You finally hear back from a school you applied to and they say that one of the professors you mentioned in your statement of purpose would like to talk to you. What exactly does this mean?
This is an official interview.
Interviews
Every school is a little different in how they narrow their search for new PhD students. Some schools don’t interview at all. Some schools may have several rounds with multiple professors.
Usually, if you get an e-mail requesting a phone or Skype chat, it means that you’ve cleared a major hurdle. Only a fraction of applicants will be interviewed. Making this list means that you are probably among a handful of applicants that the school is seriously considering, also known as the “short list.” The result of the phone interview is usually either a fly-out, waitlist, or elimination due to a particularly poor interview. So no pressure. :)
I can personally attest to the importance of the interview. This is the time for you to show your best self. Nobody told me what to expect when I interviewed and incidentally, I did poorly in my first interview with a school I would have loved to attend.
So how do you prepare?
Go into it with an understanding that you must win over a professor who may be competing with other professors as advocates for particular applicants. You’re impressive enough on paper, but if you don’t shine on the phone, the professor isn’t as likely to go to bat for you internally. And so the conversation you’ll have with a professor of interest is just as much about them as it is about you.
There’s no telling how formal or informal the conversation will be, how easy or hard the questions will be, or what the expectation is.
Here are some questions I was asked…
Why a marketing PhD?
Why this school?
Tell me about yourself…
Tell me about your research interests…
What kind of research ideas do you currently have?
How does your background prepare you to be a PhD student?
Is there a particular journal article you’ve read that you found interesting?
As you can see, the expectations aren’t incredibly lofty (although my experience interviewing lies outside the top 10 schools). I would have answers prepared for each of those questions, and make sure they’re consistent with what you sent to the school in your statement of purpose.
But the biggest advice I can give about interviewing is to know your interviewer.
If you have an interview with Dr. X, try to spend a good deal of phone time talking about Dr. X’s research (even if it isn’t exactly what you intend to pursue yourself). You should read multiple recent papers by Dr. X beforehand. Find one you really like and have good questions prepared. You’re not expected to know everything, but if you can present some ideas about how you would build upon the research they have done, it sends a positive message. One great interview I had included 30 minutes of us chatting back and forth about potential research extensions to the professor’s working paper. This kind of conversation allows you to showcase your intellect a little. You want to show that you are a research-minded applicant who has done his/her homework. Don’t talk to the professor about your admiration for another professor’s work. Don’t waste time talking about how the professor likes the school or the city. You’re like the salesman who gets 5 minutes in front of the CEO (and has spent 2 days preparing for those 5 minutes). Be engaging and make it count.
Fly-outs
If you make the cut and get invited to fly out to visit the campus, give yourself a little pat on the back. The deal isn’t sealed, but it’s close.
Some colleges have budgets to fly out a group of candidates for on-site visits knowing that they will only be making offers to a couple of them. I wouldn’t call this the norm, but it happens. For most places though, a fly-out is a special event reserved for those they want to give offers to. They also want the candidate to meet other members of the admissions committee, just so everybody can give a fair nod of approval. The visit ends up being just as much about recruiting you as it is about vetting you.
If you’re uncertain about which kind of school you’re flying out to, don’t leave fate to chance. The best people to ask are current doctoral students at the school. You can often find their info published on the school website, or you can often just ask whoever you’ve been corresponding with at the school to refer you to a couple. It helps to know what kind of prep you might need.
Most schools will cover your airfare, accommodations, and meals for the trip, which may be one or more days. To give you an idea of just how different each school is in its approach to these visits, let me illustrate with two of the schools I visited:
School A:
One-day solo visit
Back-to-back meetings with multiple professors, most very casual; a couple more challenging
Presentation by a visiting professor
One meal spent with a couple of doctoral students
No campus tour
School B:
Two-day group visit (together with other candidates the whole time)
Very few meetings with professors, and all of them were to help answer our questions, promote the school
Presentation by a visiting professor
A lot of time spent with doctoral students including tours of campus, facilities, and the city
Evening meal with the PhD program head
As you can see, each school does things differently.
My advice on how to approach a fly-out is to be prepared, enjoy yourself, and use the opportunity to get your questions answered.
1. Be prepared. Find out which professors you’ll be meeting with. Be familiar with their research, generally. If you have time, dig into a recent paper of theirs and come with some engaging questions so you don’t have to endure the same small talk with everyone.
2. Enjoy yourself. Be friendly with everyone you meet. You don’t know where you’ll end up, but chances are you’ll run into these people again and it’s best to be on good terms with everyone, even if you end up having to turn down a school’s offer. These people are paying to fly you out to visit because they like you. Like them back.
3. Get your questions answered. Assume beforehand that you may have multiple admission offers. Figure out ahead of time how you’re going to choose between them and come up with appropriate questions.
Most of the time, the professors you meet with will have their PR caps on, so every response will be framed to reflect the school and program in a positive light. It’s unavoidable and expected really. Doctoral students, on the other hand, tend to be more open and genuine in talking about the pros and cons (and there will be cons), so take advantage of your personal time with them. They’ve been in your shoes and have had to make similar tough choices. Get permission from them to send follow-up questions, because you’ll probably forget to ask something.
The other thing you’ll want to do is just stay positive about the school in your conversations. Professors want to feel like you are truly excited about the possibility of attending and representing their school. Yes, you have other options, but this is not the time to talk about them. Dance with the one who brought you.
Last, but not least, try to be a little normal, humble, and grateful. Granted, you have to be a little crazy to pursue a marketing PhD, but professors and students need to feel like you’ll be a good low-maintenance colleague to have around for 4-5 years.