Prática de Shadowing: PhD Interview Questions | What do PhD supervisors look for in applicants? - Aprenda a falar inglês com vídeo
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Hi, I'm Casey.
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I'm a professor and I've been running PhD admissions in my department for a number of years.
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I've done a series of videos about the PhD application process
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and most of it so far has focused on getting your application materials together.
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Of course, once you're done with that, there's still more to come.
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At the very least you're gonna have to make decisions, which is really important but also you might have interviews or things that kind of feel like interviews.
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And I've had a lot of requests to talk about this exact thing so more videos!
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Yay!
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The way that I'm going to address this issue of interviews specifically
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and the kinds of questions
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that you get asked is to talk about it in terms of what potential PhD advisors
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or supervisors are looking for in students because
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that should kind of help frame how you approach this
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and this is regardless of whether it is a formal interview
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which sometimes happens sometimes even in front of a panel of people I don't have any experience with
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that or it might be a site visit
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which of course this year might happen virtually but this is the thing
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that often happens is
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that people are flown out to a school for a kind of open house thing sometimes it happens before
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or after admission or it might just be an informal conversation with a faculty member.
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But no matter what this is I want to give you some ideas of the kinds of things
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that you might talk about and how to put your best foot forward.
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But I'll also do another video later specifically about site visits and what those look like and what to expect.
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For right now just imagine any kind of conversation you're having with a potential advisor.
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So first my usual disclaimer, much of the advice
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that I'm giving here is most useful for people who are
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applying to PhD programs in lab based disciplines where they're going to be working very closely with an advisor.
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Some might be broadly applicable but that's where I think it's going to be most useful.
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My experience is with computer and information science so also just make sure
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that you find out about the norms of your particular discipline.
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So first, some tips, and hopefully these are obvious before going into this conversation,
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whether it is a faculty member has sent you an email and has to set up a phone call.
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Another thing that might happen is there's a site visit
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and you're given a list of faculty that you're going to have conversations with.
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In any case, here's what you do.
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First, reread the statement of purpose that you sent to that program.
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Don't let it freak you out.
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If someone's asking to talk to you or if you've been invited for a site visit, you're already on some kind of shortlist.
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So keep that in mind.
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Don't freak out if you figure out all the things that you think are wrong with your statement of purpose.
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The reason you want to reread is
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because you want to remind yourself the reasons why
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when you were writing that statement of purpose you thought about why you wanted to go to
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that school and what you thought about those particular faculty members, research, etc. You also just want to remind yourself how you framed anything differently for that school.
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Basically you're reminding yourself what they already know about you.
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Then do your research on the specific faculty member or faculty members that you are talking to.
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You probably did a little bit of this
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when you were writing your statement of purpose but now you can like laser focus it right?
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Now this actually becomes especially true if it's someone that you didn't mention in your statement of purpose.
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So if you get an email from a faculty member saying they'd like to talk to you
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and it's not someone that you mentioned, it probably means that they saw some connection to your research interests that you might not have seen,
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which is totally fine because they might be working on stuff that you don't know about, but you should try to figure that out.
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Look for their most recent publications, look to see if they have a website that says things about projects that might be in progress that aren't published yet,
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look to see if they have any recent grant funding
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that is probably on their CV on their website if they have one.
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And also look into the research that their students are doing.
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Now one caution is that every faculty member that you talk to, especially on a site visit,
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may not be a potential advisor.
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But even if they're not a potential advisor, thinking about how your research interests intersect with theirs will just make for a good conversation.
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All right first, and I would argue maybe the most important, we want to know that you have a good reason for wanting to get a PhD.
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Now I have a whole video on this topic that you should definitely check out, especially if you're not clear on this answer.
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A lot of the kinds of advice on how to talk
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about this in a statement of purpose applies more broadly for all of the rest of these conversations.
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But basically have a good answer to the question, so why do you want to get a PhD?
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This answer needs to communicate two really important things that a potential supervisor is looking for.
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One is commitment and two is passion.
