Biological Sciences MRes

Hi everyone,

I have a Skype interview very soon. Could somebody give me some tips and advices? Are questions focused on my character or on the profession?

Reply 1

alleycat393

You should be able to talk about your past research and studies, why this uni, why this course and how it fits with your career plans.

Reply 2

tokar

Thank you very much for your answer. Do you know that from your experience or from somewhere else?

Reply 3

biograd

From my personal experience of interviewing MSc and PhD students I am always interested in how much a student WANTS to work. Previous experience in the area of research shows me that they have tried and like this area and know what they are applying for! However experience isn't the only thing I want in a student. My first question is always 'what do you know about the project you have applied for?'. If somebody just repeats the job description then I assume they aren't interested enough to have read around the subject area and nobody wants to take on a student who turns up unprepared.

An interviewer will be looking for a capable student that they can trust to perform valuable work that is of publishing quality, so they need a student who will work really really hard to make a contribution to their research. Read a few papers on the area before hand and have an answer for why you want to work at their particular institution and in that area of science. If you have questions write them down and ask them during the interview eg. what are they hoping to achieve during this project? would they like input from the student or is the project outline completely fixed? Remember that this is your opportunity to see if you want to work for them too.

Ask what they are looking for in a student and list how you have the qualities they are looking for (if you don't then explain why not and that you are eager to learn these new skills).

I hope this helps! Good luck with the interview!

BioGrad

Reply 4

tokar

Thank you very much, this helps a lot.

Reply 5

biograd

No problem. I know how hard it is to get your foot in the door after Uni. best of luck with the interview. Try to enjoy the experience if you can

Reply 6

Bagsworth

I'm a PhD student now and generally I would advise that you know about the project, read some papers around your subject, show that you have done some reading by bringing up the foundations laid by others. Be positive, sometimes there will be questions you don't know how to answer, weirdly I got asked questions about cell culture despite my project being in pharmacology and nothing to do with cell culture (I'm a third year now and maybe it was preliminarily planned at some stage but plans change). I had to give a 15-20 minute presentation about previous research but maybe you don't.
Show commitment, that's the real important thing. You don't have to be an expert at this stage but show that you can develop into one. Show that you know where the project could lead, know your ambition (if it's funded then they will probably want to hear that you want to stay in research, as opposed to wanting a postgrad degree to apply to grad entry medicine etc). They may ask what you enjoy more, research or writing etc. And I agree with biograd, have some questions at the end, what are they hoping to get from the research, is there funding to attend conferences, is there the opportunity to extend to a PhD...
Best of luck!

Reply 7

tokar

Thank you for all useful informations and wishes.

Reply 8

tokar

I just had an interview and it went really well. I want to thank you all for informations that I used to prepare myself.

Reply 9

biograd

That's great to hear.

As a result of seeing your post we are now offering mock interviews for science students as we realised how daunting they can be.... so thanks for the inspiration!

Reply 10

tokar

I am really glad about that. I didn't know what to expect. I think that was the bigger fear than the interview itself. When the interview finished, I realized that I paniced more than needed.