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1. Prior to your visitation weekend, the program administrator(s) would have likely contacted you via email for your list of faculty members you most wish to meet. If you haven’t received this email, do expect one in your inbox soon! This is a list that can vary in length, typically of 5 to 10 professors.  For the 5 to 10 professors you list, try to look into what their lab focuses on and list the ones you really are most interested in meeting. You can typically go on their Google Scholar page for their list of most recent publications. Lab websites are not always up-to-date, though they recapitulate a majority of the research questions the labs are currently tackling or have tackled in the past and it is a good idea to browse their website to get the big picture idea of what the lab studies. We recommend listing more than 5 professors - if some on your list are not available, you may end up being paired with someone else in the department who's work you may be less comfortable discussing.
    

2. Keep in mind that although the administrators will do their best to make sure you meet with professors you are interested in, you will not get to meet them all and will likely interview with professors not on your list. Do not take this as professors not wanting to meet you. The program administrators are doing the best job they can in providing you with as many interviews as possible, and they have many schedules to coordinate. Many professors might have prior commitments, such as other conflicting meetings, teaching classes, or traveling!
    

3. Do not worry about knowing every scientific discovery these professors have made. The faculty will tell you all about their research during your 1-on-1 interviews, but do browse their lab pages to get more comfortable hearing about topics outside your main field. If you go through research articles, it's best to focus on the most recent ones - and don't worry about understanding all the technical details (sometimes reading the abstract and/or introduction/discussion is enough to give you a good idea of what the paper is about). Please note that although some programs may provide your interview day schedule 2 weeks ahead of time, some may not provide this until a day or two before your interview. In this case, really do not worry about knowing much about their research.
    

4. Meetings will usually last 30-45 minutes. Although having more than one student meet with a faculty member at the same time is uncommon, it does happen. The first few minutes will be focused on introductions to ease you into a conversation, at which point the professor may begin to ask questions. Please note that a faculty member may need to cancel your interview due to unforeseen emergencies, e.g. last minute meetings, being stuck in traffic, family emergencies, etc. Be ready to mentally accommodate such possibilities. In such cases, you will likely be interviewed by an available faculty member or a faculty member from another departmental affiliation whose research interests do not lie within your STEM discipline. For these reasons, you will need to be able to explain your current, most relevant research project concisely and effectively as to help faculty who may not be familiar with your project understand! In rare cases, it is possible you may be interviewed by a graduate student or postdoctoral fellow in the lab of the professor you were interested in meeting. 
    

5. It is ok to have a small notepad and pen with you so you can take notes between interviews to remember what you discussed with each professor. 
    

6. It is helpful to have friends ask you questions so you can practice mock-interviews. It’s not a skill practiced very often so any help you get is great! This will help boost your confidence when you do come face-to-face with faculty during interview weekend.

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In the days leading up to the visitation weekend: Our best advice for you is to relax. Remember that this weekend will mainly be faculty members trying to impress YOU with all the perks of the program in hopes that you will matriculate if an offer is extended! The visits will be filled with poster presentations, faculty talks, and exciting casual conversations about their science, your science at the current institution you are at, and potential science topics you might be considering in pursuing. Once again, we want to congratulate you for getting to the next stage of the Ph.D. application process.

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​Read through our following list of potential questions faculty may ask and think of potential answers. If you can, practice speaking your answers out loud with your lab mates, your PI, your peers in science, and friends you know who are currently in Ph.D. programs who may be more seasoned to ask you challenging questions.​
 

• “Tell me about your research.”

  • Have a 3-5 min explanation that hits your project aim and conclusions in a concise manner. 

  • Be ready to elaborate on details when asked about methodos you used and reasons as to why you were interested in tackling the research topic. 

  • If you graduated from college a few years ago but wrote about your undergraduate research in your Statement of Purpose, review your research and be ready to talk about this, too, as the professor might have your statement as well as resume/C.V. on hand
     

• ”What was a difficulty you faced in any of the research experiences you have pursued, and how did you overcome it?”

  • Be prepared to elaborate on a single, but significant, struggle that is illustrative of your resilience. 

  • This is an opportunity for you to demonstrate your persistence in science and an opportunity to help steer the conversation towards being more “human”.

  • Earning a PhD requires 95% persistence, 5% intelligence. Demonstrating to your interviewers that you have struggled and you overcame these struggles upon elaboration of the process reflect on your strong character as a scientist.
     

• “How would you continue your current research project?”

  • Think of one or two follow up experiments or expected conclusions from your current research.

  • Perhaps even propose an alternative experiment that may elucidate questions that have been left unanswered or cannot be answered by current experimental tools. This demonstrates that you are thinking creatively and scientifically, always strategizing as you are keeping in mind, “What next?” 
     

• The faculty may present a current small problem they are working on in their lab, and ask you what you might do to approach this problem.

  • This may be an intimidating question to anticipate, but they just want to see that you were able to follow what they were saying and/or capable of coming up with independent ideas of your own

  • Ask clarifying questions that restates what they told you e.g. “If I understand correctly, you said…” and use whatever tools you know, e.g. western blotting, immunoprecipitation, and structure solving, to propose example experiments.
     

• “What would you do if you weren’t pursuing a PhD?”

  • This is a more infrequent question, but can be expected. Be perfectly honest, even if it’s going to cooking school! You might find a common hobby with the professor and cooking school uses very similar skills in a different way, organization, learning quickly, creatively using the skills you’ve learned to move the field forward.
     

• “What do you hope to do after graduate school?”

  • This is an important question for the faculty to understand what your goals are post-graduation and that you are committed to the journey of a PhD. 

  • It is not a trick question, rather, it gives the faculty an idea what your long-term career goals are, e.g. becoming a faculty yourself or a STEM educator at a science museum so that you are able to inspire next-generation scientists about what higher education looks like!
     

• “How did you choose the lab you work in?”

  • Refrain from making your responses come across as blissful accidents, nor too purposeful. 

  • Here is an example of a scenario: During your freshman spring semester, your biology professor expressed he/she has an opening in the lab for the summer. You were at his/her office hours when you found out. Upon asking you if you wanted to pursue the research position, you said yes, so that you can gain research skills over the summer due to desperation from not hearing back from any other summer program — this is a case that is not compelling nor exciting. 

  • Telling the story that demonstrates you are a decision maker is much more compelling because graduate programs seek students who will make autonomous decisions based on the skills they are trying to hone or are passionate to pick up. Responses such as, “I thought organic chemistry was really engaging my sophomore year. After learning some basic mechanisms, I wondered how much bigger the world of possible mechanisms were. I asked my professor after class if there were any summer positions available where I could learn more. Since that summer, my interests in Chemistry have grown, I get to answer my own questions with research and generate new questions in the process”.

  • This presents a confident version of your story that still holds truth. Take caution from getting too grandiose!
     

• “What research are you interested in?”

  • Faculty are not probing to see if you want to join their lab. Rather, they want to know if you have an idea of what you’re looking to study in graduate school.

  • Refrain from saying you are open to studying anything. This is a red flag because it shows lack of specific interest Every institution has a plethora of amazing labs, but it’s important to show you’re interested in some field. For example: “I really am excited about the cytoskeleton. I could imagine studying how it organizes organelles on the cell level or differentiates neurons on the tissue level” or “I am committed to solving protein structures. I think structural biology is the key to understanding molecular mechanisms.