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A very, very bad look for a PhD applicant is
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that they're getting a PhD because they don't know what else to do or they're getting a PhD as a hobby.
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So an advisor is making an investment in you.
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definitely in time and in many cases in money.
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This means that it's really unfortunate when a PhD student leaves after a year or two.
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Now sometimes that happens because once you get into the PhD program it just turns out
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that it's not for you and when that happens it's totally okay
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and we are happy for you to go find your bliss doing whatever else.
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However at the point
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when you're interviewing for a PhD program you should be pretty darn sure that's what you want to do, at least for right then.
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So show that passion and show your commitment to this.
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Second, kind of relatedly, you need to have a reason for wanting to be in that particular program.
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Now you might get this question less in interviews that are more about recruiting you than vetting you, but you should still be able to talk about this.
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Again the same kind of advice
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that I talked about for statements of purpose in terms of showing why you're applying to that particular program still applies here.
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It probably has to do in large part about research fit except now
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if you're talking to a very specific person you can talk about research fit for them specifically.
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What is it that they're doing that you want to be involved with
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and you can also talk about intersections with other faculty members
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because these are the people who are going to be on your committee or maybe you might even have co -advisors.
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Being able to say how excited you are about the research that's happening in that department in general is great.
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And also there might be things like maybe you've heard good things about the culture,
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maybe this department is particularly something that you love, like interdisciplinary or collaborative.
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You can totally talk about those things because a prospective advisor wants to know that you want to be there.
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And another thing I'll add is
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that particularly at this point there's nothing wrong with saying that you really want to be in that location.
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Now you can't only say that you have to give precedence to the research fit etc
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because that's the most important but saying you know my family all live in Denver
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and so I really was hoping to go to school in Colorado
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that can actually be great because it suggests in part that
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if you are offered admission into
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that program you probably will take it now I'm not saying
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if we think you're not gonna come we're not going to offer you admission
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but if we have two students
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and well this person has a 40 % chance of coming and this person has a 60 % chance of coming.
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I've only got one spot so I'm gonna offer it to both of them.
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Like that is seriously the kind of math that we're doing.
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So it actually is really useful to know that kind of thing.
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Now another thing is of course we want to hear about the kind of research you want to do.
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This is another chance to show off both your passion and to talk about your research experience which is great.
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In my statement of purpose video I talked about how to talk about your research interests in a way
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that is not too vague and not too specific.
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The same kind of thing applies here
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but sometimes it's a bit easier to do this when you're having a back and forth.
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Now if you're able to try to ask early in the conversation about what
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that faculty member is currently working on or currently excited about
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because they will probably talk about whatever they think is the alignment with your interest
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which then tells you what they think is the alignment with their interests.
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And then you can draw from that in thinking about this as well.
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Now that said, and this is so important, be honest.
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Do not do the like I'm going to tell you what you want to hear thing
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because if you say you want to do some kind of research
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and then you go to that program you're probably going to have to do that kind of research.
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And if it's not what you want to do you would have been better off going somewhere else.
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Now a prospective advisor is looking for a few things.
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One is that they can competently mentor you and this is as much for you as it is for them.
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You know I have students who talk to me about working with me all the time.
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Maybe they want to do work that's related to online communities
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and social media which is some of the research that I do
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but then they tell me that what they really want to do is use machine learning techniques.
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And then I'm like, I might not be the best mentor for you.
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Now that's not to say
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that I'm not excited to have PhD advisees who do different kinds of work than what I typically do because A,
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mixed methods, awesome.
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B, I want students who can do things that I can't do, that's awesome.
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But if your core research interest is really something that that professor doesn't feel that they can competently mentor you with,
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then it's just not going to be a good fit.
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So that's one of the things that they're looking for.
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They also want to see that you have ideas
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but again don't sit down and say here is what I want to do for my dissertation.
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I will do three studies and they will be this, this, and this.
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Too specific.
