Hi y’all I’ve set up two interviews for this week and I’m pretty nervous. So far I’ve compiled the list of questions below but if anybody has any additional advice/things to prep for I’d appreciate it
How do you see your research evolving in our program?
What types of courses are you interested in taking in a doctoral program?
Why did you apply here?
What are your research interests?
Why do you want to do a PhD?
Why specifically at ____ university?
What are your career goals and how will our program help you achieve them?
Please describe your research experience at ___.
What are your research goals?
Recent research project?
Re-iterate research proposal
Tell me about your research?
How do you deal with failure because your life here will be full of it
Why do you want to come here
Where else are you applying/interviewing? What would you do if accepted to all?
Where do you see yourself in 10 years
Do you have any questions for me(the interviewer) **** I NEED HELP HERE****
So far I guess questions about their specific research but outside of that in like a conversational way idk what to ask
Summer Funding?
Does the department plan to expand over the next 5 years? (eh)
What made you study ___? What made you approach ___ from this perspective?
I did, lol. The program blurbs don’t do a great job of highlighting the differences between the programs in terms of the culture, educational focus, etc, especially since so much of the coursework is elective-based. I looked at the requirements before I sent the email, too, so it irks me even more that despite me basically saying “I’ve looked at your website”, they just….linked me back to the website. I’ll email them back and ask for more qualitative information, because my wording was admittedly unclear, but the fact that I have to email them at all makes me angry, because it means their websites were too unclear to be useful.
Furthermore, the NUIN (Neuroscience) website (which is what I was looking at originally) doesn’t list the BBC PhD as an affiliated program; the only reason I was able to find the BBC program is because one of my faculty members of interest who was listed on the NUIN page says on his lab page “please apply through the BBC program!” (And NUIN doesn’t let you work with faculty housed in other departments so why is he listed as NUIN faculty anyway?) As it turns out, the BBC program through the Psych department might actually be a better fit for me than the Neuro PhD, but I never would have known, because the program didn’t come up in my various google searches, and the NUIN site didn’t feel the need to post the BBC program in its list of collaborators and affiliated programs. It increasingly feels like these universities don’t actually care about making this process easier for students, and it’s making me horribly jaded.
Explain to me why so many universities have, like, 5 (or more!!) different cognitive and/or neuroscience PhD programs! And why none of these universities ever lays out the differences between these programs in an easily accessible manner! And then there are all these faculty members who are listed under 2-3 different programs but only accept students from one program but collaborate with other programs, leaving you wondering which program to apply to so you can maximize your chances of working with your preferred mentor. Because god knows I can’t afford to apply to every single one of these programs for every single school; there’s separate application fees and GRE codes for every damn department and I’m not personalizing my SOP 17 times anyway.
I hate this process so so so much. Every step of this process is designed to trick and blindside prospective students, and we’re just expected to figure it out as we go, and the whole thing is bullshit.
I’m gonna write a “things I didn’t know about applying to grad school” post once my applications are submitted, because no other student deserves to go through this much pain. I’m so angry and frustrated right now.
I have now rewritten my SOP 5 times, each time changing something drastic about the structure or the information I reveal or the narrative thread I weave, in order to address the various weaknesses I’ve identified. I’m starting to grow increasingly frustrated and demoralized, because somehow no matter how much editing I do, the SOP doesn’t seem to get good enough to be proud of, or even just okay with. Every time, I chip away at a weakness just enough to think “Yeah, this is why I edit; every edit makes it better,” but there’s always enough of that weakness left that I can’t definitively say “I’ve addressed this and can move on to something else.”
I know that my SOP has come incredibly far from my first draft, and I amhappy with small bits and pieces of it, but the thought of having to rewrite it yet again to correct a glaring structural weakness is just…so incredibly demotivating. Especially because I’m having to identify these weaknesses, figure out how to address them, and then implement those changes almost entirely on my own, without second opinions or constructive criticism from a third party. It is exhausting having to pinpoint my flaws and then switch mindsets and address those flaws without becoming embroiled in insecurity and self-loathing for having those flaws in the first place, irrational as that is.
I’ve tried to remain positive throughout this process, taking the little external feedback I’ve gotten with an open mind and reminding myself that every edit brings me closer to my final SOP. I know I’m a good writer and a better editor, and these skills serve me well; hell, I made it through 5 rewrites before starting to feel frustrated, and I’m incredibly lucky to have gotten that far. But I’m finally starting to feel the stress and the panic, and it’s not a great feeling, to be honest.
I don’t know. I’m writing this post in an attempt to process my frustration and put it into words so I can move on and return to editing with restrengthened convictions. But I also kind of want to reassure anyone else out there who’s feeling frustrated that you’re not alone. I know I went into this process thinking writing a SOP was simple and easy, and I must be stupid if I was having so much trouble with it, but I’m starting to realize that the frustration and the constant rewriting is part and parcel of the writing process. It doesn’t make me stupid to be working on a sixth rewrite. It doesn’t make me stupid to have been editing this SOP for almost a month. And I’ll get there, eventually. Every draft is better than the last, and ultimately I’ll have a statement that’s good enough to submit. I just have to keep on keeping on, I suppose.
I always complain so today I’d like to say something positive. I got through the wash day of ChIP and got a western to primary antibody before 1pm! That’s pretty awesome. So, some days are still exciting
fri. sept. 24 // this week was a lot but worth it. I taught my first guest lecture on gov’t pr in my grad program on wednesday. it felt so full circle lecturing to an intro course while I’m at the tail end of the program. the prof I’ve known for way too long and we had a great chat afterwards about life, my growth, and my future PhD plans.
this morning I got the intro to my thesis approved by my advisor. def wrote it in 30 minutes before our meeting but he praised my writing style and gave great guidance for how in formulating my research questions.
@siveambraireplied to your post “I’d have been hospitalized [due to stress] at…”…girl I miss him!! He is all like officially retired now and has a house in Texas to be near his grandkids. And I want to be done!!!!! And he let me use google docs but now I am using track changes and she doesn’t even accept everything so it’s all just a multicolored jumble and I don’t like it!!
