Should I omit some of my qualifications in my application materials to "surprise" with during an interview?

Question

I am applying for a fellowship so that I can pursue a PhD in the US. The selection process includes an interview for shortlisted candidates.

I like to save the best for the last in order to surprise the audience. I think surprise, wherever it is used, has a good effect. I have a poster based on my undergraduate dissertation, which is said to be very attractive. It is inspired by the poster of Michael Barton, which is introduced by the Better Poster blog. I think I can use it to surprise the fellowship selection committee.

Now, should I apply this strategy to the interviewers? That means I will keep the information of what I've done in the SOP as minimal as possible, just enough to pass the first selection round to get to the face-to-face round. At this round, I will show them my poster and hope they will be favorably impressed.

Should I use this strategy?

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I think I should quote my comment on Hans Adler's answer here:

I just take my A0 size poster in to the interview room. During the interview, professors will test my knowledge, ask me what I've done and judge that if I'm adequate to the fellowship. In the room it will have a white board for you to outline what I've done, and this is what is poster born for. Instead of drawing figure or chart by myself, I just need to open the poster and show what's what.

Answer 1

Absolutely not.

Even if you turned out to be a good candidate, I would reject your application on this basis alone. You're completely wasting my time by failing to be up-front about your qualifications when you know that I have a lot of work to do in prioritising applications and arranging interviews accordingly.

If I find out, after doing all of that work, that by hiring you I will be hiring someone who routinely withholds relevant information because he wants to "surprise" me, then I know I am only hurting myself in the long run. I would instead pick an individual who is capable of being up-front and honest — someone with whom I can work without constantly wondering what he's not yet bothered to tell me.

Answer 2

No.

• How will you know exactly what's "just enough to pass the first selection round"? You won't. You can't.
• Don't "surprise" by withholding helpful information. I believe most people find it annoying and inconsiderate when someone deliberately withholds information that they need in order to do their job (which is what you are proposing to do to the selection committee).
• It's harder to change someone's opinion of you than it is to confirm it. Even if you manage to get an interview using this strategy, convincing the interviewer that the candidate he thought was mediocre is really exceptional is more difficult than making him think, "This student is just as exceptional in person as I thought he would be!" (Also see: confirmation bias)
• Presenting yourself badly on paper can lead the committee to think that you don't know how to present yourself well, or didn't bother to find out how, or didn't care enough to put effort into your application. These are not qualities that people look for in an applicant.

Answer 3

I fully agree with ff524's answer. As you still seem to think that your question outlines a good strategy, let me offer an additional point.

One purpose of having two rounds of selection is that the paper application focusses on different qualifications than the interview, and the committee wants both to be tested. So yes, by all means, do surprise the interviewers, but do that with points that couldn't be shown on paper due to their nature. Examples for these are:

• Give a convincing oral presentation about your results or plans.
• Show confidence even when asked critical questions.

The poster you mention may not be a good fit for the paper application anyway, but do not withhold any information about your research that would fit into the paper application format.

If you can show the poster at the interview, you would want the interviewers to be surprised by thinking "This guy has very nice research results, and he can present it in an innovative format." You don't want their evaluation to be "This guy cannot write clearly about his research, but ..." (nothing follows because you're not invited to the interview).

Answer 4

No. Too often, interviewers will be surprised anyway by things you did put in the application and even things you said in an earlier interview. They are reading a lot of applications. The interviewers who do carefully retain all the information they've gotten are people who do not prefer surprises.

Answer 5

I'm a bit puzzled by the question. Posters are one medium for presenting your research. Other options include talks (or the associated slides), articles and abstracts. A poster only really makes sense in a poster session, when there is actual space for putting it up, and ideally some time has been allocated for authors standing next to their posters and presenting them to interested people.

Sending in a poster as part of an application in general doesn't seem to make much sense, just like sending in the slides to a talk you have given. It's not really the right medium for the purpose. And the same principle applies to your presence before the selection committee, unless they are doing a poster session.

You should prepare a presentation of your work in a suitable format (probably an abstract, maybe in somewhat extended form, along with a URL to a preprint or published article) and send that along with your application. You can still bring your poster in case there is a situation in which you can use it. And slides in case you get the opportunity for a little talk. Don't think of any of these things as a magic bullet just because someone has complimented you on it. Choose the right medium for the occasion; if you have material in a less optimal medium such as (presumably) your poster, keep it in your sleeve as an ace to be presented in case an appropriate occasion should arise.

In my opinion, a poster would have to be truly extraordinary in a way that cannot be captured in another medium to justify sending it with your application. Besides, I am not even sure how you would send it. By snailmail would be slow, unusual and a hassle. If you send it electronically, most recipients probably wouldn't know how to print it in an appropriate size, and reading it on the screen is probably not much fun.

Answer 6

No. In addition to reasons given above, the following story illustrates the folly of witholding. I once turned down a candidate, i.e. did not invite him for interview.

He then demanded to know why.

I said such and such were essential.

But I have such and such, he said (in, however, not too convincing a manner, otherwise I would still have invited him at this point).

It is not on your CV, I said. It really should have been there.

There was no room, he said.

You managed to find room for... [activities that were not relevant] I said.

Yeah but I sent you the same CV I send to everyone, he said.

There's your mistake, I said, in future remember to tailor those few pages to the job you are looking for at that point in time.

Thank you for your kind advice, he said, welling up. (Of course he didn't!)