Q&A: The PhD Interview

Recently (well, honestly, not that recently, I've been falling behind a bit on answering your questions), I received the following question from a reader:

I have an upcoming interview for PhD Studentship... I'm very confused and tense about it.

Considering yourself to be a person who is taking interview for PhD studentship, what "general" questions would you ask to the candidate?

I think your answer would help met a lot...

Plus, if you would like to give any additional advice, I'll appreciate it !

First things first, the fact that you have been invited for an interview to discuss a possible PhD studentship is already positive news. It means that the PI sees potential in you, and wants to talk with you in person before making a decision. Professors are busy people, and they won't interview 20 candidates for a PhD position - they make a selection based on your letters and resumes, and then invite very few people to talk to. So, relax - the professor interviewing already thinks that on paper you are a good candidate.

I must say as well that I do not interview for PhD studentships. Even though I have recently been promoted to full professor in Ecuador, I do not interview for PhD positions because the institution I work at only has undergraduate programs. At Delft, the decision to hire PhD candidates depends on the full professor that leads our research group, in which I work as a part-time researcher.

Given that I have no experience interviewing candidates for a PhD position, I can only tell you how I prepared for my PhD interview. The most important part is making sure you are well-informed about the work of the research group and professor you are interviewing with. Read his most recent publications and his most cited publications, check all the information on the research website, and see what else Google can teach you about your possible future boss and workplace.

Other than preparing based on contents, treat it like any other job interview - it is not an exam, it is an interview. If possible, attend a workshop about interviews towards the end of your master's studies. Practice with standard job interview questions, such as you can find here. While most of these standard questions will never be asked during an interview for a PhD scholarship, they give you a sense of preparation, and help you speak up about your goals, your plans, and what you hope to achieve during your PhD years.

As for my PhD interview, I barely remember anything of it. Stress, sweaty palms, pure panic. I am not exaggerating.

My story starts on Friday, December 18th in New York. I am traveling back from a trip with friends to Atlanta, where I am studying for my M.Sc. in Structural Engineering. We are supposed to fly from New York to Atlanta with a stop in Charlotte, NC. Once we reach Charlotte, we are informed that our connecting flight is canceled. We are put on the waiting list for the next flight, but can't get on. All of us are traveling to Europe the next day, so we really need to make it back to Atlanta. We decide to rent a car. One friend drives, I sit next to him and talk hysterically trying to keep him awake (we had been awake since 4 am or so to catch our flight), the other friend is passed out on the back seat. We have an epic visit to a random Waffle House somewhere, where we do the endless coffee pot thing, and the server and her mom look at us as if we are exotic animals, because we are Europeans. We continue our road trip and make it to Atlanta late at night. I think I remember cooking up pasta with shrimp in cream sauce around midnight in my friends' house at the end of this.

The next day, I wake up to pack my suitcases with all presents from the USA for my family and friends in Europe, and get ready for my flight home. My friends come pick me up in the rental car, and we manage to fit in everybody and all our suitcases. I take the red eye flight to Brussels, and arrive majestically jetlagged on Sunday morning to Brussels. My PhD interview is the next morning, in the Netherlands.

That Sunday, my best friend comes to visit me. She finds me napping on the couch, exhausted after finals, the NYC trip, and all travel adventures. I crawl out of the sofa for cake and tea, but I'm not sure if I am a good host that day (probably not - but my friend never blamed me for it, because she's awesome). I go to bed, but of course can't sleep because I am too jetlagged.

Interview day - Monday December 21st: I wake up at the crack of dawn to take the first train to the Netherlands for the interview. My mom travels with me, to keep me company, and keep me awake. We travel from Lier and get off at the Antwerpen Berchem station, where the trains to the Netherlands used to leave. Turns out the Antwerpen Centraal station is now the departure station. We run out of the train station, catch a cab, and are still in time to take our train to the Netherlands. For some reason, we have delays or other problems, and by the time we reach Rotterdam Centraal, we are too late for the connection to Delft. We catch another cab to go to the university in Delft.

