Interview on the 5th....what are my chances!?

H

Hi everyone,
I'm looking for some advice-I have an interview for a funded PhD on the 5th (Media/Gender Studies) and feel pretty prepared in terms of knowing my proposal. I have a list of Qs the interviewers might ask and have gotten some answers ready. So far so good, I'm just not sure about the interview process itself. The email invite didn't say much, just to expect it to last for approx. 30 minutes. How many people are you usually interviewed by, and would you expect there to a long shortlist for this area of study?

I'm really nervous and hope it goes well, but with this being my first interview for my first funded application, I'm not expecting too much success! Does anyone have any advice on stuff I may have overlooked?

Thanks!

S

Good luck!

Only thought that comes to mind is: what questions have you prepared for them? Interviews work both ways, after all.
Hope it goes well.

H

Thankyou! I thought I'd ask about teaching opps, facilities for PhD students (e.g is there dedicated office space etc).Would you recommend anything else?

S

Teaching is good, and fun, but I'd focus more on the research side of things at interview, myself. Great to discuss in passing, but I would personally be wary of making it sound like the crux of why I was there.

I think it's always good to know what funding is like for going to conferences. If you're Research Council funded, there is normally a budget for this (although I imagine it varies amongst the various councils).

One thing I enjoyed was reading some recent research by the folks interviewing me. They all seemed to rather enjoy being queried about it (all the more so, when I tied it in to aspects of my own proposed work).

Let us know how it goes :)

H

Great points-thanks again :) I'll report back on Tuesday!

37256