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You also can't be too rigid in part
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because you need to fit into the work that's already happening
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and in some cases a prospective advisor might have grant funding where they're looking for someone to work on a specific project.
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Now much of the time that doesn't mean that that has to be your dissertation, but it might mean that that's part of the work that you do.
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And so you need to show that you are willing to do things
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that are related to what you want to do as well as like whatever you are specifically passionate about.
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And again this is mostly relevant when the person that you're talking to is a potential advisor.
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If you're just talking to some other faculty member in the department then just like talk about your interest
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and passion and be awesome and don't worry too much about the research fit.
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And this is also a great time to talk about your research experience
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because you can talk about what you've already done and how that's led you to what you're interested in now.
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Now you don't need to recite your cd but you know make it a narrative.
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Talk about what excites you.
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Alright next, be able to talk about both your strengths and your weaknesses.
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Now I have never actually asked this question directly like tell me your greatest strength or tell me your greatest weakness,
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but it is something that you want to get at.
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That's because a potential advisor wants to know both what you bring to the table and where you're going to need support.
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Now this is important.
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Weaknesses aren't bad.
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Everyone has them.
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Everyone has them.
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Do not pretend that you do not have them because it's just going to come off as arrogant and weird.
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Like please do not give the answer.
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My greatest weakness is that I work too hard so I don't have good work -life balance.
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Barf.
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Don't do that.
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Be truthful and also frame it in terms of how you want to grow and how this program will help you grow.
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For example, let's say you're a bad writer.
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You might say, I know that I really need to work on my scientific communication, which is one of the reasons why I'm
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so excited about collaboratively writing papers with other students and with my advisor so that I can learn through working with others.
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And you know, I also hear that there's a writing center at this university for graduate students, which I think I could really benefit from.
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And in talking about your strengths, again, you can reiterate your experience without like giving a laundry list of your accomplishments.
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Let's say you're a really good writer.
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You might say something like because I have a lot of writing experience, because I worked on the student newspaper,
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I found that I really enjoyed collaboratively working on this paper with other people in the lab
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that I worked in as an undergrad.
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I did a lot of editing and I helped craft the literature review.
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You know I'm so looking forward to being the lead author on a paper
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because I feel like I at have a leg up on the writing part even though I know
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that I might have a lot to learn in other areas.
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This is also a really good way to emphasize other things that are important to a potential advisor.
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That you're a good collaborator, that you're willing to help others, and that you know how to ask for support when you need it.
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You can also use this as a way to talk about, for example, methods that you're excited about learning more about.
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Remember you are not supposed to know everything going in.
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You are getting a PhD so that you can learn.
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You're not expected to like come right out of the box being able to do everything.
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If that were the case we just hire you as a postdoc.
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All right and lastly there might be some kind of generic question like
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why don't you tell me a little bit about yourself.
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Now this is a good opportunity for you to emphasize the things that you want to.
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It doesn't mean give them your life story, keep it brief, but let's say for example you're a first gen student
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or you're part of a group that is underrepresented in this particular discipline
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and this is part of why this journey is
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so important to you or maybe you've had to really overcome some things to get where you are.
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totally cool to talk about that kind of thing.
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Maybe you have some personal connection to the kind of research that you want to do.
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Maybe you're really passionate about science communication
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and you've been looking forward to creating a YouTube channel about your research once you start it.
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This is also a time when you could mention having a connection to the location where this university is.
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Maybe there's something non -research related that you have in common with the interviewer.
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When I talk to students during site visits sometimes they'll look around my office
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and see all of the like geeky stuff
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and then feel comfortable telling me that they play Dungeons and Dragons or something like that.
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Like totally fine.
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But another part of this conversation is that something else
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that this potential advisor is looking for is are you a good cultural fit?
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Are you pleasant to be around?
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Now importantly this does not mean that you have to be extroverted or like have amazing social skills, but you can at least be,
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you know, polite and pleasant.
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If the two of you have a severe personality clash for whatever reason, it's gonna be a bad time.
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So basically this means you just need to not be a jerk.
