Hi, everyone!

I have just received the invitation to chat with a PhD project supervisor. I am guessing that this is an informal interview (he mentions the chance to talk about my background and interests, skype with the other supervisor and current PhD students) and so I have started going through the list of possible questions that I may be asked.

This is a project that really interests me for the subject itself, and because one of the supervisors has several publications of impact in the area, and I haven't paid much attention to the Uni where it is held... So should I be honest and say it's not because of the institution but project+supervisor? Or should I "fake" my answer?

You can say it is because of your project and supervisor. But you could also look up a few relevant factors (eg, training, reputation, international research community) as pm133 suggests and bring them into it as well. It wouldn't be faking it to let them know you have considered other advantages/good points of the university (even if it isn't those that are specifically drawing you).

Good luck with the interview!

One thing I have learned from years of working in various workplaces is that you become part of the reputation of that workplace and it becomes part of your reputation, if that makes sense. I have overheard other PhD students bad-mouthing my university to visitors, and I think that's crazy, because they're effectively letting people know that they are investing their time in a place they don't rate! In my opinion, it's worth spending some time thinking about this question in case you are asked it, so you can demonstrate that you'll be an asset and a positive member of the department.

My advice would be to simply tell the truth.

When asked why I wanted to come to my current university, my reply to the question "Why this "institution?" was simply that it's the closest to home (moving away is not an option) and the supervisor I wanted was interested in railways, like me. I knew nothing of the resources available.

I'm now in my third year and I seem to be doing okay.

I can't see what's wrong with your saying that you want to go to X University simply because you like the project offered and you want to work with Dr/Prof Y.

There may be other profs working in a related field who (along with your potential sup) have published papers of note recently, as part of a wider research group. Might be worth doing a literature search to see if that's the case. It's something worth looking into before going further with your application,

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You should be very careful about faking anything. Us older folks are very good at sniffing out fakery. Very good indeed. Some of us are evil enough to deliberately ask questions like this just to test for this. Lets be honest if you are going to fake an inteview can you be trusted not to fake data when push comes to shove?[/quote]

A tad overboard. All of us have had to exaggerate at an interview at one time or another. It is not related in any way to faking data.

Thanks everyone for the advice!

I will look into the University a bit further to see if there is something that I like and can bring up in the interview. Otherwise I'll just go with the "I love the project" (which is true :P). Pm133, I wasn't really thinking of "faking", it was more of an expression, but noted!