I recently contacted a supervisor in KCL to see if she's interested in supervising my proposed PhD project (PhD political economy research). She said that she wants me to come to see her and discuss it.

Has anyone here had a similar experience? Would you mind sharing the experience with me? For example, what you discussed with the potential supervisor, the questions he/she asked, etc.

Should I prepare something (like readings, research plan, etc) before I see her?

Thanks in advance for any comment you may have.

Hi,

When I was getting ready to submit my proposal the potential supervisors did ask to meet and discuss the study, this was primarily to see how passionate and motivated you are for the study (almost like a pre-screening). I would recommend that you prepare something to take with you to your meeting, along the lines of why you want to research this topic, a possible methodology, your previous experiences with the topic and why you're choosing to study at that particular university. The potential supervisor will also want to see if your personalities match, if he/she thinks you're not motivated enough for they study they won't help you as much with the proposal. So be keen and prepared but don't get nervous and be yourself.

Hope this helps.

All the best.

Very informal. You'll get a coffee. She'll eye you up: see if you are potential researcher material. Not an inquisition. A general discussion of your ideas. Doesn't matter what you show her written down now, she'll still get you to redo it her way when you start. This is as much to make sure you and your ideas are compatible with her and her dept, whilst keeping everyinth nice and unofficial so you can be rejected if necessary with minimum paperwork. Good luck: as long as they want you (and there is no reason as yet that they don't) it's a piece of cake.

PS- apologies didn't see ZA3's input above.

My supervisor asked me to come in for a chat too. It was quite informal. She sussed out my background in the research area and we talked about the project I'd applied for. I didn't take anything written down but she already had my proposal, application and references so there wasn't much else I could take. It was pretty relaxed.