I only have the address of the lab. The cab driver does not know which building is civil engineering. I have vague memories of running on a slippery, icy pavement on my high heels (my interview shoes!) to dash into a building and ask them where I can find the civil engineering building. Finding the Stevin II lab inside of the civil engineering building turns out to be a last hurdle to take. I arrive half an hour late to my interview, sweaty, stressed like never before, and totally unprepared.

Once I finally find where I have to be, I see there are three people waiting to interview me. I stare at them like a wild animal who sees humans for the first time, or a rabbit staring into the headlights of a car. My equally distressed mother is trailing behind me. The three people ready to interview me look all relaxed though. They sit at the coffee table, chatting, and sipping coffee. They even mention: "We didn't expect you yet!", after I mutter apologies for being late, and ask, given that I had to travel from Belgium, why the appointment was so early. I didn't dare to tell them I simply took the first suggestion of the secretary.

My mom and I each get a coffee, and then I am taking into the office of the full professor for the interview. I barely remember anything from the interview, except that I didn't speak much at all, and that they mostly talked about the project - I think. I just remember the moment one of them said: "In case it wasn't clear yet, we really would like to have you here." I must have given another wild-animal-stare, but I realize I am in. I feel much more relaxed. After the interview, my mom and I are taken for a trip to the laboratories, where I am shown all the cool stuff in the lab. I remember much more details from the lab visit, as the stress had ebbed away, and I started to feel genuinely excited about working in Delft.

After the lab visit, I think my mom and I are offered another round of coffee. My interviewers are friendly and chatty, and I remember them telling us that they would love to give us a ride to the train station back, but they all came by bike. My mom and I blink at the thought of these important, not-so-young men biking through the freezing winter air. I realize the Netherlands will be quite different from Belgium, where taking your car to go to the bakery at the end of the street is common practice. My mom and I end our day with a visit to the city center of Delft, and we treat ourselves to a big plate of poffertjes. And this is the story of my PhD interview - not the ideal situation, but I did end up getting the PhD position of my dreams.

Q & A: Applying for a PhD with average grades

Time for another episode of the Q&A series! (Not so) recently I received the following message (edited to protect the writer's anonymity):

Hi there,

I want to do a PHD, very keen to do it but my school academics and under graduation academics were not that good due to my sports activities. I have been a national level player and missed my classes for my sports practice. However, I have improved my scores in MBA. I have two years of work experience in Human Resource and at present I am pursuing a Diploma course in Something from Somewhere.

I am very keen to do a PHD after this from a reputed university which can help me get into teaching later. Request your guidance to help me give some information which can accept my PHD application and also the list of good colleges, if you are aware of, who can consider me with my average academic background.

Thanks in Advance

As always, let's break this question down.

I want to do a PHD, very keen to do

Very good - motivation is super important for a PhD.

but my school academics and under graduation academics were not that good due to my sports activities. I have been a national level player and missed my classes for my sports practice.

I think you can frame this very well when you apply for a PhD position. If you've been able to get your degree and be an athlete at a high level, that certainly tells us something about your time management skills, dedication to your studies and discipline. You can focus on what you learned by being a pro-athlete, and how you plan to take that special experience into your PhD program.

Secondly, if your PhD program is more research-based than coursework-based, your ability to study and your ability to do research are two separate things. Your ability to study sometimes unfortunately relates to how much information you can cram into your head to pass an exam, or how smart you are in figuring out what will go on the exam. Your ability to do research of course requires a certain level of intelligence, but research is a different skill than studying.

One final comment: my first year at university was not all sparkles. I had some trouble adjusting, was very affected by the way I was treated as a woman in an engineering program, partied too much and my grades were so-so. I didn't fail any class, but I passed without honors or anything. My grades gradually climbed up over the years as I figured out what was expected from me on exams, and as I gained confidence and learned to brush off the stupid remarks and everyday sexism.

