It sounds easy, until you’re the one in the hot seat trying to decide which project to pick. Even if you’ve prepared talking points about your most impressive accomplishment ahead of time, you might’ve chosen the wrong one. In my experience, most people’s first instinct is to pick the project or achievement that sounds the most substantial on paper–but that’s not always the one that illustrates their actual technical ability.

It’s a single-round interview. The professor asked me to carefully review several research papers beforehand. During the session, I’ll first discuss those papers through a Q&A format to test my understanding and critical thinking. After that, there will also be a few behavioral questions about my background, motivation, and how I approach research or collaboration. Overall, it’s meant to assess both my technical comprehension of the assigned papers and my interpersonal and problem-solving skills.