I appreciate that this is a very broad question. However, I have an interview for a PhD and Manchester Uni next week and am a little nervous.

Firstly, although I have a general understanding of the research area, my knowledge is not excessive. Would the supervisor expect me to have a full understanding of the research topic? As it is I have good lab experience of the techniques that will be used on the dissertation and my final year project involved a similar area of work.

Should I expect a grilling at the interview?

on a lesser note, I assume that wearing a suit would be standard practice at research interview?

As I said, I know that this is a very general query, but would be grateful of any advice that people can give me. This is a very exciting venture for me and I really want to do it, so I want to get it right.

Thanks in advance,

Andy :)

Hi. First of all, congratulations for getting invited and good luck at the interview. I just wanted suggest to run a search with the keyword "interview" (with Thread Text only option selected) on this forum and you would see the relevant messages. I thought until you get some replies from people, this would be a good start.

Thanks 404. I will do that.

Cheers,

Andy

Congrats on getting the interview.

I wore a suit to my interviews, I think it sets a good impression.

I made sure I read a few articles relating to the project and made sure I had a basic idea of any techniques that were mentioned. It would be a good idea to make sure u know your dissertation, I was asked about mine in all of my interviews. I did mine on a virus, and one of the guys that interviewed me was a virologist and he asked me alot of questions on it.

I think one of the most important things to be able to answer is 'Why do you want to do a PhD?'.. from my experience I picked up that motivation can carry alot of weight in interview. I was also asked about what my impression of PhD study was.. Its a bit of an open ended question but I think they wanted to make sure that I knew it wasnt going to be an easy ride.

Anyhow.. Thats all i can think of for now, hope it helps!

That's really useful tricky.

I know that I have great lab experience from my placement year in a research department. There are a lot of techniques that I am very familiar with that will be applied with the PhD. I have already started revising my knowledge in these techniques and started refreshing myself with my dissertation.

I'm made up to get the interview, especially as I only applied last Tuesday. Got the email today inviting me to the interview next Tuesday. It's pretty short notice, so I know I've got a busy weekend ahead of me.

After working in a research department already, I know that it's not going to be easy. More to the point, I don't want it to be easy as I really want to challenge myself.

Anyway, fingers crossed hey? I'm excited and scared at the same time :)

Yup fingers crossed and good luck

What area is it you are hoping to do your PhD in?

Am about a month ahead of you!! Applied for PhD at Manchester didnt get it but got 'invited' to apply for another!! an found out yesterday I got it!!!! Whoo Hoo!!

everyone at my set of interviews went in suits!! I dont think you can really overdress it shows you have made an effort in what is important to you!!

Questions wise.....whislt a strong understanding of project is important its not the be all an end all
They are more focused on who you are and what you have done so far, make sure you know your previous research inside out an have a think about what motivates you, how you feel bout litrature reviews, writing up....when your lab work goes 'wrong'...spending hours in labs..... these are the sort of questions I got asked anyway and I think they held more weight than weather I had previous understanding of the research topic!
Are you doing a presentation??? Also reccomend stating the obvious a bit you really know your work they dont and you probably make assumptions!!
Thats about it!! What Dept are you in?? Let me know how you go?? Hopefully I will see you milling round library/bar in October!!!

It's the materials science department that I'm applying to.

I'm pretty confident in answering questions about my motivation. Especially the tedious stuff like lit reviews. I'm quite good t seeing the positive side to all aspects of research, even when everything is going wrong.

Excellent news on your acceptance waterbaby. Congratulations :)

Hey Gridlocked!!

You will be there now I take it!!

Hope it went OK.....I thought mine went terribly got asked about me 'moderate accademic career' with particular reference to my A-level Chem Grade!!' so will probably have gone better than you thought!!!

Good luck an hope you get it!!!

See you in Oct?

Hi Waterbaby,

Erm, no, I'm not there. Has been postponed till Thursday. Typical academic department :)

Still. it gives me more time to read more stuff. Though I think I may be getting carried away with the reading as I've been reading solid for the last 5 days.

I spoke to my undergrad project supervisor yesterday and he seemed pretty hopeful for me. He thinks that I've already got a good understanding of the area and I've got really good lab experience that will be applicable to this position. I'm just hoping that I don't freeze up in the interview (which has happened before). My vocabulary seems to shrink somewhat in interviews, which can be a bit annoying. :(

Fingers still crossed, and yes maybe I'll see you in Manchester :)

Hey Gridlocked how did it go???

While im here any other Manchester Postgrads on here??

At my recent interview, from which i got made an offer, I was asked about my accademic career (as I have 2 master degrees, one in Archaeology & another in Environmental Chemistry...with the PhD being in a Geography department), my future expectations & why I wanted to do a PhD. All in all it is what I expected (I went through 4 PhD interviews 3/4 years ago when I did my first masters.

My new supervisors have sent me journals to read when I asked them too which is ace!!

I also have a sister about to start her final year so obviously I have asked her to kindly look using her athens log in for me........obviously havent just got her password off her an ben doing it myself that would be wrong!!

So, after a wait of nearly 6 weeks, I have just been sent an email offering me the PhD. Apparently they had a delay organising the funding, but that is all sorted out now.

I'm over the moon, especially after such a long wait.

Thanks to everyone for the replies.

Suggy, my interview wasn't quite as expected. After hammering the revision for a couple of weeks before, I got stumped by the first question; 'tell me a bit about yourself'. I did freeze up a bit (not unusual for me), but got over that and happily discussed my interests especially in the field. I was then asked to discuss my final year project that I had brought along. Again, I was quite comfortable talking about this and managed to answer most questions. Still got a bit stuck on the odd one though.

*post too long, so continues in next post. (am I allowed to do that? maybe i just waffle too much.)

Continued....

I wasn't really asked much about the research topic that I was going for, which is a shame as I'd read into it soooo much. I think they were more interested in my motivation and hopefully I came across as enthusiastic.

All in all, it was quite a casual interview, which helped me relax after the first 10 minutes or so.

For some reason, my Athens account from Sheffield is still active, so it was really handy for getting hold of papers.

Waterbaby, I'm sure that you wouldn't just steal your sisters login details, because that would be most wrong! Maybe you will see me being ver lost in the library in October. Eeek! just realised that I need to sort out somewhere to live. *goes off to search internet forums*

Anyway, I'm a very happy puppy at the mo, and will do what I do best in these situations and drink myself silly in the pub this evening.