Questions to Ask Grad School Interview
The list to work through across a whole interview or visit day, whether you are with the director of graduate study, a committee, or whoever read your file. It covers how the offer works, where funding comes from and for how long, the shape of the first year, time to degree, attrition and placement. Narrower lists elsewhere cover the half hour alone with a prospective advisor, the conversations with current students, and taught master's programs.
The questions
Open any question for the note
How does the process work from here, and when would I hear?
Why ask it
A safe opener that yields real information: whether this is one of several interviews, whether a committee vote follows, whether offers go out in waves. It also tells you when to stop refreshing your email, which matters more than it sounds.
Am I being interviewed for a specific lab or advisor, or for the program as a whole?
Why ask it
This one distinction changes the meaning of everything else you are told. Admission to a named advisor means your funding and your project are tied to one person; admission to a cohort means a rotation or a first year search, with its own risks.
If I were admitted, who would I most likely work with in the first year?
Why ask it
Ask for names. A confident answer means a plan exists; hesitation usually means the program admits more students than it has advisors ready to take, which is a common and under discussed problem.
Is the funding attached to a particular advisor's grant or guaranteed by the department?
Why ask it
The single most consequential question in a doctoral interview. Grant funded students can lose support when a renewal fails or a relationship breaks down. Department guarantees survive both, which is why the answer belongs in writing rather than in conversation.
How many years of support come with an offer, and what happens in the year after that runs out?
Why ask it
Programs that fund five years while students routinely take six or seven are describing a gap someone has to fill. Ask what students in that position actually do: teach, take a fellowship, or pay their own way.
What does the first year look like week to week?
Why ask it
Turns an abstract curriculum into hours. Expect a mix of coursework, rotations, teaching assignments, and lab time, and note whether the total is plausible. Programs that cannot describe the week tend to have students discover the load by surviving it.
How do students choose an advisor here, and how do they change one?
Why ask it
Every program has a switching process and few advertise it. Ask specifically what happens to funding and time to degree when a student moves, because those consequences, not the paperwork, are what keep people in bad matches.
How large is a cohort here, and how much do students in it work together?
Why ask it
Cohort size shapes five years of your life. A group of three is intense and can be isolating if one person leaves; a group of thirty means seminars where you never speak. Ask whether the cohort stays together after the first year or scatters into labs.
How long do students in this program actually take to finish?
Why ask it
Compare the answer to the published expectation, because the two are often years apart. Ask for the median of recent graduates rather than the target, and notice if the number is not readily known.
Of the students who started five years ago, how many are still here?
Why ask it
The most useful attrition question because it is specific and hard to soften. Programs track this even when they do not publish it. Watch for an answer about the students who left rather than about how many, which is a way of not answering.
What happens when a student's project stops working?
Why ask it
This is normal in research and the response reveals the culture. Healthy answers describe pivoting, a second project, or a committee stepping in. Answers implying it does not happen mean either a very applied program or an unrealistic one.
What do you expect a first year student to have accomplished by the end of the year?
Why ask it
Expectations that are precise are usually fair; expectations that are vague become impossible to meet. This also surfaces unwritten norms about hours, weekends, and summers that never appear in a handbook.
Where have your last few graduates gone?
Why ask it
Ask about their students rather than the program, since departmental placement statistics average across labs that differ enormously. A recent, specific list is a good sign; a famous graduate from a decade ago is not.
How does the program support students who decide against an academic career?
Why ask it
Most doctoral graduates work outside the academy, and programs differ sharply in whether that is treated as a normal outcome or a defection. Listen for concrete support, internships and industry contacts, rather than a statement of open mindedness.
What do students here complain about?
Why ask it
Almost everyone answers this honestly, because a program with no complaints is not credible and interviewers know it. The complaint you hear repeated by different people during a visit day is the real one.
How is teaching allocated, and can a student ask for a particular course or year?
Why ask it
Teaching is the largest hidden claim on your time and it is rarely distributed evenly. Ask how many terms are required, whether assignments are made by request or by need, and what a student does if they are handed a course outside their field.
Is there anything in my application that gave you pause?
Why ask it
Direct, and worth asking near the end. It gives you a chance to address a weak quantitative record or an unexplained gap while someone is still listening, and the answer tells you where you stand better than any pleasantry will.
