Post-admission visits/open house, professor meetings

[ArtVandalay]

A few questions on visit days:

- Are these more of a laid-back affair, or are we expected to be prepared? For instance, I haven't read any of the faculty research in detail. I was just planning on doing a lot of listening and little talking.

- What sorts of questions should we ask during one on one meetings? My baseline expectation is that I'll just ask about the professor's current research, is this about right?

Any summaries, tips, or insight on post-admissions visit days / faculty meetings appreciated. Just want to know what to expect.

[theprincessleia]

bumping this post.. 

I'll be vising a school soon as well and any insight anyone has about what to expect would be great

[CarefreeWritingsontheWall]

The funny thing about admit weekends is that they are very much a social affair, despite the fact that most of us who study political science are introverts and like to read and write alone for extended periods of time. Overall, visits are what you make of them but I would not advise listening and not talking. Most visit weekends have a blend of group meetings (your entire subfield meets the subfield coordinator and hears about courses and pathways, most departments also offer a general discussion of methodology training opportunities, funding, teaching etc), one-on-one meetings, socials, mixers and dinners. The group meetings are of the sit and listen variety, but everything else is entirely driven by you.

I went to 3 visits of the 4 places I was accepted. Every one on one meeting I had was a conversation driven by me and my questions. Every dinner was driven by questions from prospective students to current students. The socials were the same thing, on top of just meeting a lot of people. Professors asked me about my research occasionally, but it's not about them interviewing you, it's much more about you interviewing them. Of course this doesn't mean you're talking about their current research (though it's helpful to ask professors what they're currently working on as a starter question), but you should take the time to consider questions you have about the program, the university, department culture, student culture, advising relationships, co-authorship opportunities, funding opportunities, social life atmosphere, gender-relations between professors and students, living conditions (is there graduate housing), cost of living (is your stipend enough to live on or will you need to pick up a job), funding opportunities (is funding only for the academic year or does it include the summer), private sector opportunities (is the program honest about its placements outside of academia or have info on where graduates have landed outside of academia), planned departures (any professors you want to work with in the process of leaving?  You would be surprised but I found out about at least 1 planned departure/in process move per visit), hiring committees/future hiring plans, maternity/paternity leave policies, childcare options on campus/in town, office space availability, research centres you might affiliate with, what do course requirements look like, how are generals structured, how much program attrition is there, does funding stop in year 4 or 5/are there 6th year funding options etc.

I asked about most of these things on my visits and some of the answers were a bit startling (like a panel of professors laughing and having no answer when someone asked about what the maternity leave policy was if someone had a baby during the program...which happens for many people given the average political science grad student is between 25-30ish). Programs want to convince you to come, but they will also be honest about the tough questions. Why? Because you coming and being miserable or struggling doesn't help them/earn them any money (unless you're visiting places where you don't have full funding). 

Use the visit to get a picture of what it would be like for you to study there, and ask the tough questions. 5-7 years of your life in a particular place is a commitment. Social dynamics matter a great deal, both amongst your potential entering cohort, but also across cohorts and with faculty. The city and your living conditions can make things more stressful (especially if your stipend doesn't go far), or provide a welcome oasis. Consider whether the program is something that will work for your research agenda and your life; it should not be the case that you are working like a dog for a program and sacrificing doing the kind of work you want to do in order to meet the program's will.

Edited March 22, 2018 by CarefreeWritingsontheWall

[Ayerbender]

Just now, CarefreeWritingsontheWall said:

The funny thing about admit weekends is that they are very much a social affair, despite the fact that most of us who study political science are introverts and like to read and write alone for extended periods of time. Overall, visits are what you make of them but I would not advise listening and not talking. Most visit weekends have a blend of group meetings (your entire subfield meets the subfield coordinator and hears about courses and pathways, most departments also offer a general discussion of methodology training opportunities, funding, teaching etc), one-on-one meetings, socials, mixers and dinners. The group meetings are of the sit and listen variety, but everything else is entirely driven by you.

I went to 3 visits of the 4 places I was accepted. Every one on one meeting I had was a conversation driven by me and my questions. Every dinner was driven by questions from prospective students to current students. The socials were the same thing, on top of just meeting a lot of people. Professors asked me about my research occasionally, but it's not about them interviewing you, it's much more about you interviewing them. Of course this doesn't mean you're talking about their current research (though it's helpful to ask professors what they're currently working on as a starter question), but you should take the time to consider questions you have about the program, the university, department culture, student culture, advising relationships, co-authorship opportunities, funding opportunities, social life atmosphere, gender-relations between professors and students, living conditions (is there graduate housing), cost of living (is your stipend enough to live on or will you need to pick up a job), funding opportunities (is funding only for the academic year or does it include the summer), private sector opportunities (is the program honest about its placements outside of academia or have info on where graduates have landed outside of academia), planned departures (any professors you want to work with in the process of leaving?  You would be surprised but I found out about at least 1 planned departure/in process move per visit), hiring committees/future hiring plans, maternity/paternity leave policies, childcare options on campus/in town, office space availability, research centres you might affiliate with, what do course requirements look like, how are generals structured, how much program attrition is there, does funding stop in year 4 or 5/are there 6th year funding options etc.

