MSTP Interview Advice

[mous]

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Hello,

I was hoping to start a thread about advice on MSTP interviews. I'm curious to hear what types questions are generally asked, how others experiences have been etc.

I am especially curious if anyone has any specific information on Hopkins MSTP interviews. What is the interview process like? And, when are decisions made (about MSTP acceptance and funding offers)?

I realize this is a little vague, but hopefully someone will have some input!

Thanks!

 

[joshinjosh]

http://www.mdphds.org/forum/ aside from the spamming, has some good reviews of mdphd interviews

 

[mous]

Thanks!
But, somehow I have trouble identifying the useful information on the that forum. any suggestions for where to start (I can't get bast the spam, and when I click on something that doesn't look like spam, I get an error message).

Thanks again

 

[bd4727]

Thanks!
But, somehow I have trouble identifying the useful information on the that forum. any suggestions for where to start (I can't get bast the spam, and when I click on something that doesn't look like spam, I get an error message).

Thanks again

There are a lot of threads on this board answering your question. The many interview topic that you need to be good at discussing is why MD/PhD versus one of the others alone. Then spin-offs from that are obvious (what have you done that allows you to know thats what you want to do, etc). After you go to 1 interview you will see that they are really all the same.

 

[Neuronix]

Summary:

1) Why MD/PhD (also why not just MD and why not just PhD)
2) Tell me about your research

That's all you need to know. Everything else is a conversation. People tend to be pretty freaked before their first interview or two, but bd4727 is right on. It's not as bad as you think, and it's really repetitive.

You may have many interviews at a given school, but the real evaluation (assuming you don't really piss someone off) goes on during 1 or 2 interviews with the admissions committee members. These are usually obvious because there are in general two types of interviews.

1) Adcom member -- Why MD/PhD, what's your research about and how well do you understand it, what are you looking for in a school/why here, let me sell you on this place while I have you...

2) Random researcher -- Let me tell you about my research and not even let you talk. Challenge: Don't fall asleep.