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So today I did the dreaded PhD interview. I am writing this down just to vent.
First part went fine - general chatting, they also asked me about the previous PhD I got into but had to withdraw for family reasons. They looked impressed with the supervisor.
Second part, other questions about the project - answered fine.
Third part, detailed questions about the project. Here is my worst part I believe. I was simply not expecting certain kind of questions - did everything I could. At a certain point I wanted to scream 'if I knew all this stuff I would already be in a PhD, don't you think?' but I kept my cool.
Last part, some other questions that I got right and then time for me to ask them some questions. This went very good as I prepared in advance and knew the psychological subtilities of it. Ended up with 3 questions that also gave them the opportunity to brag a bit (yeah, we reimbourse every conference travel) and overall the atmosphere was very amusing (oh yeah we have seminaries! one every week! every day! two every day - with everyone included me laughing)
So I dunno. I think that middle part was a bit too much. I do not think I will get this position but at least I did the best I could.
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Interviewing is always a tough process and can be very stressful.
It is hard to correctly assess your own interview, I hope you'll get it if you want the position.
Doing well in 3 out of 4 parts is a good sign, and the interviewers usually realize that you're under pressure.
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Thanks buddy, I appreciate your thoughts.
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I understand the feeling (ex-PhD looking for postdocs), just remember that after an interview one always tends to focus on the negative parts, and to think that it went worse than it actually did.
Especially for a PhD, I think that the fine details of the subject you intend to study are not the main point of focus for the interviewer (after all, you are applying indeed to study those details) - I think they have this kind of questions to try to understand if you are able of coming up with a reasonable line of thinking even under pressure.. 
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Yeah, also, them going with more and more and more questions with increasing dificulty is kinda ok.
It's like they wanna test your limits : Asking over and over again until You get at least couple wrong.
So the further it went, the harder it was, the better it is (pun not intended like at all, nvm)
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Italy12247 Posts
PhD interviews are stressful as fuck, good luck! Sounds like you did just fine tbh, it sounds very similar to the interviews I had that actually got me offers and much better than those that didn't.
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Thank you guys! I'll keep you updated.
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Just out of curiosity, which field are you studying?
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On December 21 2016 07:49 VHbb wrote:
Just out of curiosity, which field are you studying?
Philosophy.
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cool. I am also in philosophy. When I interviewed for a PhD in economics it was surprisingly low stress. the interview was pretty brief and to the point (I'd written some papers in econometrics referencing work by the faculty).
i guess it was a different kind of program since they invited us for an expenses paid trip to dinner with drinks and bowling and going out to bars with the junior faculty.
like you I had to withdraw from this previous doctoral study because of medical reasons. If I had to do it again I would probably get an MA first to up my credentials this time around, then apply to a doctoral program afterward. Don't know if that's an option for you, but it seems like a common path.
What's your area of interest in Philosophy if i might ask?
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Hey Yoko! Nice to see you are still around. I already have a MA, since in Italy the normal academic path is bachelor - master - and only then applying to phds.
Still waiting!
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Good luck man, Wish you the best.
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Update... I did not get it.
They were 'impressed by the interview and the way I handled questions' but the project 'needs more concrete work, i.e. a pilot study to strenghten the proposal'.
I do not even know what the f*** that's supposed to mean. Thanks for the support guys - I hope to come out of this unscratched
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lol. I am not surprised. we all agree the world is a language phenomenon and philosophy isn't a goal-directed approach. since it doesn't accomplish anything locally it could take hours, days or years to get returns on investment. this is what i learned from 1k MMR dota.
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If you're not in a phd program and didn't get in, think of it as a blessing in disguise.
