<p>Hey everyone. I know we all know the gist for the typical interview where we discuss our research and the research at X University, but for fun and extra prep has anyone come across any questions/topics in interviews that were particularly tricky or just caught them off guard? </p>
<p>For example, in my first interview I was asked by one interviewer to outline how I would respond to identifying an unknown disease-causing pathogen that has just developed in a number of patients. Nothing too challenging or crazy but still different than the usual!</p>
<p>lol Well you’ve freaked me out now, kp12746! I’m also applying to micro programs, but I don’t have any diagnostics experience - I’ve only done lab/academic research. Can I ask what you answered and, if it’s different, what you wish you’d answered? I’d honestly have said that the first thing I’d do is get out a reference book and ask for help from someone with experience, but I can’t imagine that’s what they were looking for. This is not a great sign, I think.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t worry too much. The interviewer was very nice and it seemed like a pretty open-ended question with multiple right answers just to get me thinking a little bit. I said something along the lines of doing comparative genomics to identify if there is any conservation between sequences of known pathogens. I’m sure there are better ways though, but I think my answer was somewhat intelligible… hopefully!</p>
<p>Okay, that sounds way less scary than I thought. I thought they meant they needed a diagnosis asap for patient survival, ie what biochemical tests do you do to determine the pathogen with the least steps. I don’t remember that stuff! I am, however, very familiar with genomics. Thanks for the response, I feel much better about “tricky” questions now. Just keep calm and utilize my experience.</p>
Thanks for the response, I feel much better about “tricky” questions now. Just keep calm and utilize my experience.</p>