I would like to get some advice as an older graduate student who may be heading to the University of Michigan in the fall. I enrolled last August in a graduate program in a college town in the Midwest that was smaller than Ann Arbor by 30,000 but similar in that the university dominated the town. It was not possible to visit the previous university beforehand and it turned out to be a bad fit for my research area so I left at the end of last semester. I have been accepted for fall admission to GWU, UMichigan, and UChicago. While my departure from the previous program was due to the poor fit for my research, my semester of graduate school in a small college town was not what I expected. I went there alone and it was certainly the most socially-isolating six months of my life. I'm an outgoing, sociable person and it was a weird experience. Some of this was due to the department which was low-ranked and not very selective so approximately 50% of the graduate students had already been living in the area. The other grad programs at the university had a stronger sense of community because students came from outside the area and bonded together. My department was like a commuter school where grad students never socialized outside of official functions. Somehow I expected graduate school in a college town to be fun as well as challenging but it wasn't either. Certainly no Halloween or Christmas parties. Yes, it was a truly dreary five months although I ended up making some friends from other departments and one friend in the department who was finishing up his PhD after what he described as years of alienation.
The University of Michigan has a stronger academic reputation and this time I will be visiting before making a decision, but if anyone has any advice for someone heading to Ann Arbor as an older, single graduate student it would be appreciated. Is there a strong sense of community among graduate students in most departments?
Thanks.