Have you ever visited this website before called 100 reasons not to go to grad school? Its very well written. My wife just got her PhD and she had a miserable time of it and the reasons listed here really resonated. She went in with a passion for science and is leaving disillusioned and embittered. And she's in a PhD that actually landed her a high paying job. Most PhDs do not. Most of the PhDs I talked to also regret their decision to get one, or shook their head knowingly when viewing this page. My dad didn't regret it and wanted me to get one LOL, but he's old school asian, and even then, he's in a profession (software engineering) that basically had nothing to do with his field (oceanography). He had it so bad too that his hair turned grey at age 30 cause his original PI's funding ran out and he had to support a family on shitty pay. He was stressed out every day, and somehow he is disappointed/sad I'm not following in footsteps. He could've just been a software developer to begin with. Instead he went on a round about path, and thought to himself, "hey I am writing code to do ocean modelling, and software engineers get paid orders of magnitude more, and I'm never going to get onto the tenure track slaving away as a post doc, so fuck this bullshit".
http://100rsns.blogspot.com/
full disclosure: I am getting a masters in computer science, but its a professional masters program, meaning its geared toward ppl with full time jobs, and is quite laid back compared to an actual masters/phd program. Time commitment is only 20 hours a week. Second, I am fully aware the masters in CS is completely worthless from a earnings standpoint and am only doing it for fun and wanted to learn new things.
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Italy12247 Posts
That blog is so full of random generalizations on academia it's not even funny. It sounds like someone just had a shitty supervisor, which can happen but in countries with a proper infrastructure to support PhDs and research in general it's the exception rather than the norm.
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yeah, going for a phd right now. I can say that you should only be there if you really enjoy what you're going to do, otherwise I seriously recommend going into the private sector. PhD work is so romanticized when you're in undergrad, it seems like the thing to do for smart people.
But really, you get paid substandard wages to do work that is very stressful (at least for a "real" discipline, i.e. not gender studies, but then again maybe they actually do work there... I'm not sure) that will ultimately lead you to graduate with far less money than you would have otherwise. I took a gamble, because I feel like I enjoy the work I do; it makes me feel like i'm exploring the frontiers of human knowledge. But part of me regrets it, and feels I would be better off simply working in industry by now, and slowly working up the ranks, and living in a beautiful condo looking over a city every morning.
But I do have a pretty good supervisor and research group. So, I think it'll be okay . Interesting that they interview you where you're from. Here they just look at your grades, your 2 references, and your proposal. Even then its 95% about your grades, apparently.
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On December 23 2016 04:29 fishjie wrote:If you're not in a phd program and didn't get in, think of it as a blessing in disguise. Have you ever visited this website before called 100 reasons not to go to grad school? Its very well written. My wife just got her PhD and she had a miserable time of it and the reasons listed here really resonated. She went in with a passion for science and is leaving disillusioned and embittered. And she's in a PhD that actually landed her a high paying job. Most PhDs do not. Most of the PhDs I talked to also regret their decision to get one, or shook their head knowingly when viewing this page. My dad didn't regret it and wanted me to get one LOL, but he's old school asian, and even then, he's in a profession (software engineering) that basically had nothing to do with his field (oceanography). He had it so bad too that his hair turned grey at age 30 cause his original PI's funding ran out and he had to support a family on shitty pay. He was stressed out every day, and somehow he is disappointed/sad I'm not following in footsteps. He could've just been a software developer to begin with. Instead he went on a round about path, and thought to himself, "hey I am writing code to do ocean modelling, and software engineers get paid orders of magnitude more, and I'm never going to get onto the tenure track slaving away as a post doc, so fuck this bullshit". http://100rsns.blogspot.com/ full disclosure: I am getting a masters in computer science, but its a professional masters program, meaning its geared toward ppl with full time jobs, and is quite laid back compared to an actual masters/phd program. Time commitment is only 20 hours a week. Second, I am fully aware the masters in CS is completely worthless from a earnings standpoint and am only doing it for fun and wanted to learn new things.
you sound like my dad. he has a phd in a communication disorders and literally everything is a bad idea. med school? no. corporate work? no. doctorate? absolutely no.
he won't even go for braces.
but speaking of bad ideas i've been thinking about getting into videogame development. do you think an online curriculum could work?
btw do you think we could import some of your ocean models into the galaxy editor? i've been wanting to make a DBZ fight but the water textures are not what they could be.
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EPT
