Graduate School Interview Questions

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PsychBiker

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So I am assisting in a PsyD interview soon and I have some questions already I plan on asking. However, I am curious what kinds of questions people on this board have experienced during an interview.

In one interview at a psychiatric hospital, I was asked "What animal would you be, why, and what color?"

What's some fun or really hard questions you've been asked or have asked?

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In an internship interview: "If you had to have a tail, which animal's tail would you choose?"
 
admission to a psyd progam, you mean?
 
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Yes, admission to PsyD program.

As a side note, part of me wants to warn her that she's walking into a 100k+ debt, but it's not really my place.
 
"What animal would you be, why, and what color?"

What's the purpose of this question? What data does it give you about the applicant that will help you in the admissions process? How do you compare the responses?

I loathe those kinds of inane, meaningless questions. Good interview questions actually assess something important to the position you are interviewing for.
 
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After hearing about some internship interviews older students went on, it seems the types of sites that ask those "fun" questions are the kind of sites/mentors to avoid...I'm not sure I want quality of an applicant being judged based on what kind of animal they would choose.
 
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After hearing about some internship interviews older students went on, it seems the types of sites that ask those "fun" questions are the kind of sites/mentors to avoid...I'm not sure I want quality of an applicant being judged based on what kind of animal they would choose.

John said he wanted to be a cheetah, so clearly he works faster than Beth, who wanted to be a labradoodle.
 
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Yes, admission to PsyD program.

As a side note, part of me wants to warn her that she's walking into a 100k+ debt, but it's not really my place.

What is your place? To only say poistive things?
 
What is your place? To only say poistive things?

To ask questions and answer questions. I am not there to offer financial or profession advice, unless directly asked. Though, if asked, I wouldn't alter the reality of the world.

EPPP question folks. What does I/O psychology tell us about interviews in general?

No idea, but I can research it and find out. Though, I feel like this question is like a setup to a joke.
 
I'd personally just focus on questions that are going to help you and the program make informed decisions about the student--what are their research interests, what do they hope to accomplish in and what are they hoping to get out of grad school, what are their career goals (if known), what about the program draws their interests and/or concerns, etc.
 
No idea, but I can research it and find out. Though, I feel like this question is like a setup to a joke.

No joke, well, no obvious joke. Generally, the way most interviews are done, they add nothing to the predictive validity of job performance by a candidate over and above their application. You will see that info again when you study for the EPPP. There are ways to improve the predictive validity of the interview, but we don't use them.
 
No joke, well, no obvious joke. Generally, the way most interviews are done, they add nothing to the predictive validity of job performance by a candidate over and above their application. You will see that info again when you study for the EPPP. There are ways to improve the predictive validity of the interview, but we don't use them.
I knew that answer! I have actually used that response to justify some of my poor hiring choices in the past. Of course, when someone I hired does well, I don't mention the research and take full credit for great perceptual abilities!
 
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