Questions to ask at interviews

Questions to ask at interviews

Anons (guest) 31 Oct 2010 23:57

Can anyone provide some sample questions to ask at on campus interviews for the following:

Faculty

Department Chair

Grad Students

Deans

I was thinking of things like:

Faculty: What is the quality of life in city X like? Undergrads in research? General atmosphere of college X? Collaboration between faculty? And of course questions about their research.

Department chair: General questions about research support. Do you ask questions about tenure process? Summer funding? Grad student funding? teaching expectations?

Grad students: Ask about undergrad research involvement? Quality of life in city X? What do they like about the department? Funding support?

Deans: Tenure process? Quality of life? Quality of college life? Research support?

anon (guest) 01 Nov 2010 07:44

For the deans, you will probably also want to ask a few questions regarding personal hygiene…

annnnnn (guest) 01 Nov 2010 12:43

Um yea, I'll get right on that.

What's up with the trolls on here lately?

Herbert Hoover Fan (guest) 01 Nov 2010 18:21

Maybe it is just some humor to lighten the absurd amount of academic anxiety.

annnnnnnnnnnnnn (guest) 01 Nov 2010 19:24

I guess for some people all of this is very serious. Anxiety is good…it keeps you motivated!

anon (guest) 01 Nov 2010 22:53

If your motivation is fueled by anxiety, you are not in the right business.

Anon Again (guest) 01 Nov 2010 13:13

In addition to what you have already thought of, I would suggest:

For Faculty: For junior faculty I would also ask if they felt that they have been supported by the department/college. If they have graduate students I would ask about their experiences working with graduate students - how many graduate students do each faculty member have on average? What is the quality of the graduate students? Do they get to admit students or are students admitted to the program and then assigned to them? Also, asking a question like "What are you personally looking for in someone to fill this position?" You can also ask about teaching - what is the typical teaching load? Do you often teach multiple sections of the same class or not? Are there any specific courses that the faculty hope someone in this position can teach?

Department Chair: Questions about tenure are definitely appropriate. What are the expectations in the department for tenure? (They will tell you basically it is excellence in research and teaching and commitment to service.) Is research (or teaching depending on the type of university) weighed more heavily? How successful have past individuals been in getting tenure? Also, you don't need to have a start up spreadsheet prepared but asking general questions about start up would be good. Ask specifically about things you might need (money to pay participants, space requirements, specific equipment, etc).

Deans: Ask about seed money for research - are there any opportunities for seed money outside of start up? What sort of grant writing support is there? Does the college/university have a grant editor? What is the university's policy on sabbatical leave? I would probably not ask the quality of life type questions in the deans meeting. Save this for your faculty meetings.

Graduate students: What do they hope the new hire will bring? What graduate classes are currently not offered that they would like to see offered. Do most students work in one lab or are students working in a variety of labs? What are there research interests?

anon and on and on (guest) 02 Nov 2010 03:24

I've also found that it's interesting to ask junior faculty about their perceptions of the tenure process. If they recently got tenure, you can ask about their perceptions of the process, and how supported they felt by the department and the university. If they're close to going up for tenure, it'll be heavy on their minds - it's one thing to get "official" tenure requirements from the chair, but you often get more realistic details from the faculty who are really close to the process.

(Plus, this is similar to the thread on asking questions about faculty research - we all love to talk about ourselves!)