@ljrfrm
Overview of interview weekend/advice:
note: they are watching you the entire weekend to see how you interact with others. Also, they take a picture of you in the beginning that all interviewers use to write notes about you…I also assume that they show your picture to current MSP students you interacted with to ask how you were.
DAY 1: You get to penn stater hotel and a bus takes you to the opening ceremonies in the HUB (Sit in the front row, they say that you should) after an overview of the program they have everyone organize by birthday in the front of the room, but you have to do it without speaking. So everyone goes down the line and does their “Millennium Introduction”, which includes your full name, hometown, and intended major (be sure to project your voice). After that you have campus tours done by current MSP students with the other candidates (no parents allowed). During the tour be sure to ask questions about any advice for the interviews, their experience with summer bridge, and just their experience at Penn State in general, these guides will be honest and are really down to earth. Next, you have the poster session, which allows you to see the research of current students and talk to them about it. Be sure to not just stand in the back of the crowd, get there quickly and ask good questions. I would suggest going to the less popular posters, as you will get more one-on-one attention at those and be able to ask more questions. Remember; they are watching you the whole time, so remain engaged. Even the current students that you are asking questions will be a part of your decision. Also, do not be one of the people who sits outside of the poster room and looks at no posters, it reflects poorly on you and your desire to be there. Then you have a dinner and mixer, which is basically just a dance party. If you can, get into the dance circle that is created, and bring a friend you make in. If you aren’t the type of person that likes to dance or knows that you will dance horribly awkward, don’t bother, but be sure to surround yourself with friends (and dance to different songs), and participate in the cha cha slide and other basic group dances. Again, don’t just sit down and talk to no one. Also, use that opportunity to talk to/ dance with current MSP students, make yourself familiar to them because they are going to be asked about their impression of you.
DAY 2: You see three panels from different professors at Penn state and MSP students and they describe to you what getting a PhD really means. They offer the chance to ask questions for each panel and EVERY CANDIDATE got up to ask. It’s great that they wanted to make themselves seen/heard, but I would suggest only going up once or twice and asking questions that are actually worth while. It was all basic questions like “what inspired you to get a PhD?”. Once someone asked that question, it must’ve been restated a couple times and it was very annoying. Don’t be too desperate and be prepared to ask questions that will surprise people. Next, I had 5 interviews (faculty, associate deans, program staff, current MSP students, and one other that I forget). In the program staff interview, they had us do an activity working together with 6 other people in your college to decide which profiles on a given paper should be accepted to the millennium scholars program. They then asked “give two words that describe MSP to you and why did you pick those words” These are the questions from other interviews I remember: “If it weren’t. for the money, would you still want to get a PhD?”, “How had diversity impacted your life?”, “What attracted you to the MSP?” (DON’T SAY YOU WENT ONLINE AND SAW THAT IT WAS A GREAT OPPORTUNITY, which is what basically everyone said), “Why do you want to pursue a PhD or MD/PhD?”, “What is the best way to challenge you?”, “What would you do if someone wasn’t pulling their weight in a project?”, “How does innovation the the STEM field fuel advancements?”, “tell me about yourself?”, “why is teamwork important?”, “tell us about someone who inspires you, it cant be a relative” name a time that you worked on a team"…people said that they would ask the question “if you were shipwrecked with others on a deserted island, what would you do?”, but I didn’t get asked that one. If I remember any others, I will put them under this post.
Advice for interviews:
-Don’t be a kiss up
-Since, in the group interviews, they went around the whole room for people to answer, try to not repeat others and be really unique in your answers
-Try not to say “um” a lot when answering a question
-Center a lot of your answers around teamwork, but avoid forcing it.
-DO NOT bring your resume in and give it to every one of your interviews. Idk why you would do that, but an MSP kid in cohort 5 told me that someone did last year and didn’t get in.
-Articulate your words, speak slowly but not too slowly
-I would avoid talking a lot about your personal achievements in the group interviews, I feel that it seems like you’re trying to one-up everyone and shows a lot of competitiveness (but it could be just me).
-Be genuine and normal
-Ask questions if given the opportunity(this is a must in the one-on-one), but make sure that they are good questions. If they’re basic, don’t bother.
Finally, there was the closing event, which was a dining thing with all of the faculty, interviewers, parents, and candidates. Use this opportunity to make one last impression on people. Don’t go out of your way to ask awkward questions, thank them for interviewing you. Luckily for me, I had gotten the attention of a good number of the cohort 5 kids and was talking to them, making them laugh, and asking about advice for the summer bridge if I got it. Every one of them was an interviewer of mine, and I think that my time talking to them at the closing ceremony would definitely make me memorable. After they left, I spent the rest of my time talking to one of the program facilitators after I jumped in the convo that she was having with my mom. Elaine gave us the advice to thank our interviewers at the dinner.
After that everyone went back to the hotel and went home. I hope that this helps, if anyone else had questions I’d be happy to answer them in this discussion. If you would like to know my answers the questions and my profile, please DM me.