<p>what do I usually have to bring to the interview? the award certificates or essays I wrote in the personal statement? Do they need to read those since they weren't submitted with my application but mentioned in my statetment? Or would it be weird if I carry a folder of my materials and go around to meet faculty members?~</p>
<p>I recommend bringing a folder to interviews, maybe a padfolio (<em>shudder</em> old people word) with an expo pad in it and room for some papers. You don't need to bring your essays or award certificates. If there were any question about the credibility of the award, they would call the institution that granted it...anyone can photoshop up an award certificate :)</p>
<p>I have needed/been asked for the following things: campus map, phone # of grad secretary in case you get locked out of buildings or totally lost, interview schedule, resume, updated transcript, and faculty profile page printouts to jog your memory.</p>
<p>Most people will carry some kind of folder around on the day of interviews: either the information packet provided at check-in, or something more permanent brought from home. You won't look strange schlepping one around.</p>
<p>one of my interviewing professors at columbia admitted that he hadn't even so much as READ my application and couldn't find it on the computer, so it was good to have a copy of that (and my resume, publications, etc) to show off.</p>
<p>he never gave it back, though. kind of wish i kept it :/</p>
<p>I got a criptic email from MIT saying my app was up for review and they would get back to me in a couple of weeks. My guess is that I got put in the alternate pile and they are sorting through it now. Would be interesting to check out that school.</p>
<p>To anyone who attended the first MCB recruitment weekend at Berkeley - what was it like?</p>
<p>rainyday,</p>
<p>I went to the first Berkeley recruitment weekend...it was a very low key and very busy couple of days. Lots of wooing, most of the interviews were very informal and I didn't really hear about anyone who was "grilled". You will have lots of fun. They got back regarding admission very quickly as well. Hope this helps. Just be enthusiastic about your interests and be able to talk about your past research.</p>
<p>Thanks! tvgradschool. That really helps!</p>
<p>tvgradschool - who were you? I was at Berkeley's first weekend too. Did you go to the grad student party?</p>
<p>How did everyone like Weill Cornell? I thought the interviews and the week in general was great. The science going on at Sloan-Kettering is definitely top-notch for cancer research. The housing wasn't too bad either. I may have found my match school..</p>
<p>Quick couple of questions for those of you experienced at interviews:
1) How long should the spiel on "tell me about your research" be? And how much detail? Both people who I'm interviewing with are drosophilists like me, but are they going to really care much about the context of the research I've done so far?
2) How much do they often ask about your research? Like is there some kind of testing done? Is it acceptable to say that something was outside of the scope of your research? </p>
<p>I'm concerned about both these questions because mine is a phone interview and its hard to get a sense of when you're talking too much or too little from the reactions of the interviewer.</p>
<p>Can one take a transfer from a grad school to another? I know it happens for undergrad, but does it also happen for grad? How early should one decide and how should one go about it? My GF and I want to go to the same school but we arent getting any common interviews so..will be grateful for any reply.</p>
<p>It's possible. Of course, the new graduate program (the one you're transferring to) isn't obligated to give you a break in the amount of coursework or requirements that's needed to finish their program. </p>
<p>There was a girl interviewing for my department, but was already a grad student somewhere in the midwest. she wanted to move back for family reasons, and I guess that's reason enough.</p>
<p>drosophilist-
I haven't done any phone interviews, so this advice might not be so relavent, but I usually start very general: you might say "we're studying eye development in drosophila using genetic approaches" or whatever you're working on. Then you can say what you like about the lab, what you've learned in general there about research, and possibly the specific pathway or whatever that you're studying. </p>
<p>I personally try not to get too technical about the methods and I always avoid jargon and abbreviations for specific genes, proteins, etc. This should especially be important on a phone interview i think, because you don't have any visual aides like dry-erase boards or paper.</p>
<p>Anyway, keeping the conversation as non-technical as possible has worked well for me. Of course if they are very familiar with the particular pathways you study, then you could get more technical. So far I personally have not been asked any questions about my work that have been difficult to answer. </p>
<p>The interviewer is supposed to drive the interview, but if there is ever silent space, I just re-emphasize that my research experience has been positive and that I've learned a lot, then I try to ask a general question about their lab like "so you study the cytoskeleton?" or whatever. </p>
<p>Hope that helps.</p>
<p>I've also had good luck asking questions about science with the Drosophila people I'm interviewing... if you have a specific mystery that they might have a special expertise on, it's not a bad idea to engage them in the question.</p>
<p>I interviewed two people who study egg development/laying in Drosophila, and so I asked them about a mutant I had who wouldn't lay, and what the logical course of investigating that phenotype might be. I mostly wanted to pick their brain when I had the opportunity, but I think it also showed that I'm capable of participating in a scientific discussion, and that I am personally invested in and excited by my research.</p>
<p>Plus, one of the talks led to a really cool experiment, and the other person gave me a stock of germline GAL4 drivers that I couldn't find anywhere!</p>
<p>astrina-
thanks but a transfer wont be needed now. I got a call from U mass med school, worchester (their grad school of biomed sci) and so did my GF..now can you, or someone tell me how good or bad the school is?..the reason why i apped there was bcos it is RNAi strong but it really was one of my safeties.</p>
<p>souravcr, I think UMass is extremely underrated. There is a ton of great science there. You are right though, they are very strong in RNAi/microRNA research (probably one of the best) and also stem cell research too, I believe. I would have applied, but I was a bit skeptical in living in Worcester for 5+ years...</p>
<p>UMass - Med is definitely starting to get more recognition. I know someone who is planning on choosing Worcester over Harvard and Stanford... granted, he didn't like the feel at those two schools as much as he liked UMass, but it's a good program.</p>
<p>Plus, how cool would it be to snag a rotation with Mello himself!</p>
<p>I definitely believe that UMMS is one of the best place in RNAi/miRNA/piRNA research...
BTW, masta_ace, is the city Worcester any problem?</p>
<p>I personally don't have anything at all against Worcester; it's just that I go to a pretty small town for my undergrad right now and it would be nice to move into a big city for grad school.</p>
<p>@masta_ace </p>
<p>Yeah, that's true -- it would be nice to have a change between undergrad and grad school. But Worcester is close enough to Boston that a ride along the commuter rail would bring you there in short time ... I live in Manhattan now and only get to the "real" part of the city (aka, non-campus parts) on the weekends, and that's only after I take a 30-minute subway ride to get out of my neighborhood. :)</p>