Caltech (California) PhD Student interview questions

After submitting my application online, I was contacted by one of the Professors I had expressed interest in working with. He asked if we could have a Skype interview. The interview was informal and we mostly discussed my previous research experience and reasons for wanting to start a Ph.D. program at Caltech.

Causal conversation with a bunch of professors in my department. No technical questions are asked -- the "technical" part is assessed during the CV-reading phase of recruitation. The professors want to see whether you "fit in" with the spirit of the school. That means that you need to be smart, confident about your skills, and most of all passionate about science. Broad knowledge about random scientific topics was definitely a plus. If you can hold a conversation about science with a specialist for half an hour, you'll be fine.