…Continued from Round 1 Interview Experience
11th May, 2016:
On the day of the second interview, the reporting time was 9 am and I reached in time. I was now very sure about my order of preferences of the project so when they asked everyone to fill out a form stating their preferences, I was the first one to fill and submit it. Luckily or unluckily, that resulted in me being the first candidate to be interviewed that morning.
The interview panel consisted of four professors again which had only one professor in common with the previous interview.
I was, no doubt, tensed. But anyway, the interview began –
Professor 1: Introduce yourself and tell us about your background
Me: (Did.)
Professor 2: What do you want to do your research in?
Me: Sir, I want to do my research in the area of medical microbiology and immunology especially the pathogenesis of bacteria and host-pathogen interactions.
Professor 2: Okay, name two intracellular bacteria
Me: Mycobacterium tuberculosis and Listeria monocytogenes
Professor 2: Describe the pathogenesis of mycobacterium tuberculosis
Me: (Answered correctly)
Professor 2: What is the difference between the mode of entry of a virus and an intracellular bacteria into a host cell?
Me: (Frankly, I couldn’t understand the question very well and couldn’t answer it)
Professor 2: Okay, let’s say you have sore throat, then how would you identify the pathogen involved?
Me: We could take a throat swab and then… (Interrupted by Professor 2)
Professor 2: Skip that, come to identification. How would you identify?
Me: We could grow in on a different nutrient media and we can do a battery of biochemical tests to identify them on the new colonies. In case it’s a virus, we could do PCR to detect the viral genome.
Professor 2: What primers would you use?
Me: (By mistake in a hurry) We would use primers specific to 16S rRNA
Professor 2: Wait, do viruses have 16S rRNA?
Me: (Accepting my mistake) No sir…
Professor 2: Okay, so then how would you identify if it’s a novel virus?
Me: (Couldn’t answer it then but the answer was that it could be done using whole genome shotgun sequencing)
Professor 3: Alright, what is a dominant negative phenotype?
Me: (Struggled a bit but answered)
Professor 1: If there is a novel protein, how would you know the amino acid sequence and how would you determine the number of subunits in it and the function of that protein?
Me: We could do SDS Page analysis to identify the subunits and use beta mercaptoethanol to break the disulphide linkages between the subunits and then run the protein on a gel…
Professor 1: Describe about the subunits…
Professor 4: (He was the one who was present in the earlier interview as well) We can skip this part.
Me: regarding the functions, we can take the amino acid sequence and compare the protein amino acid sequence to other proteins from other organisms and from the databases that we have and the tools available. That could help us determine its functions.
Professor 1: What about the amino acid sequence?
Me: We can use Sanger’s method for amino acid sequencing
Professor 1: Okay describe the procedure of Sanger’s method
Me: (Struggled a bit but answered with a help of some hints) We would use FDNB reagent (and described the principle in detail)
Professor 1: How would you know what amino acid it would be? How would you test it?
Me: (Phew!) I don’t know about this sir!
Professor 4: Have you applied to any other institute?
Me: Yes sir, I have applied to IISc Bangalore.
And with that my interview ended – after a good 15 minutes again.
I felt really bad about not being able to answer some questions and was really sad after the interview.
The results were to be declared on 25th May, 2016 and 5 pm.
5 pm, 25th May, 2016
I kept checking the IITB admissions website regularly but there was no update. At 5 pm, results were announced but, for some reason, BSBE department had not declared the result and announced that they would be declared on 27th May.
3 pm, 27th May, 2016.
To my utter relief, the results were declared and by God’s grace, I was selected for PhD with TA-ship!
If you are reading this to gain insights into PhD admissions, I wish you or your friends all the best for your upcoming interviews! Relax, you’ll rock!
Thank you so much Ritu Mam for your sharing your interview experiences at iitB. Actually I have got shortlisted for interview of iit kanpur. I haven’t faced interviews of any iit before. So I was in worry. This helped a lot
Hello ma’am, i was going through your interview experience. Recently, IITs have released that they gonna take iñterviews vua videoconferencing for PhD admission. This gonna my first interview. I have cleared the CSIR and gate. My background is MSc biochemistry and molecular biology. It will be very helpful, if you can give some useful last time tips for video conferencing iñterviews. Thanks
Hi Ma’am.. I must say, what an impressive interview that was! I am sure your PhD must be in its final stages. I can see the last message was from 2018, don’t if you are still active on this blog. I have applied for PhD in Rural Development at CRDT, IIT Delhi.. I am Masters in Food and Nutrition. CRDT has several sects and one of them is Food Processing and Food Safety which exactly matches my profile. Due to lockdown, this time interviews would be conducted online through video-conferencing. Should I have a ready Research-Proposal with me for the interview? Also, do you have any idea about CRDT, like how many students are shortlisted for the interview and how many are finally selected for PhD.
