【US Master's Applications 🇺🇸 — Interviews】

A while back I saw someone ask a few questions in a study-abroad discussion group➡️➡️➡️

“A few schools recently reached out saying they'd like to chat (share some information and answer related questions). Has anyone been in this situation and could share: How did it go? What did they ask? What should I ask so they think I have a good sense of things? (I don't feel like I have much to ask⋯) Could the email say talk but it's actually an interview? Thanks, everyone🙏🏻”

It immediately reminded me that I'd had a similar experience in early January! After writing a long reply in the group, I realized I could tidy it up and post it here to share with everyone～

Result first～ One day after the talk (interview), I got an offer, way earlier than I'd expected, plus a good amount of scholarship money🥹🥹 Back to the question from the previous post: when I got the email, I felt it was basically an interview🤣 The program I applied to never said there'd be an interview, but one day the Director of Grad program emailed me directly, also saying something like he wanted to talk, and asked me to set up a time with him (I got the email on 1/8 but only saw it on 1/9😅, and bravely scheduled a chat with the professor for the next evening, 1/10). The conversation turned out to be an interview. Of course he talked up some of his program's strengths, but the first questions were still about my undergrad research and my future direction (he went into a lot of detail, like if I want to be an engineer, what kind of engineer? Or within a field, which specific group would I want to work in? Software or hardware? That kind of thing. Luckily I'd already prepared for this one🥹). He also asked about things I'd written in my application materials (when he was curious). Finally there was the part where he asked if I had any questions～ The whole thing took a little over half an hour (it was scheduled for about 30 minutes and ran a bit over)

Here are the questions I asked the professor at the end:

1. Any financial support or scholarship opportunities? I applied for a Master’s, so the chances really are usually slim, but it never hurts to ask. When I asked, the professor told me he knew there was almost nothing, but their program could actually offer a little $$. Not much, but every bit helps

2. How does career service work at “the university” I'd specifically mentioned that I had a lot of thoughts and goals about job hunting and had done some research, so I was curious whether the school had any special ways to help students (I'm guessing this was also something he wanted to promote lol. I probably hit the right spot, because he talked a ton XD) Btw the professor said he thought this was a great question👍🏻

3. I'd thought about stopping there, but in the end I asked something that was kind of small talk: What's life like there? It made the whole atmosphere a lot more relaxed, and he told me about lots of things he loves about the area～😆That's it～ Hope this 🈶 helps! And ㊗️ good luck with your applications, everyone!!!

By Phil Wang

Original Post on @Threads: https://www.threads.net/@phil_thephilface

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