I asked about most of these things on my visits and some of the answers were a bit startling (like a panel of professors laughing and having no answer when someone asked about what the maternity leave policy was if someone had a baby during the program...which happens for many people given the average political science grad student is between 25-30ish). Programs want to convince you to come, but they will also be honest about the tough questions. Why? Because you coming and being miserable or struggling doesn't help them/earn them any money (unless you're visiting places where you don't have full funding). 

Use the visit to get a picture of what it would be like for you to study there, and ask the tough questions. 5-7 years of your life in a particular place is a commitment. Social dynamics matter a great deal, both amongst your potential entering cohort, but also across cohorts and with faculty. The city and your living conditions can make things more stressful (especially if your stipend doesn't go far), or provide a welcome oasis. Consider whether the program is something that will work for your research agenda and your life; it should not be the case that you are working like a dog for a program and sacrificing doing the kind of work you want to do in order to meet the program's will.

On average, how many professors did you speak with at each school (if you don't mind my asking)?  

Edited March 23, 2018 by Ayerbender

[CarefreeWritingsontheWall]

13 hours ago, Ayerbender said:

On average, how many professors did you speak with at each school (if you don't mind my asking)?  

If I'm remembering correctly, I had 5-6 individual meetings with different professors. In most cases, they were all people I had identified as potential advisors though there were also others I hadn't considered. I only had one bad meeting between the three visits, and it was because the POI was quite sick.

At my first visit, they had so many people visiting and the number of faculty was small, so they did group meetings of 2-4 students with professors. At the other two schools, my one on one meetings scheduled for around 20 minutes each. I know some people asked to have meetings added to their schedule if they weren't initially meeting someone they were interested in working with.

As for the other parts, each visit had 3-4 "group" sessions where all visiting prospective students heard about the program requirements, then there were subfield meetings, research centre meetings and methods discussions. All three visits had 2 dinners, one with current students (the night I arrived, my hosts arranged dinner with other current students or in town) and one with faculty and other prospective students. There were socials at bars with current students at all three visits as well, each scheduled for after dinner. Some had extra mixers littered between meetings.

After every visit I pretty much slept for 12 hours and didn't move for an entire day - it was like being hungover but from information and people overload. 

As a random aside, at one visit a prospective student coming right out of undergrad got very drunk at an afternoon social at a bar, the continued to drink through the pre-dinner cocktail, then during dinner where he asked many inappropriate questions to faculty...a professor joked afterward that "what happens on visit day stays on visit day" but his reputation has since stuck even though he didn't choose to go there...Definitely mind your liquor, or politely decline. 

Edited March 24, 2018 by CarefreeWritingsontheWall

[Ayerbender]

16 hours ago, CarefreeWritingsontheWall said:

If I'm remembering correctly, I had 5-6 individual meetings with different professors. In most cases, they were all people I had identified as potential advisors though there were also others I hadn't considered. I only had one bad meeting between the three visits, and it was because the POI was quite sick.

At my first visit, they had so many people visiting and the number of faculty was small, so they did group meetings of 2-4 students with professors. At the other two schools, my one on one meetings scheduled for around 20 minutes each. I know some people asked to have meetings added to their schedule if they weren't initially meeting someone they were interested in working with.

As for the other parts, each visit had 3-4 "group" sessions where all visiting prospective students heard about the program requirements, then there were subfield meetings, research centre meetings and methods discussions. All three visits had 2 dinners, one with current students (the night I arrived, my hosts arranged dinner with other current students or in town) and one with faculty and other prospective students. There were socials at bars with current students at all three visits as well, each scheduled for after dinner. Some had extra mixers littered between meetings.

After every visit I pretty much slept for 12 hours and didn't move for an entire day - it was like being hungover but from information and people overload. 

As a random aside, at one visit a prospective student coming right out of undergrad got very drunk at an afternoon social at a bar, the continued to drink through the pre-dinner cocktail, then during dinner where he asked many inappropriate questions to faculty...a professor joked afterward that "what happens on visit day stays on visit day" but his reputation has since stuck even though he didn't choose to go there...Definitely mind your liquor, or politely decline. 

Thanks for the response!

It sounded like some of your meetings were pre-scheduled.  Did  you not reach out to profs for 1 on 1s?  Were they scheduled for you usually?

[CarefreeWritingsontheWall]

On 3/24/2018 at 2:14 PM, Ayerbender said:

Thanks for the response!

It sounded like some of your meetings were pre-scheduled.  Did  you not reach out to profs for 1 on 1s?  Were they scheduled for you usually?

For every visit I was given a schedule by the graduate program coordinator before arriving (usually 2-3 days ahead). They were individualized so we all knew who we were meeting with, when and where, between group meetings and socials. I can't say that everywhere is the same, but all of my visits were structured that way. As I mentioned, I heard about people who requesting additional meetings with faculty of interest if they weren't on their given schedule. Overall things are pretty centralized.