I should not excuse myself from writing 1000 words in a week.
When I came here to study at MUN I saw every month there are some sort of events arranged by the career development office. They taught the most important life skills like how to apply to graduate schools, write CV, SOP, Managing supervisor and so on. I don't think even the best universities in Bangladesh care about this. It aggravates me. Even after so many hurdles every year, hundreds of students get scholarships. You people are amazing. McGill is arranging one. Don't miss it.
How to Prepare for you Interview
Here I am trying to reduce the knowledge gap. Today I want to talk about preparing for the interview. In last few newsletters I outlined how to organize your CV, write a proper respectful email and so on. Those who followed and worked hard should be able to get some kind of reply from the professors by this time. Now is the time to prepare for your interview.
Let me take a tea break…..
Lets Understand Replies:
There are broadly three kinds of reply you can get from the professors,
Sorry not interested/ Not taking any students etc.
I Like your profile, I can supervise you if you can secure an admission
I like your profile. Are you available for a zoom interview?
“Sorry/No answer” can happen to anybody. Number 2 happens to the subjects where most of the funding and admission decisions are taken through a central admission committee, example, arts and business. Third kind of replies are the most coveted ones. If you can manage a zoom interview from a professor you can be 70% sure that you will be able to secure some sort of funding from the Professors. Engineering and medical science students work in a lab. If you are a sour person to work with, if you are not a team worker, lazy it puts extra pressure on the other lab members. That's why professors on these lab intensive degrees want to talk to a student before giving their final verdict. Lot of science faculty scholarships are given through professor funding. In this case the professor plays a big role in deciding who to select for their lab. So, we have understood so far, our main goal in the interview is not to act sour.
Take Earliest appointment:
Usually when a professor invites you for an interview they give you two to three possible times for you to choose. Always, I say ALWAYS choose the earliest possible schedule given by the professor. If there is one thing you want to take from today's writing it should be this. Never delay replying and never let the professor wait.
Check Local time:
Make sure to double check the local time the professor gave you. Canada has 5 different time zones. 9 am in Ontario and 9 am in Vancouver is not the same. The same is true for Australia and the USA as well. They have multiple time zones in their countries. Go to this website to see what would be the local time in Bangladesh during your proposed meeting time. Don't make a blunder here. I have seen students make the most trivial mistakes during stress.
Preparation:
Now comes the most important question: how can I prepare for the interview? Do I have to memorize everything I learn in my BSc and MSc degree for this interview? No. Your CV is your syllabus. Never lie in your CV. If you bluff in your CV you will get caught in the meeting. Go through your CV and see what you have written. Conferences you have attended, papers you presented and so on. Try to make a mental note on what you will say if you are asked to describe your experiences on any of these. Usually they ask what have you learnt from this particular event? You should know the answer. I personally am OCD about everything I do in my life. I try to write down every possible question the interviewer might ask and get my husband to ask me the weirdest question he can think of and try to answer them. If I am not satisfied, I beat myself up and soak my pillow with tears. Don't be like me. Lol
Making PowerPoint slide:
Another common question I encounter: Do I have to make a PowerPoint presentation? I think you should. Not all the professors ask you to present your previous research but at least you should be prepared. It shows you are sincere. How to present your paper? I think the answer varies from department to department. If I were you, I would give a brief background of the problem, brief lit review and knowledge gap, my research question and hypothesis, methodology, findings and conclusion. The full description should not take more than 5/7 min to finish, especially if you are clear about what you want to do. Make similar slides for each research/publications and another one for your intended research.
Aside from your own work, you should have a sound knowledge about the professor's work. Go through the professor’s papers which are not older than 5 years. Try to make a connection between your proposed paper and the professor's work and in the end you can say how you will benefit from the professor's supervision.
Practice Mock Interview:
You probably won't need any of it. Probably the professor will only chat about your personal life, hobbies and weather but you should prepare for the worst and hope for the best. I highly recommend unsmart BD people like me give some mock interviews in front of the mirror. Record yourself to see if you are stammering, making weird grammar mistakes while speaking. Practicing your speech improves clarity. Trust me. I stammer a lot. You can't tell from my videos because I practice a lot and criticize myself harshly.
Prepare a few questions:
One question that the professor will ask you 100% for sure is: Do you have any question for me? Please don't say No I am fine, No question. Don't say that. Always prepare something. Here are some ideas: What are the qualities needed to succeed in your research group? Or you can say I read this paper by you, I don't see how you connect this thing with that. The second one requires some critical thinking. I prefer the second kind of question more than the first kind.
After you are done you can say “It's been a pleasure talking to you. Are there any funding opportunities for me? I would be able to focus better on my study and research if there were some sort of financial assistance available.” Don’t beg. Like a gentleman you can mention the facts. If the prof agrees to fund you, say thanks and move on. If they say no/I don't know, say thanks and move on.
Follow-up:
Send a follow-up email a couple of days after the interview. Take the professor's permission before mentioning his name in your statement of purpose. This will act like a mini recommendation letter. I have seen some professors offer to review your SOP. This depends on how nice they are and how busy they are at that time. But worth a shot. Let the professor know once you finish the application formalities.
You can’t push funding from a professor or university. So no need to be pushy. This is my philosophy. They would be happy to give you money if they can and if you are worthy. Your job is to prove that you are worthy of their scholarship.
That’s everything from me. I am moving to Calgary towards the end of this month. I will not be available from 25th Oct to 5th Nov. If anyone wants to set up a meeting with me you can decide accordingly.
It would be very helpful 👌