Invited to Preview Weekend by POI

[ChemiKyle]

Hi everyone,

I was recently invited to an all-expenses paid graduate preview weekend by my highest rated POI out of every prospective institution; I know that them paying is generally a good sign, but I'm worried it may be solely because of an underprivileged initiative program.

While the email wording seems to suggest a recruitment, I'm going to be meeting 2 professors of my choice to discuss research interests, which seems like it might be an interview-type situation.

I saw some other posts from people doing these sorts of preview/recruitment events, but the timeline was way off; although I have submitted my app this is a month or so before the application deadline and possibly before them receiving my GRE scores/seeing my application at all (I submitted it a month before being contacted but the site lists it as incomplete still).

This is probably field-dependent, but I'm not sure if pre-acceptance interviews are common outside of things like McNair/early acceptance programs; does anyone have experience with this sort of situation?
Should I expect to be more grilled on my research knowledge or cajoled by the cool stuff they're doing?

 

*Edit: It's probably worth noting that my grad students in my field are always fully funded.

Edited October 30, 2014 by ChemiKyle

[TakeruK]

This is a good thing! What do you mean by "worried that it may be solely because of an underprivileged initiative program"? If you mean that you are worried that it might not mean anything about your admission decision, then you are right. However, this is because there's no point in any of us trying to guess/infer at "hidden meanings" behind professor actions until you get an actual admission letter! Since this is happening prior to an admission decision, you can definitely count on your interactions with the school being part of their decision. However, I know that many schools, including my own (which is one of your listed schools in your signature) is definitely making a conscious effort to do a better job of recruiting from underprivileged populations and encouraging these students to apply! So, you can probably expect a combination of them evaluating you and them showing off their stuff to encourage your application.

 

No need to overthink this! Increasing diversity is something all schools should want to strive for--either because they truly believe in achieving a diverse population or because they want the benefits of claiming to strive for diversity. Either way, no school is going to accept an under-qualified student just to meet diversity goal--that would surely do more harm than good! 

 

Whether or not this is an underprivileged initiative program or not, you got this invitation because you made a good impression on the professor and that means you are a qualified candidate for their program. This doesn't provide much information about the final admission decision because for most grad programs, they cannot accept all qualified candidates! However, you have this opportunity to preview the program and talk to two of your potential mentors. So, make the most of it!

[ChemiKyle]

Thanks for the feedback!

I'm probably just letting my nerves get the best of me and succumbing to impostor syndrome somewhat, especially in the face of unofficially good news from my top program coinciding with underwhelming standardized test scores.

 

 

What do you mean by "worried that it may be solely because of an underprivileged initiative program"? 

 

I'm in a less-than-welcoming part of the US, the general stereotype is that "diversity hire" = "underqualified" (I'm well aware this isn't true); so (erroneously) applying that outlook to other places made me wonder if the intent was something along the lines of "we have this grant to bring out under-represented students, so let's grill them hard to make sure they're up to snuff."

Either way I'm sure reading a few more papers couldn't hurt, but I can probably relax a bit.

[TakeruK]

I see--unfortunately I think there will be people everywhere that will think things like "diversity hire = unqualified" but I'd say we should not let these people get us down! I have been working with my current school to improve diversity at my current school and I have to say that it is nice to see real university administrators actually caring about diversity and not just doing it as lip service!

 

From this point of view, the preview weekends for under-represented students are usually planned and executed in order to attract and encourage qualified diverse applicants to apply. Especially if the school might have a reputation for being less diverse--the idea of these preview visits is to show that it's pretty good here, that there will be a support system for under-represented students etc. 

 

At the same time, no matter how good any school is, there will be some people that think diversity is bad (for some reason, I don't know) and I understand your concern that they might take the opportunity to confirm their bias by being extra tough on all of the preview visitors. 

 

I agree that you should be as knowledgeable as you can about your field when you visit! But not for the jerks that want to prove their bias that diversity=unqualified, but for yourself, because you will be meeting plenty of people that do want you to come to their school and you would want to make the most of this extra opportunity to show that you are a strong candidate. That is, I think you can view this is as a bonus opportunity to show off your ability, not as an extra test meant to block your entry.

[gliaful]

Some schools have rolling admissions, even if they don't explicitly make it known. Hence, they could have reviewed your application already, as a month is sufficient time for GRE scores to have shipped. The fact that they are paying for you to visit is something you should take positively. They wouldn't have you visit if they weren't interested -- say what you will about permeant attitudes toward diverse students. THEY LIKE YOU, SO GO. Have a great time, be prepared to speak about your experiences, and remember -- you are evaluating THEM as well.

 

Congrats!