英国PhD申请大多都有面试环节，形式主要有两类：
Formal Interview：由导师与项目负责人组成面试panel，流程结构清晰、问题较系统，常见于带奖项目(如 DTP、CDT、DPhil)。
Informal Meeting：通常是潜在导师发起的一对一 meeting，虽然不叫正式面试，但依然是决定你是否被录取的核心环节。
无论是哪种形式，导师重点考察是research experience、proposal质量、academic fit 以及未来发展潜力这几方面。
以下是总结面试常被问的3类问题：
1.Past Research Experience(过去的研究经历)
这部分是导师评估你是否具备基础科研能力的关键。常见问题有：
?Can you introduce your previous research project(s)?
? What methods did you use? What were the results?
? Which part did you find most challenging or interesting?
?If you could redo the project, what would you improve?
?What was your exact contribution in your published work?
建议：清晰地讲述研究经历，强调你的research thinking 和主动性。
2.Research Proposal Future Plans(未来研究计划)
如果申请提交了 Research Proposal，导师一般会围绕你的RP细节展开提问：
?Whats the research question and why is it important?
?What methodologies are you planning to use and why?
?Are there any recent papers on similar topics?
?Which of my papers did you read? What did you think?
建议：自己的RP内容一定要烂熟于心，尤其是方法、框架和可行性。
3.Motivation Academic Fit(动机与匹配度)
这部分是展现个人定位、研究动机与未来规划的好机会(有些带奖学金PhD导师很看重这个)：
?Why do you want to pursue a PhD?
? Why this project / group / university?
?What are your long-term career plans?
?How do you see collaboration in research?
?Are you applying to other programmes?
建议：展现真实动机的同时，突出你对导师方向的了解和long-term alignment。
Tips总结
?面试通常持续 3045 min，时间不长但信息量大
?即使是informal chat，也要当正式面试准备
?熟悉RP + 项目内容 + 自己的简历和经历
?英国导师很重视 clarity honesty，不要装懂，讲清楚真正理解的东西