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And this also means not just to whoever you think you're interviewing with, but also when you're interacting with current students or even staff.
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Like if a staff member who's booking flights tells us
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that you are really rude to them in an email like that kind of thing matters.
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All right so that is a sense of the kinds of things
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that you should be prepared for regardless of whether it's a formal interview or more of an informal conversation.
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Another part of this of course is asking good questions so I'm to make that the topic of another video.
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I'll also do a video again about site visits
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and what to expect and also how you should be making this decision
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and in particular things that you should be looking for in a potential advisor
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because it's probably the most important decision that you will make in this whole PhD application process.
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So stay tuned for that and if you haven't already make sure
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that you check out my video on reasons why PhD applicants are rejected.
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This was kind of focused on statements of purpose
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but I think it's sort of broadly applicable to all of this as well.
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And so good luck!
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Please feel free to leave questions in the comments below if you have any and I'll do my best to answer them.
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And of course subscribe if you want to catch my later videos.
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This is Casey.
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Thanks for watching.
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O que você vai aprender
Nesse vídeo, você desenvolve três habilidades essenciais para falar inglês com confiança: como estruturar respostas claras em entrevistas acadêmicas, usar uma linguagem natural ao falar sobre metas e fraquezas, e manter um fluxo conversacional mesmo em tópicos complexos. Essas habilidades são perfeitas para quem quer praticar o shadowing em inglês, pois a fala da professora Casey é clara e rica em exemplos reais.
Ouça esses sons
Repare nas conexões entre palavras, como "kind of" (pronunciado "kinda") e "want to" (que vira "wanna"). Essas reduções são comuns na fala coloquial e ajudam a deixar sua pronúncia mais natural. Também preste atenção à entonação na pergunta "Why do you want to get a PhD?", onde o tom sobe no final, destacando a curiosidade. Esses detalhes são chave para o shadow speech, pois imitar a conexão e a entonação faz com que sua fala seja mais fluida.
Fale como um nativo
Para mirrorar o ritmo da Casey, pratique a pausa antes de frases importantes, como "One is commitment and two is passion". Isso dá destaque às ideias principais. Além disso, estresse palavras como "passion", "commitment" e "research fit" para mostrar ênfase, igual ela faz. Use o shadowing em inglês para repetir trechos como "be honest" e "frame it in terms of how you want to grow" — isso ajuda a internalizar a pronúncia e o fluxo. Lembre-se: o objetivo é não apenas falar, mas se comunicar de forma clara e convincente, como uma pessoa nativa.
Se você quer melhorar a pronúncia em inglês e aprender com conteúdos reais, esse vídeo é uma ótima escolha. O método de aprender inglês com vídeos como esse permite que você pratique a escuta e a fala ao mesmo tempo, tornando o aprendizado mais dinâmico. Experimente o shadow speech com os trechos mais difíceis e veja como sua fluência melhora!
Gramática neste vídeo
As estruturas que o falante mais usa, com as palavras exatas do vídeo:
| Estrutura | No vídeo |
|---|---|
| Present perfect continuous have/has been + -ing — uma ação que começou antes e continua | I've been running · you've been looking |
| Present perfect have/has + particípio passado — uma ação passada que ainda importa agora | I've done · has focused · I've had |
| Voz passiva be + particípio passado — o foco está no que acontece, não em quem faz | are flown · you've been invited · aren't published |
| Orações relativas who / which + oração — informação extra sobre uma pessoa ou coisa | decisions, which is · people who are · experience which is |
O que é a Técnica de Shadowing?
Shadowing é uma técnica de aprendizado de idiomas com base científica, originalmente desenvolvida para o treinamento de intérpretes profissionais. O método é simples, mas poderoso: você ouve áudio em inglês nativo e repete imediatamente em voz alta — como uma sombra seguindo o falante com 1-2 segundos de atraso. Pesquisas mostram melhora significativa na precisão da pronúncia, entonação, ritmo, sons conectados, compreensão auditiva e fluência na fala.