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Not necessarily. Sometimes, the call is from your faculty host, who may or may not be interviewing you (though you will be interacting with this person); sometimes, the call is from someone on the admissions committee, who also may or may not be interviewing you.</p>
<p>Could somebody who has recently been to an interview please give a little recap? What questions did they ask you, how well do you think you did, what else you did, anything unexpected, how many other applicants were there, etc.?</p>
<p>Can anyone talk about expected etiquette during the interview and events like dinners? </p>
<p>Also, what types of answers are interviewers looking for to the questions:</p>
<p>Describe what researcher you find yourself most like (or wanting to be like)/look up to? </p>
<p>(I fear I’ll sound like the grad student version of a small child if I mention professors at my alma matter).</p>
<p>Where do you expect to find yourself in 10 years?</p>
<p>(What do they want to hear here? Post docing? Something more idealistic?)</p>
<p>I never got asked any questions like those. All the questions were just about the research I was currently doing. I can’t imagine why interviewers would care about your future plans, or whom you look up to.</p>
<p>@ langerhans</p>
<p>I’m not currently going on interviews, but I can give a recap of my interviews from last year, and the one I’ll be hosting this year.</p>
<p>The interview numbers were anywhere from about 30 to 50, depending on if they split up the subprograms. At Penn, the Immunology program is under the overall Biomedical Studies Program, so I interacted solely with immunologists during my interview.</p>
<p>I think I did well in terms of answering questions. Most of them were research-based, but I did a few philosophical questions like “Why grad school? What would you study if you had a blank check?”</p>
<p>In terms of asking faculty questions, I’d be prepared to ask at least one question after they do their little bit on what the study. I had stock questions like “How big is your lab? Are there many grad students in it?” Stuff like that.</p>
<p>Also, be on your game at all times. Social hour/dinner is meant for you to speak to other grad students in the program, and to talk it up with faculty. Ask the grad students what professors work on X, and they usually shuttle you over to them if they’re at the event. </p>
<p>If you get tired or can’t find anyone to talk to, GO TO THE BATHROOM. I hid out there to take a break from everything. Or pretend to answer a phone call, and leave the room. I did that too. Why? I felt awkward standing by myself, and it doesn’t look good on you if you’re interacting with people. </p>
<p>Anyway, hope that helped.</p>