I have two years of work experience in Human Resource

If this work experience is relevant to the PhD program that you want to apply to, take full benefit of the fact that you have industry experience. Otherwise, you can frame your work experience as a form of maturity, and that you have some real-world experience.

Request your guidance to help me give some information which can accept my PHD application

Hmm, that all depends on your field. What do you want to study? Who do you want to work with. If you need some guidance on selecting a PhD program and advisor, please check out this post.

the list of good colleges, if you are aware of, who can consider me with my average academic background.

Again, depends a lot on the country. If you want to go to a US university, your GRE grades and TOEFL (if necessary) will also tell them something. Your statement of purpose will be very important - you can use that opportunity to stress your former athletic career and your real-life work experience.

If you are going to go to a European university, a lot will depend on the contact you develop with your possible future advisor. Since you will be in a research-oriented PhD program, you need to make sure beforehand that you research plans and even your character are compatible with your advisor.

Hope that helps! Good luck with the applications.... and to all other readers, feel free to shoot me some more questions.

Q & A: What should you already know when you start a PhD

Time to answer some more of your questions, folks!

Here's a recent submission from a reader (I obviously took out the personal details of the writer, and replaced these by Someone, Somewhere, My Field, and in Countries X and Y).

Dear Eva

This is Someone I am a new PhD student at Somewhere.

Actually I have experience in My Field because I was in Country X for 2 years before my PhD fellowship in Country Y but I am afraid of new techniques I will find in the new lab in Country Y I do not know much more about it before so do you think I am right with my fears or not ???

Should I know everything at my new lab. what they are expecting from me.

Thanks

Yours

Someone

As always, let me break this question down into a few different elements.

I have experience in My Field

That's already great - not all new PhD students have had the chance to learn in different countries and build up some experience. Some might come into their program with a few years of work or lab experience. Others might be completely new to the lab work they will be doing (I, for one, was completely new to lab work when I started my PhD).

I am afraid of new techniques I will find in the new lab in Country Y

A PhD is a learning process, and learning new skills is part of that. Besides the new lab skills that you will learn, there is so much more that you will learn along the way in your program - academic writing is a big one for most of us, for example.

Do you think I am right with my fears or not

You are right to have your doubts, fears and more about starting a PhD - because it's a big project and it will take you some years to finish. However, the reasons why you are doubting and fearing shouldn't really be causes for fear.

Should I know everything at my new lab

They know that a new PhD student is an apprentice. The older PhD students might take you under their wing and teach you how to use the equipment in the lab, or the lab technicians might help you with that. As long as you keep an open mind and attitude, they will all be happy to help you out. Just don't take on an arrogant attitude, saying you know things and all that - just patiently listen and learn how things in the new lab work. And of course, bringing coffee and cookies to the other folks in the lab at some point is always a good way to win some sympathy, make friends, find a time to discuss and have a great break together.

What they are expecting from me?

That's a question I can't really answer - it depends on your project, your lab and your professor. If you have any doubts, if it isn't clear to you on which actions you should be devoting more time, then please speak up and ask them.

PhD Talk for AcademicTransfer: Selecting a PhD program and supervisor

This post is part of the series PhD Talk for AcademicTransfer: posts written for the Dutch academic career network AcademicTransfer, your go-to resource for all research positions in the Netherlands.

These posts are sponsored by AcademicTransfer, and tailored to those of you interested in pursuing a research position in the Netherlands.

If these posts raise your interest in working as a researcher in the Netherlands, even better - and feel free to fire away any questions you might have on this topic!

In our most recent post, we've looked at the benefit of your academic skills for finding employment after the PhD. Today, we take a step back in time, and look at the very beginning of your PhD adventure: finding a PhD program and supervisor.

The typical approach of finding a PhD program, is just by applying to a number of institutions, and seeing where you get accepted, with funding.

