<p>This is a question for people who have gone through the interview process. How long are the interviews with faculty? Do they expect you to have read their papers and talk about them? Or do they ask you mostly about your research? How in depth of a discussion about your future research goals do they expect you to have? Thanks!</p>
<p>Has anyone ever been asked to do a presentation of their previous work at an interview day?</p>
<p>Most interviews are 20-30 minutes. Honestly, they vary greatly depending on the interviewer. I had interviews where I talked the entire time about my research, interviews where the interviewer spent the whole time doing a presentation on their research and a couple interviews where the interviewers had no interest in talking about research at all and just tried to sell me on the school. Most interviews are about half and half though. The PI will spend some time talking about their work and the school, ask you about your work and interests, then see if you have any questions you'd like to ask them. They're really not that stressful as long as you can talk intelligently about your research.</p>
<p>They won't necessarily expect you to know their previous work in detail, but it's a good idea to know the highlights. Sometimes you'll be asked why you're interested in talking with them in particular, and it's not good to stare blankly (as I did in one interview :)) when asked that question.</p>
<p>You certainly don't need to lay out an NSF-style proposal for future work -- what you'll actually work on, after all, is contingent on the lab you join. You should be able to name a field or part of a field and explain why you're interested in it.</p>
<p>Basically, an interview is a chance to talk about science with smart people. It's supposed to be fun! You don't need to overthink it.</p>
<p>it depends on the school--- most places I had very little idea what the faculty I was interviewing with did, since we didn't get lists of who we were interviewing with until the day of the interview. While I had some idea about the research of the people that I requested, I always talked with people I wasn't all that interested in (and who I did not request). I only read papers for the first interview, and then I gave up. </p>
<p>Basically, most interviews involved talking about your background (school, classes, etc), then telling them about your research, and then getting a short intro on their research and about the school. You would never be asked to give a presentation of your previous work (you don't have anything with you), but you will be asked in detail about the work, and the purpose of the work and your place in the overall project. Be sure to know why you did things and what the bigger picture is. It might help to go over prior research experiences, because if they are varied its better to talk about a field that the professor has some interest/knowledge in. </p>
<p>Don't worry so much, they are generally goign to be very interested in getting you to come to their program.</p>