Background: Integrated Masters in Mathematics 1. Questions? Ans: One Prof. asked a programming question - write a pseudo-code to find the sum of the first n terms of the exponential of x (e^x) without calculating each kth term individually - (x^k)/k!. I could not do this. He also asked to prove there are infinitely many primes because of my maths background. Neuroscience Prof. asked me what I know of the brain and neuroscience and I just described the neuron and its parts like axon, cell body and dendrites. Then they also asked me how I got interested in cognitive science and anything specific I know. I mentioned morality and told them what I had read, that’s all. I don’t remember if there was anything more but I don't think so. I thought it went pretty bad and didn’t think I had any chance. 2. How long was it? Ans: I am not sure about the time cos I didn't keep time. I don't really know but it was shorter than IIT Delhi's interview. I'd guess 10 minutes or less. 3. How did it go/did you think you had good chances of getting selected after the interview or no? Ans: Lol hell no, I was surprised when I saw I was selected. Background: BBA from Christ University and went on to work in rural education in Rajasthan. 1. Questions? Ans: Academic a) which topics are you interested in particular? I told them I was interested in meditation and attention, self control, etc. b) what do you think is a better theory, early or late selection and why? Also asked about the original papers and their limitations c) what topics are studied in meditation research? d) what's the structure of neurons and how do they communicate? e) what drugs are used to modulate re-uptake and why? Non academic a) why cognitive science? b) what causes suffering? c) what does anxiety feel like? d) Goenka (guru) already explains Vipassana properly, why do you need to work on it? 2. How long was it? Ans: 15 minutes if I remember correctly 3. How did it go/did you think you had good chances of getting selected after the interview or no? Ans: I thought it wasn't too bad, I was half expecting to get selected Background: B.A in Psychology 1. Questions? Ans: I told them about the courses I did on phonetics and phonology and neuropsych disorders so the neuroscience Prof. asked me a few neuropsych questions, psychology Prof. asked me interests and then asked me to elaborate on interests Then I said I like language of thought he asked what I have read on the subject and I told him about the Sapir Whorf hypothesis etc. Asked about my background, asked about the research I did in undergrad, about methodology and results. 2. How long was it? Ans: It was around 20 minutes 3. How did it go/did you think you had good chances of getting selected after the interview or no? Ans: It was hard to tell after the interview because it wasn’t so much about questions and their correct answers but more about your general temperament towards research and academics, I guess. I didn’t think I would get in but I also didn’t think I won’t get in It was quite ambiguous Background: B.Tech in Information Technology from NIT-P. Was working in SAP Labs, Bangalore. 1. Questions? Ans: Most of the interview revolved around my interests and things I mentioned in the application form. Some of the questions which I remember are: a) Tell us a bit about yourself I mentioned my academic background -including my bachelors, projects, internships, and work experience. b) Why are you interested in cognitive science? I described my interest in natural language processing and how machines still suck at understanding language. I talked about a few cogsci papers which I read related to language acquisition. c) Some questions related to the terms in those papers (what is a semantic network etc.) d) Some basic neurobiology questions - what parts of brain are responsible for language comprehension etc.) e) Some questions related to the books I had read. What neurotransmitters are associated with stress response, what’s the difference between central and peripheral nervous system, what is flow state? how would you study the physiological changes associated with the flow state? How would you study these responses in the brain) f) Some logical questions - how would you derive the formula for area of a triangle? Etc. 2. How long was it? Ans: It was about 20 min 3. How did it go/did you think you had good chances of getting selected after the interview or no? Ans: I thought I had a decent chance because I answered most of the questions Background: BA Economics 1. Questions? Ans: They began with asking what I understand what Cognitive Science is and why is it that I am interested in it particularly before moving to any technical questions. They also asked what my background is and what all did I do before this. So, when they learnt that I am of an eco background, they based the technical questions on that and asked me to write a code for compound interest and another question where I had to make a modulus function without any mathematical libraries. Because I also mentioned I read Kahneman and that is what got me interested in cog sci at least in part, they asked me to explain prospect theory. 2. How long was it? Ans: It went for 15 3. How did it go/did you think you had good chances of getting selected after the interview or no? Ans: They seemed happy but I made a lots of silly mistakes and was very underconfident so to get in was as good as chance for me. Background: BTech in Mechanical I barely remember interview. My interview was built on introduction. In my introduction I clearly mention the motivation to do this course, mentioned things I learnt (like applied math) to converge to the goal. They asked some simple questions like what is stability, what is difference between system and control system. Prove that prime numbers are infinite. And they asked on project very general like can you ideate and come up with advancement in the project. They tested can I think or not , it went in this direction and went around for 15-20 min. And yes, I have no great expectation on selection only 50% chance. Background: B.A-M.A. in Psychology 1. Questions? Ans: Some questions about statistics – type 1, type 2 error, some probability questions – coin toss types, some things from other domains which I don’t really remember. They asked about my research experience. Do you have any experience with coding? How will you cope up if your cant code? I had to convince him that I want to learn etc. 2. How long was it? Ans: 15-20 min 3. How did it go/did you think you had good chances of getting selected after the interview or no? Ans: Lol. No. I thought I had no chance. Background: BTECH in Software Engineering in 2018, from SRM University, Chennai. Have been working as an SAP consultant in LTI Chennai. 1. Questions? Ans: What is dopamine’s function? What is a-hedonism? About some modelling stuff I had read on motivation— all the because of the SOP. SOP is the most important, all cross questions are based on SOP. What’s the difference between an artificial Neuron and real Neuron? Why do you want to quit your job for this? Some more questions that I don’t remember now 2. How long was it? Ans: 15-20min 3. How did it go/did you think you had good chances of getting selected after the interview or no? Ans: I messed up at some very obvious places, even though, I was able to speak something for all questions. Didn’t think I’d get selected though.� Background: Bachelors in Liberal Arts with major in Economics and minor in Film Studies and Maths & Stats 1. Questions Ans: "Why Cognitive Science?" And the questions followed organically from there. And since I'm from Liberal Arts, the discussions went on to representations and dualism, and ended up being very similar to how our psych Prof. cross questions us in class. There was also an algorithm question, but application based. I don't remember the exact question, but it had something to do with COVID and binary search. It was a puzzle, I think. Also, I was asked about my career goals, what I want to do with my degree, etc. 2. How long was it? Ans: I'm not sure exactly, because it started earlier than the time given to me. I think between 20-30 min, but the questions seem to distort my perception of time� 3. How did it go/did you think you had good chances of getting selected after the interview or no? Ans: I felt overall the interview questions were quite smart. They seemed to be testing my thinking process rather than what I know. I did feel that I had messed it up completely, and at one point I remember saying that I give up..I don't know how to answer this. Personally, I don't think that I was satisfied with even one of my answers. But it felt like such a good intellectual challenge, that I came out of it very excited. I liked that I could show them my thought process, irrespective of whether I could actually answer the way that they expected or not. I couldn't really predict whether I would get selected or not, but I felt that overall the interview process was really good, irrespective of whether I would get selected or not.
