Know Faculty's Backgroud for Interview?

[aggiecjg11]

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Just wanted to see what all of y'all thought about this...
Is it absolutely vital to know the background of the faculty (where they got their degrees, areas of specialty) for an interview? Yes, it's good to know for your own personal reasons, but does it help to bring it up at an interview as a point of conversation? I hardcore researched everyone's backgrounds for one of my interviews expecting to do this, but when I got there another guy had done the same thing and kept talking about what he knew, and really just sounded like a know-it-all...what do y'all think?

 

[TheOx777]

I certainly don't think it's vital, but I do think it is beneficial. I did the same thing for all my schools but especially the schools where I interviewed. It typically will only come up during faculty introductions, but I believe its in the interest of all students to know who is going to be educating you.

 

[adh28]

Is it beneficial in that you bring it up in interviews and in conversation as a point to connect with them or do you just mean as a way to know where you are getting your education from?

 

[aggiecjg11]

Oh no no, it's absolutely beneficial to know who's teaching you and where they were taught! I just meant as in is it appropriate to bring up in an interview. For instance, a lady that could potentially be interviewing me next week at this one school went to the same undergrad and medical school my dad did around the same time, is that kosher to bring up? Or say if they taught at your undergrad school in the past/got a degree from there?

 

[johncronejr]

I didn't worry about getting in depth with the interview committee's background, mainly because we didn't know who all was going to be on the committee. I would focus on the program so that when they ask "Why XYZ Univ?", you can say why you like their school. I believe that to go into things about the professor's background will sound like you are kissing ass for the interview.

 

[NYCPT]

I think you bring it up, if it is appropriate but not just for the sake of mentioning. For example, if you know one day you would like to work with children and that faculty member teaches classes on peds, then it is work mentioning or if he or she has done something worthy in this area. I wouldn’t mention random facts from their bio that have nothing to do with my application.

 

[Svfina]

At the Columbia interview our interviewers were matched with us according to our personal interests. For example, I was matched with Dr. A, who has a special interest in dance and went to the same school as me. We were also given the bios of all the interviewers beforehand and told who we would be interviewing with. I think that it was set up this way to establish a conversation-like tone in the interview so that they could meet the real us, not some uptight version of us. If your interview has this type of tone, I think that it's appropriate to be a little more personal with the interviewer. If it is not a comfortable situation, it's probably best to be more formal.