D-Day: PhD Interview

January 26th, 2024 (4 months ago) • 2 minutes

Wow, that was the most nervous 30 minutes in my life. Mainly because, I am putting a lot of hope and effort into entering grad school in the US (something which I wanted to do last time but didn't).

I did the ADTP program at INTI in Malaysia 3 years ago and was offered a place at UMich Ann Arbor as a transfer student. I was filled with joy because that was my top choice plus I get to go with one of my friend. But as we all know, COVID hits and everything came to a standstill. After a lengthy discussion with my family as well as applying for a deferral, I decided to decline the offer and stay in Malaysia with the hope that there's always next time.

Now, the 'next time' is here and the opportunity is right in front of me, so I should do my best and seize it.

Coming back to the interview.

It was 12am. The zoom call started and I was invited into the room. It didn't start with a 'Tell me about yourself' so that caught me a little off guard but all is still well. They then asked about my interest to PhD, the OSS organization I was involved in Monash, and also my research experience. They also introduced their projects as well as what they are doing. Overall, it was a very casual (although formal) conversation and I was able to answer most of the questions.

One of the key takeaway from the questions I asked is: The ideal graduate student is one who is able to HUSTLE and is always CURIOUS. I believe if you can show these during your interview, you should be golden. I hope I did that.

There's another one coming up on next Tuesday, so hopefully that will be better.