While getting into a program with funding is, in my opinion, one of the most important aspects of finding a PhD position, there are a number of other aspects to take into account as well. As a side note: almost all PhD positions in The Netherlands come with secured funding. In The Netherlands, a PhD student is considered an full-time employee of the university, with an OK salary, and social security. You won't got in debt over your PhD in The Netherlands, and you might even be able to save some good money if you live frugally. Besides the top-quality programs, this secure positions of PhD students could be one more reason to look for a PhD in The Netherlands.

Before zooming in to the aspects you should consider when selecting a program and supervisor, I'd like to share the two elements that made me pick my program and supervisor. The first factor that determined my choice, was interest. I wanted to do research on either buckling of concrete columns, or shear or torsion problems in reinforced concrete members. With that research interest in mind, I started to browse the pages of concrete research groups in various universities. I had given up on the idea of doing a PhD in the USA because of the crisis and the difficult funding situation (that was Fall 2008, and the confusion was complete). As such, my search was narrowed down to European universities. The second element that guided my search, was the reputation of the universities and their professors. I checked out the work of research groups of universities that I consider highly in Belgium, The Netherlands, Germany and Sweden. Delft showed that they would start a large project on the remaining life capacity of concrete bridges, with shear as a mean topic, and that struck a chord immediately. Moreover, I was attracted by the reputation of the professor leading the research group. I sent an e-mail, then later sent my resume, and the rest is history.

Maybe I was extremely lucky to find a topic that really fit my research interest. Maybe the fact that I had a clearly defined research interest helped me find my position, which turned out to be a very positive experience.

Now that you know my story, let's look at a number of aspects to consider when selecting a PhD program and supervisor:

1. Your research interest

If you're going to spend 3 to 4 years of your life focused on one single topic, it'd better be a topic of your interest. Don't settle for a topic you are not interested in at all, just because you are getting funding. Don't settle for a topic that doesn't raise your enthusiasm just for getting a chance of putting "Dr." in front of your name.

2. Compatibility with supervisor

Before enrolling in a program, take a trip to your prospective institution to talk to your future supervisor in person. See if you share perspectives on your years as a doctoral candidate, see if you are on the same wavelength. While anything can happen along the road, such a discussion can give you an idea of how compatible your working style is with that of your supervisor.

3. Lab facilities

If you have an interest in experimental work, see what would be available to you when you'd join a given research group. Likewise, if you're more into numerical/analytical work, see what is available.

4. Learning opportunities

Every PhD is a learning journey. Inquire about the requirements with regard to technical courses, courses in which you train your soft skills, and more. Some PhD programs have a larger course load, some PhD programs are more research-oriented. Define what your learning needs are, and if these are in line with the opportunities at a given institution.

5. Post-PhD employment opportunities

Doing research for 3 to 4 years is lots of fun, but there's the truth of life after that too. Inform about the career paths of graduates from the program you are interested in. See if your prospective institution has good ties to the industry, which might give you more chances at finding employment after your PhD.

6. Location

If you are moving abroad for your PhD, consider the country and city you are moving to. Is it easy to find housing in that region? How high is the cost of living? What is the crime rate (aka is it OK to walk around with your laptop in your backpack?)?

7. Funding/Employment conditions

How is your research going to be paid? Will you be treated as a student on a scholarship, or a full-fledged employee of the institution with job security during a given amount of time and social security? Does your funding cover all years your PhD program is supposed to last?

8. Support for foreign students

If you are coming from abroad, inquire if the university is providing you with assistance for getting your visa, work permit, housing and all practical aspects of moving abroad. I can speak from experience that having to figure out all bureaucratic rules as a foreigner can be a long and confusing process...

9. Travel funding

What is the conference/field research travel policy of your prospective research group? Are you entitled to 1 international conference per year, or do you get to go wherever you feel like, as long as you write and present a paper? Is there funding to go and visit foreign labs? To participate in technical committees?

10. Research group

Last but not least, how is the atmosphere in the research group? Are people hanging out together for coffee breaks and lunch? Or do you feel that the cohesion in the group is rather small? Do you feel "at home" with those people, or do you think you'd be left alone?

