The grad-school interview checks exactly three things

Three things: you did it, you mean it, your English survives a seminar

Every question maps to one of three checks. One: is the research on this resume actually yours — hence the drilling into your projects. Two: do you know why THIS program — not this ranking. Three: can your English hold an hour of seminar argument with classmates.

The good news: all three are preparable. The bad news: none of the three can be faked.

“Tell me about your research” is about decisions, not narrative

• The two-minute skeleton: the question (30s) → why it was hard (20s) → your approach and YOUR part (40s) → the result (20s) → limitations and next step (10s).
• Do not skip limitations. An applicant who can say where their own work is weak sounds like a colleague; one who only lists strengths sounds like a salesperson.
• Every number on the resume — sample size, accuracy, ranking — must be defensible. An indefensible number is far worse than no number.

The passing bar for “why this program”: two names

“Great ranking and resources” scores zero because it pastes onto any school. The bar: name two professors in the department, what they are working on lately, and how it connects to what you want to do. One afternoon of reading recent abstracts covers it.

The bonus move joins your project to one of theirs: “I worked on X; Prof. Y is extending X toward Z — that is the reason I applied.” One sentence, checks one and two at once.

Your weak spot will be asked — draft the answer now

• A GPA dip: one honest cause plus later evidence — “that year was low; the four semesters after were 3.9 with all A’s in the field.” Not explaining reads worse than the dip.
• Switching fields: no apologizing. Say what the old field contributes (methods, perspective) and what you did to earn the new one (courses, projects, proof of self-study).
• A gap or returning after years of work: committees don’t mind the age — they test whether your reason survives two years of grind.
• In the editor, switch the desk to Grad school after generating and run the mock interview — the questions come from an admissions bench, including the one aimed at your weak spot.

The last five minutes: your turn

• Ask structural questions: first-year milestones, how rotations work, when students typically fix their thesis topic.
• Master’s: ask placement outcomes plainly. PhD: ask how many years of funding are guaranteed. These are contract terms for years of your life — asking is professional, not asking is naive.
• Never ask what the program homepage answers. That is not a question; it is a confession.