general.enthusiast

I was really glad I brought my spouse with me on my campus visits. The way a department handles this situation can help you figure out whether they're going to be a spouse-friendly department in general. Like Strong White Flat said, we just did the after-hours type stuff together, while I went alone to the official functions. We did pay for the extra plane ticket (I think that's the norm and entirely appropriate), but we also worked with the department so we could get on the same flight.

Just wanted to add that when I was applying, my professors really tended to emphasize the "produce excellent work" part over the rankings. (Although, to be clear, they still thought it was important to take rank into account.) If you want to land a position that involves research, a killer dissertation in a hot area from a top-100 school can trump a more boring one from the top 10.