These 10 aspects highlight different parts of your PhD research. From feeling well in your environment, to having the tools and resources to carry out your research, there are a number of topics to think of when you make your decision with regard to selecting a PhD program. Above all, trust your gut feeling: if you visit a research group, and your inner Big Nerd starts to get itchy fingers and shouts "Yes, yes, yes, this looks cool!", then go for it!

Five Key Elements to Consider when Applying for a PhD

Recently, a reader posted me the following question:

Hi I am thinking of doing PhD and have just come acrossed some scholarships possibiities as well. But before applying I need to contact a potential supervisor and required to do communication about possible phd topic etc. However I am reluctant as to how to start and what should I need to care about during first communication phase. I will be glad if you or someone reading it would provide some useful advice for this stage.

The requirements are different for every school, but there are a few general guidelines that should be helpful for every student who is planning to apply for a PhD (and apply for funding).

Here are the five key elements to consider when applying for a PhD:

1. Familiarize yourself with the work of prospective supervisor(s)

To get a grasp of the style of your prospective supervisor, or a professor you might be interested to work with, start reading a few of his papers. You shouldn't aim at understanding the deep details of these papers, but just familiarize yourself with the topics he works on, the main ideas, his writing style, and his publication venues of preference.
Depending on your goals for graduate school, you might prefer to work with a supervisor who publishes mostly conference papers, as this can signify he/she has a strong network. Also, check if the professor publishes together with his PhD students, or if he publishes most of the research as first author and the students as workslaves on "lower" positions in the author list.

2. Write your autobiographical essay and letter of purpose and rewrite, rewrite and rewrite it again

Your autobiographical essay is your little stage, where you can give your prospective supervisor and institution an idea of what kind of person you are, and what your extra skills are besides your excellent academic qualifications. Don't be afraid to mention all other extra-curricular activities that keep you busy, as these elements will help sketching a more complete profile of who you are as a student.

3. Explore the coursework

Have a good look at the courses that are offered, and examine if these courses can fit into your plan of study. If you want to specialize for example in seismic design, apply to a program that offers plenty of courses in this field of study. If you apply to a research-only program, you can still see if there could be courses that can fill the gaps in your knowledge - and you can mention this in your letter of purpose. You can show your prospective institution that you have seriously looked into their program.

4. Try to go for a personal visit

If traveling to your future institution is an option, absolutely try to carve out some time and budget to go for a visit. You will get an impression of your future supervisor, the facilities, the atmosphere and the town the institution is located in. You'll be living in the same city for a decent number of years, so go and explore and wonder if you would feel at home in that place.

5. Prepare for possible tests in time

Depending on the program you apply to, you will need to take some standardized tests. Delft does not require any tests to be taken, but US institutions require you to take tests such as the TOEFL, GRE etc. If you take standardized tests abroad, try to take them at least a year before your intended start of study. There are not that many options for taking standardized tests in most European countries (once or twice a year for the GRE, for example), so make sure you plan ahead.

What would you advise someone who is planning to start applying for a PhD program?

Five Best Practices for Getting Started with Research

A little while ago, I got this question from a reader as a comment to the Silver Linings introduction.

Also, could you write about starting with a research? I am actually afraid to start with it, to just do it and ask for some tasks at the professor...while I want to. I think it's too difficult for me, and I don't know where to begin in proving myself wrong.

Before burying the idea in my ever-growing list of blog post ideas, I had already quickly chipped in:

As for your question - I'll make sure to write a post on that, but as for now, be sure to realize that research is a process that is built upon the lessons we learn from our failures. So, don't be afraid to jump into the playground - you'll get your knees chafed along the way, but that's all part of growing up to become a fully fledged researcher :)

But let's take a look at this question again. I wrote a post about getting started in a PhD course or in graduate school, but getting started with research is a different topic. You can start on a new research project as a post-doc as well, for exampled.

