Advice for PhD Interview?

[RadioElectric]

I've got an interview for a PhD on Tuesday that I'm worrying about.

I've already managed to pull off one PhD interview but that had a very informal style. This one seems a lot more structured (interview panel, etc.). It'll be shorter than the one I already did (40 mins rather than 2 hours) but there's a presentation...

You will be expected to give a five minute presentation that summarises your academic career to date and provides information on project work that you have done (for example, in your final year or in an MSc).

I want to have my presentation sorted for tomorrow but I'm really having trouble trying to come up with a way of doing it. I'm not sure whether to start at A-level or degree level, whether to focus on module content or my grades, whether to talk about the work I did lab demonstrating etc.

Gah!

[mellowsun]

I had a PhD interview recently. Basically I discussed how my MSc project work led to my choice of PhD subject, and I discussed my proposal in detail.

I wouldn't bother with starting with A levels or even discussing your grades. I would start with your degree and show how your interest in particular aspects there led to your MSc and your choice of MSc project. The real meat of the presentation should be about your MSc project and how it leads to your PhD subject. Discuss any publications, papers and presentations you have done. Discuss why you want to do the PhD (e.g. you want a career in academia, or you want to investigate opportunities partnering the dept with commercial organisations etc)

They want to know about your motivation and whether you are going to stay the course for 3 years, and what you can bring to the department.

[rocktron]

Send a PM to Tigger, Thomas Ross 2, who is a member on these forums. He passed several of these interview stages.

He hasn't made an appearance here for a long time, so he may not be logging in to receive messages, though he should get an e-mail notification.

[RadioElectric]

Originally Posted by mellowsun

I had a PhD interview recently. Basically I discussed how my MSc project work led to my choice of PhD subject, and I discussed my proposal in detail.

I wouldn't bother with starting with A levels or even discussing your grades. I would start with your degree and show how your interest in particular aspects there led to your MSc and your choice of MSc project. The real meat of the presentation should be about your MSc project and how it leads to your PhD subject. Discuss any publications, papers and presentations you have done. Discuss why you want to do the PhD (e.g. you want a career in academia, or you want to investigate opportunities partnering the dept with commercial organisations etc)

They want to know about your motivation and whether you are going to stay the course for 3 years, and what you can bring to the department.

Thanks for the advice. I'm going straight from a BSc to a PhD but I'll just talk about my final-year project instead.

[uncle_psychosis]

Originally Posted by mellowsun

I had a PhD interview recently. Basically I discussed how my MSc project work led to my choice of PhD subject, and I discussed my proposal in detail.

I wouldn't bother with starting with A levels or even discussing your grades. I would start with your degree and show how your interest in particular aspects there led to your MSc and your choice of MSc project. The real meat of the presentation should be about your MSc project and how it leads to your PhD subject. Discuss any publications, papers and presentations you have done. Discuss why you want to do the PhD (e.g. you want a career in academia, or you want to investigate opportunities partnering the dept with commercial organisations etc)

They want to know about your motivation and whether you are going to stay the course for 3 years, and what you can bring to the department.

I just submitted my PhD thesis and can't disagree with any of that advice. You probably also want to demonstrate that you are able to work both on your own and in a team. If you can relate your Bsc project directly to the Phd topic thats great. If you can't, don't try really tenuous links. I'd say that it was better in that case to use your Bsc as evidence that you have the right "transferable" skills and experience to successfully complete a Phd.

[clare_bear]

What are you planning to do your PhD on? (roughly obviously, I don't expect you to have your queston finalised yet!) and where's your interview?

I have no advice as I don't have a PhD, but I do work with some PhD students, and they hotdesk in my office a lot! I like PhD students, they make my office less boring

Good luck!

[RadioElectric]

This PhD involves using imaging technology to look at something related to hearing. I've got my degree to talk about, BSc in Neuroscience and Music Technology. I'm tempted to bring my A-levels into it as there'll be some maths and programming involved and I took Mathematics and Computing at A-level.

[clare_bear]

Originally Posted by RadioElectric

This PhD involves using imaging technology to look at something related to hearing. I've got my degree to talk about, BSc in Neuroscience and Music Technology. I'm tempted to bring my A-levels into it as there'll be some maths and programming involved and I took Mathematics and Computing at A-level.

Sounds pretty good. If you feel mentioning your A' Levels is relevant, then mention them. If the PhD subject interests you enough, that'll come across in the interview. Aside from the enthusiasm, as with any job interview, it's as much to do with engaging the interviewer as anything else (so an element of luck!). As I said, I don't have any experience of this, but I'd suggest that getting excited about the subject is going to please your potential supervisor. Enthusiasm in the PhD students I come into contact with certainly makes me smile!

Your degree sounds fascinating!

[MattANJH]

I'd mention anything relavent from you A Levels, but don't put much focus on them, the panel will be much more interested in you degree than A levels. I'd break your degree down into its componant modules and pull out anything relavent and interesting. The lab work might well be worth a mention, but again go more for relavence than trying to make yourself sound impressive.