finding out who your interviewer is

[hondapride]

do schools tell you who your interviewer is before hand? right now my question is mainly targeted at cornell tri-I.

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[Inuranic]

I don't know about Cornell. For me, Case is the only school that has told me my interviewer ahead of time. The rest of the schools have been/will be multiple interviewers, and I didn't find out until I arrived/the interviewer came and got me.

At LSU, I figured out who was going to interview me from the graduate school because of 1) Something the admissions coordinator said and 2) I searched out a list of faculty in the graduate education program.

It's frustrating, but I'm sure it's to avoid people like me walking into the interview and asking the person how their 9-year-old is doing in school (I heard Social Studies was giving her trouble) and if their dog recovered quickly from the neuter operation he had last week...

 

[meowkat444]

shoot an email to the administrative staff. if that doesn't work, you probably won't know until you get there! but really, it won't hurt you if you haven't read their research or anything. usually you'll have a few evaluative interviews with people whose research is totally unrelated to yours, and they clearly don't expect you to have read up. the faculty you meet who do work you are interested in often don't evaluate you, and in any case it won't be a problem if you haven't been able to scope out their stuff ahead of time.

 

[MSTP08]

Northwestern sends a list of everyone's interview schedule. They seem to do a good job with matching you with interviewers' research interests (as well as with the hotel roommate's research interests).

 

[Picklesali]

shoot an email to the administrative staff. if that doesn't work, you probably won't know until you get there! but really, it won't hurt you if you haven't read their research or anything. usually you'll have a few evaluative interviews with people whose research is totally unrelated to yours, and they clearly don't expect you to have read up. the faculty you meet who do work you are interested in often don't evaluate you, and in any case it won't be a problem if you haven't been able to scope out their stuff ahead of time.

Also you'll avoid doing something really stupid like me. I briefly looked over all of my interviewers' research topics, and at one of the interviews, the conversation was heading to a place that sounded familiar. I said something about my research and then said, "...and I think you just published a paper about *similar topic*" Interviewer: "I'm sorry, that wasn't me." Apparently I had confused two of them...

Whoooooooooosh. You have just heard my chances of getting into that school flushed down the toilet.

 

[j-weezy]

As of the end of October I will have had 5 interviews, all of which provide at least a list of interviewers - 4 out of 5 provide complete interview day itineraries.

 

[Caristra]

Tri-I sent a list ahead of time last year. So did every other big program that interviewed me. The smaller ones varied, some did and some didn't. In either case I was never expected to haver read up beforehand. The only time you need to know about your interviewers research is when you have requested them as an interviewer. Then you are likely to get asked 'why did you request me'.

 

[j-weezy]

Tri-I sent a list ahead of time last year. So did every other big program that interviewed me. The smaller ones varied, some did and some didn't. In either case I was never expected to haver read up beforehand. The only time you need to know about your interviewers research is when you have requested them as an interviewer. Then you are likely to get asked 'why did you request me'.

Cornell doesn't let you request interviews with specific researchers do they?

 

[Dodo23]

Cornell asked me for a list of faculty I would like to be interviewed by, and when only one of them was going to be available on the day I am to visit, they asked me for more names. I just got an e-mail today saying that I'll get a final list of interviewers early next week, i.e., a few days before my actual interview next Fri. They say it's because they like to triple-check interviewers' schedules to prevent any mix-ups.

All the programs that have invited me so far have asked me to suggest a list of faculty names. Keep in mind, though, that profs are a busy lot and are often unavailable on the day you are interviewing, so you'll very likely get other faculty, usually with similar areas of interest compared to the ones you asked for.

Hope that wasn't too garbled. Just spent a 13-hour day in lab with hardly any breathing time in-between... and my brain is totally fried as a result.

 

[j-weezy]

Cornell asked me for a list of faculty I would like to be interviewed by, and when only one of them was going to be available on the day I am to visit, they asked me for more names. I just got an e-mail today saying that I'll get a final list of interviewers early next week, i.e., a few days before my actual interview next Fri. They say it's because they like to triple-check interviewers' schedules to prevent any mix-ups.

All the programs that have invited me so far have asked me to suggest a list of faculty names. Keep in mind, though, that profs are a busy lot and are often unavailable on the day you are interviewing, so you'll very likely get other faculty, usually with similar areas of interest compared to the ones you asked for.

Hope that wasn't too garbled. Just spent a 13-hour day in lab with hardly any breathing time in-between... and my brain is totally fried as a result.

Not sure if this was directed at me but yes, I'm totally aware of requesting who we interview so far as research interest goes. I just haven't been contacted by Cornell (yet) about requesting interviewers....how far in advance did they ask you to send a list of names - and did they have to be equally represented between the 3 institutions?

 

[Caristra]

Not sure if this was directed at me but yes, I'm totally aware of requesting who we interview so far as research interest goes. I just haven't been contacted by Cornell (yet) about requesting interviewers....how far in advance did they ask you to send a list of names - and did they have to be equally represented between the 3 institutions?

I do not think you have to request interviwers for Tri-I. I certainly didn't when I interviewed. Last year each interviewee had an interview with one person from each institution plus one med school interview. It was a very pleasant day actually. I doubt they have changed things too drastically. So don't stress. Just try to be yourself and get a feel for the school.

I remember I had to request interviewers for Einstein and that was the one time somebody asked me why I wanted to meet them.

 

[Dodo23]

Not sure if this was directed at me but yes, I'm totally aware of requesting who we interview so far as research interest goes. I just haven't been contacted by Cornell (yet) about requesting interviewers....how far in advance did they ask you to send a list of names - and did they have to be equally represented between the 3 institutions?

No, that wasn't directed at anyone in particular besides the OP. (I was very tired when I wrote it.) In response to your question, though, I was sent an e-mail a month ahead of my interview saying that if I wished, I could provide a list of names. They said that it was not guaranteed that I would get interviewers I asked for, but they would match me with people of similar interests. Rereading that e-mail I get the idea that providing them with a list of names is optional, but recommended if there are any people at the school you particularly want to meet (no harm in trying at least).

They were very nice to get back to me when almost none of the people I requested were available, and asked me for more names. I don't think most schools do this.

Good luck, j-weezy! Not that you need it.