hi i'm a new soon to be phd student.

just wondering how much reading background knowledge people had before they started? I applied for an already existing project, and consequently have met my supervisors for all of 30 mins, and that was during an interview! I don't want to disappoint them when i start but really don't know what they'll expect. They've basically told me to relax over the summer as they're really busy/away.

I would take it easy up until a week before you commence, then begin to re-familairise yourslef with what you said you'd do. They're not expecting you to go into your first meeting with the answer to the question, so just make sure you are appear motivated and meaning business. For now, relax and enjoy what's left of the summer. Your brain will thank you for the break and there won't be much time for holidays later. I'm a year in and loving it!

Hey Sylvester, I was wondering the same as the OP, so thanks for that. And it's great to see that someone is enjoying it after a year - I really hope I'm in your position come 12 months' time!

One parenthetical digression: how many interviews do you expect for a pre-funded phd project? As I reckon it is pretty much like a job application which would normally entail two rounds of interview. Or does that depend on the super and project?

Vagrant_fish, I've applied for three projects in total, and all three have entailed only one round of interviews. I would presume that, prior to that, there is some filtering depending on CVs, references etc. There probably are some PhDs with two or more rounds of interviews but, in my area at least, I've never come across them.

Thanks, matthew. This makes me feel a lot more at ease. I am shortlisted for one project and will take the interview early next week. Any inputs re what sort of questions will be asked? I don't think they'll ask me academic-oriented things as this is a well set-up topic and doesn't require too much prior knowledge of the field. So questions I encountered in job interviews will resurface???

I've created a new thread re my above reply, sorry about the intrusion.

Hello and congrats on your placement! I would defo agree with Sylvester to chill for now and enjoy yourself and start reading about a week before. You aren't expected to know everything when you start and when you do it will be quite hectic in your brain for a while! I had completed an MA in my topic then took a year out to apply for PhD places and do some work so was really rusty when I came back to the field but has all been ok. I am also a year in and loving it! Good luck!