Could I talk to one of your current students on their own?
Why ask it
The request itself is a test. Programs that arrange this readily are confident; hesitation or an offer to sit in is informative. Ask the student what they would want to know if they were choosing again.
If I get multiple offers, what would you say makes this the right place for me specifically?
Why ask it
Asking for a case about you rather than about the program forces them to demonstrate they read your application. A generic answer about resources and community means they did not, which is worth knowing before you accept.
What should I be asking that I have not?
Why ask it
A closing question that often produces the most candid moment of the interview, because it invites the interviewer to volunteer rather than defend. Frequent answers involve cost of living, teaching load, and the timing of qualifying exams.
What does the stipend come to after fees and tax, and what does rent cost near campus?
Why ask it
Compare the two numbers directly rather than the headline stipends of two offers. Health insurance premiums, mandatory fees and a summer gap can make the larger number in the more expensive city the worse deal by a wide margin.
What are the qualifying or comprehensive exams, and when do people sit them?
Why ask it
The format and the timing together tell you how much of your second year disappears into preparation. Ask what happens to someone who does not pass first time, since policies range from a straightforward retake to leaving with a master's.
Is the summer funded, and what is expected of students during it?
Why ask it
Many packages cover nine months and describe summer support as usually available. Ask what students actually did last summer: a research assistantship, teaching, a fellowship, or an outside job that cost them a season of research.
What happens to a student who needs to take a leave, and does funding pause or stop?
Why ask it
Illness, caring responsibilities and new babies all arrive during a six-year degree. A department that can describe the mechanism, and name that it has been used, is a different proposition from one that has never considered it.
Has the faculty in my area changed much recently, and is anyone close to retiring or moving?
Why ask it
A subfield can empty out in two hiring cycles. If the people who could supervise your work are two retirements away from being one person, that decides whether you could still finish here in year four.
If I accepted, what would you want me to read or do before I arrive?
Why ask it
A concrete answer tells you the level they expect and gives you a head start. It also reveals whether anyone has thought about your arrival, and the reading list itself is a fair preview of the first year.
Handling a Graduate Interview or Visit Day
Practical guidance for the conversation itself
Preparation That Actually Helps
Read Two Recent Papers, Not the Whole Website
Read one recent paper from each faculty member you are meeting, published in the last two years, and come with a specific question about it. This is the preparation that faculty notice, and it is far more useful than knowing the program's mission statement.
Ask the Same Question of Three People
Time to degree, funding after year five, and what students complain about should be asked of a faculty member, an administrator, and a student. Where the three answers diverge is the most informative thing you will learn all day.
Get the Money in Writing
Stipend amount, number of years, teaching obligations attached, tuition and fee coverage, and health insurance. Verbal reassurance during a visit is not an offer, and fees not covered by a waiver can quietly consume a large part of a stipend.
Talk to Students Who Left
Programs will connect you with happy students. A former student who left the program or switched advisors is harder to find and worth more, and department websites usually leave enough of a trail to make contact.
How to Read the Answers
- Nobody knows the median time to degree: the program does not track its own outcomes closely.
- Attrition described only in terms of students who were not a good fit: the responsibility is being placed entirely on students.
- Funding described as usually available: it is not guaranteed, whatever the tone suggests.
- Reluctance to let you speak with students alone: take this seriously and ask again through another channel.
- An advisor who cannot say what their students are working on right now: expect to be supervised at a distance.
- Every faculty member volunteering the same complaint: that complaint is structural, not personal.
Interview Day Mistakes
Treating It as an Interrogation of You Only
A doctoral program is a five to seven year commitment at low pay, and the interview is a mutual assessment. Applicants who ask nothing about funding or attrition often find out about both in year three.
Asking What Is on the Website
Course lists, deadlines, and application requirements are all published, and asking about them uses time you could spend on advising, attrition, and money. Read the handbook first; the useful questions are the ones the handbook does not answer.
Ignoring the Students in the Room
Current students give the most reliable account of the program and are usually the ones organising your visit. Treat lunch as the important part of the day, not the break.
Deciding Before the Offer Letter Arrives
The visit is designed to be persuasive, and enthusiasm on the day is not information. Write your questions and answers down while they are fresh, then compare programs on paper once the funding terms are in front of you.