Research interviews, help!
Hello again!
I'm applying to neuroscience PhD programs and managed to get tapped for an interview weekend at my first choice. My previous lab experience was in Field A, I explicitly stated in my personal statement that I wanted to study Field A, and I had previously been in contact with several faculty from that school regarding their work in Field A. They weren't cold to me at all, I'm pretty sure I made a good impression, so far so good.
When it came to list faculty I wanted to interview, I put down 6 names of people in Field A out a limit of 8 people to request interviews with. There were two requests left that I could have potentially filled with people from other fields. I decided to leave them blank, because saying "I love Field A but Unrelated Fields B and C are cool too" could go either way - it could be interpreted as extra interest in the school but it runs the risk of looking unfocused and flitty, which is the last thing I want to be. Was this a mistake? I don't know.
Anyway, my interview itinerary came in and it said,
- 2 profs in Field A
- 1 prof in Totally Unrelated Field B
- 1 prof in Totally Unrelated Field C
- 2 To Be Decided.
And I'm a bit like "lolwut" because I have maybe two days to get acquainted enough with Totally Unrelated Fields B and C (and potentially Unrelated Fields D and E depending on how those "To Be Decided"s go).
I know they have a lot of interviews to book and I won't get all of my requests fulfilled. But what do you do when you're interviewing profs whose work has nothing to do with your interests? Reading about the Unrelated Fields isn't that huge of a problem - I just feel that without adequate background knowledge I'll be doomed to 25 minutes of "Uh-huh. Yep. O rly." and it's not going to look good for me at all.
I'm applying to neuroscience PhD programs and managed to get tapped for an interview weekend at my first choice. My previous lab experience was in Field A, I explicitly stated in my personal statement that I wanted to study Field A, and I had previously been in contact with several faculty from that school regarding their work in Field A. They weren't cold to me at all, I'm pretty sure I made a good impression, so far so good.
When it came to list faculty I wanted to interview, I put down 6 names of people in Field A out a limit of 8 people to request interviews with. There were two requests left that I could have potentially filled with people from other fields. I decided to leave them blank, because saying "I love Field A but Unrelated Fields B and C are cool too" could go either way - it could be interpreted as extra interest in the school but it runs the risk of looking unfocused and flitty, which is the last thing I want to be. Was this a mistake? I don't know.
Anyway, my interview itinerary came in and it said,
- 2 profs in Field A
- 1 prof in Totally Unrelated Field B
- 1 prof in Totally Unrelated Field C
- 2 To Be Decided.
And I'm a bit like "lolwut" because I have maybe two days to get acquainted enough with Totally Unrelated Fields B and C (and potentially Unrelated Fields D and E depending on how those "To Be Decided"s go).
I know they have a lot of interviews to book and I won't get all of my requests fulfilled. But what do you do when you're interviewing profs whose work has nothing to do with your interests? Reading about the Unrelated Fields isn't that huge of a problem - I just feel that without adequate background knowledge I'll be doomed to 25 minutes of "Uh-huh. Yep. O rly." and it's not going to look good for me at all.