
Carnegie Mellon University Research Interview Questions
& Process
Real candidates share what happened, how many rounds they had,
and how the experience turned out.
Based on 14 interview experiences · FREE TO READ
Candidate interview experiences
First-hand accounts from people who interviewed at Carnegie Mellon University.
Research Assistant
It was a really smooth interview process with the professor. We had two interviews. The first one was a Zoom call where they introduced the lab. The second interview was in person, and the professor talked about personal and technical things from my application.
- What motivates you to join this lab?
Research Assistant
They asked general questions about my past subjects and courses. Then there was a background check where professors were quizzed on past projects.
- What was your favorite project?
- Which moths are you able to work with?
Research Assistant
you’ll meet professors to chat about research interests, talk about skills for the projects they are working on, and how these skills can fit into those projects, you’ll also meet post-docs and existing phd students, and then you’ll choose a potential list of professors to work with
- Can you relate your prior work to our current projects?
- What skills did you employ in your previous projects?
- How willing are you to learn and apply new skills?
Carnegie Mellon University Research Interview Questions
Quoted word for word from Carnegie Mellon University interview reports.
“Can you find the lowest ancestor of a binary search tree?”
Read reports →“Can you explain the difference between L1 and L2 loss?”
Read reports →“Which moths are you able to work with?”
Read reports →“What area of research would interest you?”
Read reports →“Tell me about your undergraduate academic journey.”
Read report →“What are your aspirations for the future?”
Read report →“Could you share details about your undergraduate research work?”
Read report →“What are your areas of interest?”
Read report →“Are you open to interdisciplinary work?”
Read report →Formats, difficulty and experience
Across all 14 Carnegie Mellon University interview reports.