congratulate yourself for making it this far! the applications are over! if you get an interview at a school that usually means they are very interested in having you join the program! the main purpose of interviews is to figure out if you are “the right fit” for the program. the process is a lot like dating. you are assessing the faculty and the program at the same time as them getting to know you.
faculty interviews are usually around 30 minutes each. it usually starts with you introducing yourself and talking about your research experience. practice makes perfect here. I recommend thinking about how you want to start this. If you are comfortable with your first couple of sentences, you’ll get a flow going and the rest of the conversation will go smoothly.
I tried to give a broad overview of the most important projects i worked on and told my interviewer that I was happy to talk about any project in more detail and specifics if they wanted. expect to be interrupted with questions as you describe your projects then just go from there.
i tried to prepare a couple of questions for my interviewer ahead of time. at the very least, look at their lab website to get a sense of the questions they are interested in. I usually scanned through one or two recent papers (read papers quickly) and jotted down any notes or questions that came to mind, even if I could probably answer them myself with more reading or digging. these low ball questions are easy conversation starters and can often lead to interesting discussions where you can ask them more specific questions depending on the answers they give you. I also always had a couple of broad questions about the school or the program to ask faculty. Something along the lines of what they thought the values of the program were, what makes a successful student, issues with the program or things they’d like to see change. while these interviews have a focus on proving that you’re a regular person that can talk about science in a mature way, you also should use the time to interview the faculty and program.
always send a follow up email to your interviewers to thank them for their time one or two days later. after each interview I jotted down notes about what we talked about and any further questions I had. the more specific you can be in your email, the more memorable you will be to them. you will reinforce their memory of your conversation and that will help you stand out when they are deciding who to give acceptances to. dont be offended if they dont respond, they usually dont :’(