In my opinion, there are five essential pieces of knowledge to keep in mind when you get started on a research project:

1. Play with your papers

After reading a paper, don't just simply archive it, but apply your new insights. You can try to carry out some calculations with the method that is proposed in a paper, check experimental results from another paper with the proposed method, explore the boundaries of the formula and the validity of its assumptions - the list of options goes on and on.

2. Learn a new skill

The beginning of your research is the moment to assess which skills you will need during the process and which parts of your knowledge need deepening. The early research months are a good time to learn programming in a new language, or study a book in a new subject that will be of use to your research. Don't get too side-tracked by learning new things, try to implement them and connect them with your research question early on!

3. Become independent

Don't wait for your supervisor to give you "homework". Research does not work like that. You are expected to get your hands dirty and play around in the garden until you find your treasure. Whenever you find a glimmer of gold, you can go and show this to your supervisor, and he will give you some input and comments to that, and steer you when necessary.

4. Familiarize yourself with the campus and services

This point overlaps with my earlier post on starting a PhD - but once you are fully engrained in your research, you don't want to go and spend a day figuring out how your library system works. Just figure out what services are at your disposition and how you can benefit most from these.

5. Document your journey

Your early scribblings most likely won't make it into your final dissertation, but I'd encourage you to start writing early on. Explain why a certain paper is of particular interest to you, or outline the strategies you used to find the limits of a theory that you studied. These documents make discussions with your supervisor easier, and they help you practice writing.

What would you recommend for someone who is getting started on research?

Writers' Lab: How you should start writing from Day 1

In the academic blogosphere, there are fans and haters of starting with writing at the very beginning of your PhD.

I started writing very early, and even though not much of that material has made it into my dissertation, I did find it very helpful.

Starting to write early on helped me to get used to academic writing (in English), but those early little reports and discussion documents also turned out very useful in meetings with my supervisor.

On day 1, you won't open a document and start writing the first chapter of your dissertation, but there are a few types of smaller reports that you can start working on. All these writings will help you become familiar with writing, and will help you produce something that your supervisors can look at before a meeting.

1. Summaries of papers

Whenever you read a paper that turns out to be valuable, write a small summary. This summary can be really short (half a page), or you can use the document to already write out some equations that you might need earlier on.
Among the only material in my thesis that survives from my first year are equations I neatly wrote and formatted in MathType at the very beginning.

2. Discussions of a set of papers

If you've read a few papers on a similar topic, you can pull that material together and write a small report of it (5 to 10 pages). Important here is to discover which points are still open in the discussion, where different authors contradict each other, what the limits, boundaries and assumptions are. If you can apply these ideas to a set of data from the literature and play around a bit - even better!

3. Exploratory calculations

Once I knew that I was going to be doing experiments, I made a whole set of exploratory calculations to see what, according to the current design codes and methods, my slabs were supposed to carry. In a preparatory report, I set out all the equations, and added a series of results of calculations and parameter studies.
Working on this material helped me get a good idea of what I could expect from my experiments (although that turned out to be different) and from the codes. Moreover, it helped me set up a few MathCad sheets and some Excel spreadsheets, that I've used for different purposes later in my research.
Don't fall in the trap of waiting until you have data to start working on calculations!

4. Plan of Action

Another important document to write at the very beginning is your Plan of Action (for me it was "Educational and Supervision Plan", for others it might be the Research Plan). Brainstorm the different methods that you would like to apply, and assess the amount of time you will need. Outline your research question, and identify a set of sub-questions.

You might deviate from your research question later on, but start with a defined question - it will help you get on track to start looking for answers.

5. Motivation of Research

Why does your research matter? Motivating your research is not about getting ready to write your introduction chapter, but it is about getting the larger picture. Write that larger picture down in a document, and revisit it frequently.

If your research has practical applications, keep a tie to practice. If your research has broader impacts on society, place things into perspective every now and then.

What types of documents did you start working on at the beginning of your PhD?