moo-
My first interview was at OSU 9/26. It was completely low-stress and I liked the school very much. I enjoyed meeting the other applicants. They were very smart, friendly and well-spoken. The students were also very nice and down-to-earth. After they give the group a lecture/presentation, lunch(lunch was bad) and a tour, the interviewers come to fetch you one by one from the home-base conference room. There is one interview with a faculty member. My interview was a very pleasant experience. I think they try to match you with a good faculty "match" for you because the woman who interviewed me shared many of my interests and she was extremely enthusiastic about me. It took me by surprise because I was expecting to have to defend myself against someone who adopted a skeptical stance, but she overwhelmed me with compliments, saying she couldn't wait to meet me, was in "awe" of my accomplishments. (Can you believe it?) So I basically just relaxed and had a very easy conversation. She didn't ask me any hard questions that weren't expected. Time flew by. My whole interview lasted only 20 minutes. I walked out of OSU with a huge smile on my face. I know not all of my interviews will be that easy. The ad com was meeting that very same afternoon (!) to decide our fates but we can't find out til 10/15 🙄
Also, everyone who interviewed that day (about 15 people) was from OH except one extremely quiet guy from California.
Have fun. OSU is quite impressive!