What were some important questions you asked before accepting an offer?

[Timemachines]

From what I've seen here over the last few weeks, I am noticing I am amongst some folks who are feeling fairly conflicted about making a decision about their future. 

Time is ticking and I don't feel any closer to being ready with a decision, as I am in a holding pattern of sorts.

I'm wondering what pieces of information beyond your global thoughts on a program guided your decision to accept an offer - how much did the brand of a program drive your choice?  Are there any red flags to consider, post interview regarding POI productivity and commitment?  When following up with POI post acceptance offer, what Qs did you feel were most important to ask to guide your decision? What questions did you ask yourself (beyond what are my pros and cons) etc.

I recognize that this is grossly broad but any thoughts would be welcomed as sitting in my own head is proving to be useless...

[letssee]

I felt like I had asked most of the questions I had for the faculty during the interview process, so after the offer I focused on talking more to current students. Both of my offers were at programs where I felt like I had good interpersonal connections/research fit to my potential advisor. So although that's obviously extremely important and factored into my decision, I really wanted to consider general culture and the student experience.

• What jobs have recent graduates taken? Are faculty members supportive of people who are considering going into industry?
  • Last one is obviously only relevant if you're considering industry positions
• What do you do for fun?
  • Kind of an indirect way of asking about the work-life balance. Plus it's a good way to get ideas of what type of things are fun to do in the area and you might find someone with shared interests/hobbies.
• How many hours a week do you ACTUALLY spend on your assistantship?
  • Most people will be very upfront about this. In my case I was glad I asked because it reassured me that the program is fairly strict about keeping it contained to 20 hours a week and that TA duties etc. don't take away from research or classes.
• Is it realistic to live on the stipend? 
  • Obviously no one's living in luxury on a PhD stipend, but being able to get a better idea of the financial side of things is important before accepting an offer. You don't want to move to a new city and then realize the COL is higher than you thought it'd be. This is something you could probably also find out online, but it never hurts to get firsthand opinions from someone who's doing it right now.
• Do people in your cohort ever hang out together outside of work?
  • Again this is personal preference, but I wanted to be in a program where students are actually friends. Granted you should have friends outside grad school as well, but I wouldn't want to spend five years working with people I couldn't hang out with at least occasionally.

Honestly, the current students I talked to were all very candid. If you want to know something, ask them! I didn't get the sense that they were trying to hide anything, and I think that that's something you can just kind of pick up on. The general atmosphere at a campus visit is very telling to me. Are these people happy to be spending their day with prospective students? Do they seem genuinely excited about you being a potential new member of the program? Do they seem to get along easily with their advisors (a good hint of how that professor might treat you in a year)? Overall, do you feel like this is somewhere you'd be happy? I think that's probably the question I asked myself at the end of the day.

The best advice I got from someone during one of my visits was this: Go somewhere where you like the people. Good colleagues and advisors will get you through times where you don't like the work, but a passion for your subject matter rarely makes up for people that make you miserable.

Hope this helps! Best of luck choosing your program, and feel free to PM me if you want to chat more.

[jk616]

I second all of the above! I also found it really helpful (especially if you're trying to choose between programs) to set up a time to talk with the PI again on the phone to talk more in depth about their projects and how you would fit in with them. It also gives you a chance to talk about projects or research topics you'd like to pursue in grad school that you might not have gotten the chance to/thought you shouldn't talk about during the interview day.  

Mentor fit was also super important to me so it was nice to chat with them again in a more casual setting with less pressure. Best of luck! 

[1996kayden]

So I was accepted into a program I am having large doubts about. How upfront am I about this? Do I send like a generic email that I'm considering my options (not that I have other concrete options...) to the admissions chair who emailed my acceptance and then specific questions to the POI? 

[rocktheballad]

Can I possibly butt in and ask whether it’s odd for a program to straight up deny your right to read their student handbook? (At a place where I’m accepted, no less...) 

This is personally the no. 1 hang-up I’m having with accepting an offer...

[PsyDuck90]

42 minutes ago, rocktheballad said:

Can I possibly butt in and ask whether it’s odd for a program to straight up deny your right to read their student handbook? (At a place where I’m accepted, no less...) 

This is personally the no. 1 hang-up I’m having with accepting an offer...

That's very bizarre. All of the programs I looked at had the handbook downloadable on their website. 

I would be wary of that. Have you asked them why they will not provide it? I'm curious what the justification could be. 

[rocktheballad]

5 minutes ago, Hk328 said:

That's very bizarre. All of the programs I looked at had the handbook downloadable on their website. 

I would be wary of that. Have you asked them why they will not provide it? I'm curious what the justification could be. 

Ah - thank you so much for the response, I'm somewhat freaking out over here. I posted this earlier on a different thread: (Note: I've tried to get it from a current student, the program administrator, even emailed the previously-helpful head of the program [not heard back from him]. My only other thought is to call him and ask directly. Somewhat afraid of alienating people, however.)

Their website (and the administrative assistant) says it is "proprietary" and available to current students only. And it's an APA accredited program!

[1996kayden]

2 hours ago, rocktheballad said:

Ah - thank you so much for the response, I'm somewhat freaking out over here. I posted this earlier on a different thread: (Note: I've tried to get it from a current student, the program administrator, even emailed the previously-helpful head of the program [not heard back from him]. My only other thought is to call him and ask directly. Somewhat afraid of alienating people, however.)

Their website (and the administrative assistant) says it is "proprietary" and available to current students only. And it's an APA accredited program!

yea that's really weird. I read all the handbooks of the places I applied, they were just sitting on the website and pretty informative for the program structure, timeline, and what if scenarios. I'd be pretty nervous to accept without that information...

[rocktheballad]

1 hour ago, 1996kayden said:

yea that's really weird. I read all the handbooks of the places I applied, they were just sitting on the website and pretty informative for the program structure, timeline, and what if scenarios. I'd be pretty nervous to accept without that information...

Thank you! I honestly was beginning to think I was paranoid. I really don't know what to do, apart from calling the head of the dept. and asking flat out (or maybe the prof that interviewed me? He was very nice and helpful). I know it's a competitive program, but there's just too much left to chance without understanding their graduation requirements, etc., grant or not...