I applied through university. The process took 3 months. I interviewed at Caltech (California) (Pasadena, CA) in Feb 2014
Interview
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.
I applied through university. The process took 4 weeks. I interviewed at Caltech (California) in Feb 2026
Interview
A 1.5-day campus visit, where each candidate gets paired with three faculties of interest, and have 30-minute 1-on-1 conversations with them. Among the three faculties, one of them will be an "interviewer" and the conversation is treated like an interview. They basically ask something about the classes you have taken, and then ask you to give a short talk/presentation.
I applied online. The process took 2 days. I interviewed at Caltech (California) (Pasadena, CA) in Jan 2011
Interview
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.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
What are you interested in scientifically, describe your favorite research projects, generic talk about my research area.