Very interesting! Thanks for your kind help, sharing your interview experience helps me and many others. I read both of your interview articles (parts 1 and 2).. what GATE score could you suggest for selection of Ph.D for the written test or interview, whichever is first. Please help.
Hi Jayateerth, this changes every year as decided by the admissions committee but they usually call the top 300-400 GATE scorers.
Thsnk you.
Hello mam,
I got shortlisted for PhD interview in the dept.of BME and the written test followed by an interview is in 3 days. My GATE score is 378 and Mtech(Biotechnology) CGPA is 8.48. In case I clear the written test do I have any chance of getting selected as I feel my GATE score is very low. Kindly give me any suggestions regarding the written test and interview as I am very confused whether I will be able to clear the written test or not. For written test I will choose Biology and Physiology. Any suggestion can be of great help. Thank you in advance.
Hello Maam,
Maam I had completed my Msc in the year 2016.Due to health issues and no prior interest in phd I couldn’t applied for CSIR NET or Gate exam.However in the course of two years I was working as a professor in the college.Now I am interested in pursuing my career in research I have started with my CSIR preparation.My main concern is that during interviews at any research institute a gap of 2 years is will create problem in getting phd.
Hi Saleha,
As you have mentioned, you were working as a professor which cannot be regarded as gap year at all. I assume that staying within the premises of academia kindled the interest to pursue PhD in you. There are many people out there who work in industries for years and then decide to join PhD programmes. I totally understand that heading for PhD is not an easy task. So I would encourage you to stick to your decision and not let apprehensions come in your way. You must prepare for the requisite examinations and make the best of this opportunity.
All the best for your future endeavours!
PS – Sorry for the delay in reply. PhD consumes a hell lot of your time 😉
Thank u so much ma’am.Your words are indeed encouraging.If you don’t mind can u provide ur mail id for future queries or help
I got call for written test and interview in iitb. For written test they have given bio, physiology, math, chem, phy. from this 2 has to select for test. which choice would be better? My other question is that from where I will get previous year paper or model question paper?
Hi Jana,
Your queries will be solved on the day of the exam. Instructions will be given before the test. I am afraid that previous year model question papers are not available for the same. You can prepare based on the syllabus of GATE.
Hope this helps!
I graduated in Biotechnology and I hold M.Sc.degree in Zoology. Am I eligible for P.hD. at IITB ?
Hi Akash, your eligibility is decided on the basis of your scores in the entrance examinations viz. GATE and NET. M.Sc. in Zoology looks good to me in that respect.
I really adore your blog. I look forward to make a similar blog like yours on Wireless sensor networks the field of Electronics & Comm so many budding researchers can seek guidance and help like I did!! Thanks for the inspiration… Best of luck!
Thanks for your kind commends Afreen! All the best for your blog!
Was there a written test?
No, there was no written test for PhD admission. Only for M.Tech admissions they conduct a written test.
Hi, thanks for your blog and congratulations on getting selected. I am applying to the same department for PhD and in the information broucher they did mention about written test and then interview. I am a little confused as you are saying that there is no written test because mostly students with fellowship are directly invited for interviews. I did qualify Csir net jrf this year.
Hi Renu,
Thanks for checking out my blog. At my time there was not preliminary written test in the department. Recently they have introduced this system followed by two successive rounds of interviews. Make sure you perform well in this test as they treat this as a major exclusion criterion for potential candidates. Congratulations for cracking NET-JRF!
All the best for you future endeavours! Feel free to contact me for further queries.
Mam if someone’s name is in the online application portal of iit bombay phd application. And it is written that he or she is selected in the department and asking for fee payment is that final result?? It is also written that candidate has been offered admission in iitb. Is it final or provisional??? The question may sound stupid but i really need to know
It is final. Provisional only to the condition that you pay the fees. All the best!