Physicists

Be sure to have looked into what the professor that you are interviewing with studies. Looking at their website and reading the introductions to a few of their papers would be most helpful. In your head, try to connect these ideas to the physics that you have learned in your classes so far. Most ...

I worked in Experimental Physics rather than Theoretical Physics so consider this when reading my answer. A Physics Research Internship is quite a laid back job compared to many others. For the most part, you get to determine your work schedule (as long as you are getting your work done and atten...

Quite well. There are certainly areas in physics that rely more or less on other fields. For example, theoretical physics obviously uses many tools from pure mathematics and physical chemistry combines concepts between physics and chemistry. In these cases, it is definitely helpful to have traini...

I actually did not have an interview for my internship. I only filled out an application on the NASA internships portal and received the project offer a couple of months later. However, most science interviews will discuss what your past research (if any) and coursework involved. Come with questi...

My work consisted primarily of data analysis at a desktop computer. I worked closely with one other undergraduate intern and one graduate intern on a project. We filtered through data, met with our mentors, synthesized material, and worked on our final posters and presentations. There were also o...

Generally, I did busywork for the two lab technicians I assisted. They assigned tasks such as rearranging and taking inventory of labs, disposing of obsolete equipment, and uncrating new equipment. The most hands-on thing I did was diagnosing issues with faulty vacuum pumps, and repairing them. S...

In the interview, most of the questions were pretty straightforward. They asked about relevant classes, work experience, career goals after graduation, and why I wanted to work there. There weren't really any situational questions.

I liked that I got to see various experiments the graduate student were working on. All of the lab equipment was interesting and impressive as well. I did not like that I was basically assigned busywork, and did not really get to do anything related to my major. I also did not really learn anythi...