Hi all,:-)

I have an interview for a PhD studentship at a university where I am required to present for 5 minutes why I want to do this particular PhD. The PhD title was advertised by the university and another organisation, and I applied to it. Now I don't have much info on how the PhD will be structured etc., because its not my own proposal. So what things should I cover in this 5 minutes?

Has anyone been to a PhD studentship interview? Could you kindly give me a brief of how it went and what areas you covered?

Hi Chococake (mmm, I'm hungry now!),

The first thing to say is exactly what you're asked - why do you want to do a PhD. You obviously need to be honest, but things to avoid saying IMO are things like "I don't know what else to do", "I don't want to get a job", or "My friends are doing one". I think good reasons are a passion for the subject, interest in research, and of course it's also a stepping stone if you want a career (researcher, lecturer, etc) which requires a PhD. You could maybe talk about something you did as an undergrad which made you want to learn more, and while some stuff is subject specific, I think that a lot of PhDs develop your powers of analysis, critical thought, and also sheer doggedness. I had about four PhD interviews, and they all went fine, so I reckon this is a decent outline, but of course it depends on the subject, and the supervisors too. 5 minutes does seem rather short though!

I would ask for more details, absolutely. You want to know what the research is really about before making a decision anyway, so maybe compile a brief list of questions and send them to the potential supervisor.

Other than that, you can talk about what motivates you to do a phd (career aspirations, love of research process), why you want to work with that department/supervisor (reference their recent publications, etc) and generally why you're interested in the topic - if you can tie this into undergrad studies or work you've already done, it's especially convincing. Five minutes is very short so a few sentences of each would do I imagine.

As for what the interview will be like, it really can vary a great deal. But expect general questions about your ambitions and motivations regarding academia. Be prepared to give examples of how you've structured and carried out work in the past, any dissertation research is usually good for this. Make sure you're background knowledge is up to scratch and that you know a bit about the group you'll be joining. Aside from that, be yourself and good luck!

Thank you, thats great advice.