Posted: 2023-09-03
Disclaimer: I wrote this through the lens of a United State national looking at engineering PhD programs within the United States. This guide is broadly more applicable than purely that lens, but it does have a more western-centric set of expectations and priorities. If something does not resonate or seem applicable to your situation, then discard it. This is not a set of rules, but is intended more to shed light on both what faculty are thinking about and prioritizing when looking at students, as well as how to maintain and articulate your priorities and needs through this process.
So, you made it through the application gauntlet and made it to the campus visit, or at least have some faculty scheduling meetings with you to chat about their lab/the program (aka, "interviews"). Fantastic! Congratulations!
You're probably asking what these interviews look like, especially when many times they aren't even labeled as interviews. These interviews serve a similar purpose to any job interview, but with a couple caveats. The faculty use these interviews to:
So, these are... broadly about the same as at a job interview. However, what makes it nominally different is that rather than a job interview, where they want to see how quickly they can get you up and running and recoup the sunk cost of onboarding you to the company, the faculty are broadly trying to assess how well equipped you are to do work in their lab (aka, how long it will take before you start pumping out papers), and how likely it is that you will actually make it through the entire degree program.
That second one is the big one, because they anticipate more or less that students will come into the program lacking in the majority of necessary skills to succeed in research. What they want to see is that you have the willingness to pick up and chase a research question or push a project without them needing to drag you through the process like a cat on a leash.
And, in even more wiggly terms, that you have the "right type of mindset" to perform research. (Yes that is vague, no I will not elaborate because I have no idea how to do so.)
As part of that, they expect you to come into the interview with questions. Preferably questions beyond "what does your lab do?" because they want you to self-start with research. They'll want you to have some idea of what you want to do, or what sounds interesting, even if it mostly amounts to individually calling each of the lab's main research areas "cool" or "fascinating".
Now, in a job interview, this is where you want to show off your technical chops by asking specific questions about work the lab has done. I would (personally) recommend against prioritizing this, because it shows you read their work, sure, but it's a poor use of the limited time you have to suss out how well an advisor or lab will support you. (I have a whole other article on how to pick your PhD advisor, you can check there if you want more on that topic.)
In this case, the best way to overlap what the faculty wants to learn (interest in the lab, research fit, lab fit, ability to succeed in research) and things that help you is to actually ask forward looking questions. Things that give you a sense of the vibe of the lab and working with the faculty, as well as what you would get to do in the lab.
And then, for the research/work specific questions, I've broken these up based on if you have a very specific research question/idea you want to pursue, or if you have some general idea of what sounds kinda fun or even just "I want to do work in X domain". There's some high level overlap between the two, but I broke them up for specificity.
If you have a specific thing you want to research:
If you have a broad research area of interest, or no specific starting research beyond "I wanna study this particular buzzword domain for XYZ reason":
Then, no matter your research background, there are aspects that are important to you, but less important to them, that you definitely want to bring up. Namely funding. Yes it's uncomfortable, yes it's scary, yes faculty broadly expect it to come up in conversation, but they might not bring it up themselves. But you absolutely should. The funding question can also be a useful way to signal your interest in their lab, which is something they want to see, but you might not know how to signal in a way that doesn't feel desperate. ("Hello, this is the only school that accepted me and you are the only professor that wanted to talk with me, please accept me please please" doesn't exactly feel great.)
So, taking a step back, what is the funding question? It's exactly what you expect: "If I join your lab, will I be funded?" Where, in the case of PhD programs, being funded generally means having both your tuition paid for, as well as basic living expenses (though if you are going to graduate school in the United States, your monthly income will absolutely be below the poverty line). There's several ways you can be funded, with fellowships, teaching assistantships (TA), and research assistantships (RA) being the main ones discussed. That said, if you have a fellowship, then you have the fellowship, and the faculty are likely tripping over themselves trying to get you in their lab, because it means they don't have to provide funding, you brought your own. Normally, if you're asking about funding, you're asking about TAs and RAs.
So, now, back to the important part: how to ask about funding without feeling desperate. This question will always be awkward, but they expect it, and it is part of having a healthy professional relationship with them, as your advisor is advisor, supervisor, mentor, collaborator, and maybe sometimes a terrible emotional support and life coach. If funding is necessary for you to be able to attend the university, tell them that.
"So, based on what I've seen from your lab and the program as a whole, and our conversation so far, I would love to work with you and your lab. I have one major outstanding concern, which is that I would not be able to attend the university without funding."
This is where you tell them what you found when you looked on the department/school website and elsewhere, such as if they have a separate application for being a TA, mentioning that you filled out and submit that application, or that you didn't find any added information. Then you simply add,
"Based on what I saw, I was wondering what you had for funding within your lab, (or how the process works if this is the first faculty interview in this department) or if there are any other steps I need to take to make sure I have funding for my degree."
If you have other university offers that have already offered funding, but this is your preferred university, this is the point where you also mention that. "So-and-so has offered a teaching assistantship, provided I reply by XX date. I would prefer to work with you and attend this university, but I cannot afford to attend without being funded." That way they also know how quickly they need to get a formal offer letter to you, because sometimes the administration side can be slow about getting students selected and offers sent out.
No matter the case, notice how the funding question was framed as "I need to be funded in order to attend a PhD program, but I am committed to attending yours provided I can be funded." This lets you tell them that you would accept their offer if they give you one. That said, absolutely do not state this if they're not your top pick school/professor. If you say that then go somewhere else when funding is provided? That's a real bad look and they will remember you.
If they aren't your top pick, you can simply state "I do need funding support to attend a PhD program, and when I looked online there was unclear/limited/no information, so I wanted to ask what the process or steps were to get funding." That way you still show enough interest that you're looking at process pieces, and you are interested in attending, but you didn't lie to them about the level of interest, and you still get your funding question answered.
If you have two places you're trying to decide between? That gets a little bit more dicey. At the end of the day, telling them is still the easiest option. "Hey, I'm trying to make up my mind between here and XYZ. Both of you have interesting work and seem like a good fit. As part of trying to make my decision, I wanted to know what the funding looked like for attending here. I'm meeting with them later this week/I met with them last week to try and make a determination." This is not a negative option. You're showing willingness to engage and trust them, as well as showing that you are considering them seriously, and chances are the faculty will agree that the other professor/lab/university is a good one. They might actually give more insight to try and help you make a determination, because faculty generally don't want students to regret their university choice. Again, faculty want you to actually complete your PhD program, which means they want you to pick the best fit for you (even if they also really want you in their lab) so being honest sets reasonable expectations.
Also don't be afraid to ask about any benefits if you need them. More common ones include health insurance (which is not actually a given for all grad programs), child care (sometimes exists?), and - while very very rare - any kind of moving assistance. Asking about these things isn't a negative, and actually makes you appear less like a starry eyed undergraduate who has yet to experience the real world.
So! For the tl;dr: