Interviews? u_u

[gunlord]

Hey there, applyingtograd! First off, thank you again for the immense amount of help you've already given me for my application process. However, I do have one more question. I'm curious, do most or all universities ask applicants to their graduate programs for interviews? The reason I ask is because I applied to several graduate programs in history, and while

Comments

[tisiphone]

Some do, some don't, and there's no real pattern in terms of program size, discipline, or anything else.

[gunlord]

Okee, thank you. I guess I'll call each department personally and see. Might as well make 100% sure for each one ^^ Thanks again!

[bafooz]

None of the history programs I applied to did interviews. I really wouldn't bother calling - it's exceedingly uncommon in the history discipline.

[anonymous]

hi i think that only if it says on the program information page that interviews are part of the process then thats what happens,but im not 100% sure cause this is my first time applyin too and i didn't hear back from any yet either :-(

good luck!!!!!:)

[i_like_snow]

ooooppppps that was me i wasn't logged in srry.

[homericlaughter]

It varies considerably by discipline, by school, and by geographic region.
In my discipline (Classics), formal interview weekends are quite rare and the exceptions to the rule are well-known.

If it's not listed on the website and application procedures, there's a good chance that formal interviews aren't part of the selection process (note that this does not preclude potential advisors from doing an informal telephone/Skype interview).

To double-check, you could also search The Grad Cafe results page for your schools/discipline and see if anyone in past years has been asked to interview.

[dreadnought]

For once, I'm actually in the discipline of the person asking questions

[roadtophd]

I have a friend in history, and the only in-person stuff she did was after she was accepted. Not sure if she did phone interviews or not. I, however, am applying to clinical psych programs, which interview like no other. So far I've done 5 phone interviews, am signed up for 4 in-person, and am still waiting to hear from 11 schools! They do this because a) they want to make sure we're not crazy, since we'll be completing clinical training and having various degrees of contact with research participants and b) students and professors work really closely with one another in the lab, which means that they want to make sure you'll fit in with their dynamic and interests.

you applied to twenty?!?

[roadtophd]

above

Re: you applied to twenty?!?

[roadtophd]

I was a bit unclear. I applied to 15. The phone interviews were all for 2 of the schools where I am doing in-person interviews. They do phone interviews (with professors and grad students) before they even invite you for the big interview. 15 schools is a lot, but it's not uncommon for clinical psychology because the admission stats are really, really low at all of the funded programs.