I recently had an interview for a PhD that I think I was very suitable for. The position for competitively funded so 5 supervisors were offering projects in which 1 set of funding was available. I met with the prospective supervisor in the morning of the interview and he said that he thought I stood a very high chance of securing the funding, with my background in the topic in which i was applying and a MRes using the majority of the techniques in which I'd be using on the PhD. The supervisor told me (though he said that he shouldn't be) that the candidates (6 of us) were being interviewed by 2 different panels (2 of us by one, the remaining 4 by another). I personally dont think this is fair at all! To make the situation worse, the academics I was interviewed by were totally unrelated to my field (neuroscience and neurodegeneration research), them being structural chemists! They therefore picked me up on my lack of knowledge of structural chemistry (given that not actually being at all related to my degree or MRes!!!) and did not know the significance of half of my CV attributes (them not actually knowing what neurodegeneration was!!!!) I came out of the interview fuming, and hence found out that I was not successful.

My question, do I relay my views onto the administrator of the project as I really dont think the panal who interviewed me were at all appropriate for the program they were interviewing for. Also, I think it was extremely unfair that 2 of us were interviewed by them, the other 4 candidates being interviewed by others! Though should I say this, given that the prospective supervisor I met in the morning said that he should not be showing me the interview schedule. I dont afterall what to get him in trouble with the department. I know me relaying my views will not change the outcome of the interview, I just feel my annoyance should be heard!!!!

Advice would be greatly appreciated!

Ian,

Did you hear anything back yet about the interview?

ejc x

Yer, I was unsuccessful. :-(

:-( Sorry to hear that.

I don't know whether making your views known is wise? Maybe others have views based on experience, but I think you are unlikely to change the decision, especially if the places have been offered to other students. So depends if you want to make your point for the sake of potential future interviewees, or on the off-chance that places become available again.

Hope someone else has some more practical advice!

ejc

Thanks,

Yer I'm not expecting the decision to be changed, but I really do not feel that the interview process was fair at all. I mean 2 candidates being interviewed by one panel and 4 others being interviewed by another? I just feel as if I should relay my annoyance to someone, even if it falls on deaf ears! :-S

Ian

Hmm

If you're not looking for the decision to be altered, might be more productive to rant here, than elsewhere.

I would be careful, as you're understandably disappointed and frustrated, not to say anything you might regret later. If you haven't already done so, it might be a good idea to ask for feedback first, just in case their reasons for rejecting you were not what you assume they were, before you complain about the decision.

I think it's pretty normal though that the people on the panel are not the same for every applicant, especially when there are large numbers of applicants to be interviewed and they either do some interviews in parallel, or the interviewing goes on over several days. I've certainly seen this happen. In theory they should be assessing against the same criteria, so it should be fair. Also it's normal enough for the panel members to not necessarily be experts in the particular area you want to specialise in or that your background is in - I've certainly experienced this, and found it difficult too, but that seems to be the way these competitively funded projects work.

hi,
i did my interview on telephone the other day. the panel was from marketing with one potential supervisor in accounting. i was given the studentship and i didnt even expect. i ave background in hospitality management but am going to managerial accounting. but with Mres u should be more qualified. the panel shud ave dealt with ur proposal if u had one. the surest way to impress panels is the proposal. dont ask coz u had undue advantage over others based on info from ur supervisor. again whats the profile of those who got the studentship.