Physics GRE Discussion Forums

I got accepted to my first choice school and the open house is coming up. I see in the
schedule that they have me in for three 45 minutes one on one interviews with
various professors. One of the professors is in the discipline I intend to further
my specialization in and the other two are not relevant. I'm sure they are great but I
don't want to work in that field.

I wish I knew more about the exact purpose of the interviews so I can tailor my
performance. Is my goal to impress each of them that I would be a great grad student
for anyone? Or should I suggest that I'm very committed to the field that I've all ready
laid out in my application?

maybe im way off base here but if youre already accepted then you shouldn't have to interview and try to impress, you've already done that. I would think these interviews are more for you to interview the faculty, ask about the dept, ask about their research. Even if I'm wrong I would just say "I'm pretty interested in X but please tell me about your research in Y" that way you leave open the possibility of working with these other professors should you ever want to.

docholo wrote:I got accepted to my first choice school and the open house is coming up. I see in the
schedule that they have me in for three 45 minutes one on one interviews with
various professors. One of the professors is in the discipline I intend to further
my specialization in and the other two are not relevant. I'm sure they are great but I
don't want to work in that field.

I wish I knew more about the exact purpose of the interviews so I can tailor my
performance. Is my goal to impress each of them that I would be a great grad student
for anyone? Or should I suggest that I'm very committed to the field that I've all ready
laid out in my application?

The idea is that, during your visit, you may want to speak with some professors. Schools usually try to set you up with the professors you mentioned in your statement of purpose, as well as some professors you didn't mention to give you a range. This is not an interview, it's just a meeting, to talk about research and about the university. If you are interested in working with any of the professors you are meeting with, take this as an opportunity to express your interest and enthusiasm in their work and learn more about it, as well as learning about them as a potential adviser. If you would prefer to be meeting with other professors than the school has arranged for, contact the school and tell them which professors you want to meet with.

During my visits, I met with the professors I mentioned in my SOP, as well as a high energy theorist--the exact opposite of what I wanted to do. No problem, we talked about the school and my past research in general, and it was fun.

Thank you, those are all good comments. I'll have a list of questions and conversation directions ready-made and
that should be sufficient.