Interview weekend - staying with a grad student?

[Psyhopeful]

I’ve been invited to an interview weekend and was told I will be staying with a graduate student. I’m just wondering what to expect. Like will I be on the couch in the living room? What kind of privacy can I expect? Im assuming that as a female I will be put up with another female, but is that reasonable? This is honestly the part of the visit that is stressing me out the most!

[Clinapp2017]

22 minutes ago, Psyhopeful said:

I’ve been invited to an interview weekend and was told I will be staying with a graduate student. I’m just wondering what to expect. Like will I be on the couch in the living room? What kind of privacy can I expect? Im assuming that as a female I will be put up with another female, but is that reasonable? This is honestly the part of the visit that is stressing me out the most!

Email the program and ask if you have questions. 

 

The reality is this will vary from place to place. I slept on everything from couches to having my own bed. I also mostly stayed with male hosts as a male, but one time I stayed with a female host and her family. Again, it varies, so just reach out and ask. It’s also good to see if you need to bring any personal affects (like a towel) that they may not have an extra pair of at their place  

 

Congrats on on your interview!

[pineapplepizza]

You should definitely email the coordinator or secretary to clarify. You have other much more important things to worry about! My interview school asked for my preference on all these points. 

[JacobW83]

I coordinated the interviews for my program last year and we made sure to ask about gender preferences for both grad students and applicants. I have a guest room for the applicants I host, but every interview that I went to I ended up on a couch so... results will vary! Many grad students are in apartments and so a couch is the only spare sleeping space they'll have. 

Definitely email them if you have any concerns, we were more than happy to field questions from applicants because we've all been there. 

[lmk94]

I only interviewed at one school that had me stay with a grad student. She lived with her parents and had a guest room for me to sleep in. Another girl interviewing for the same lab ended up sleeping on a different grad student's couch, though, so it definitely depends on the person that you are staying with. We were both gender matched, but with it being a psych program most students and interviewees were female anyways. I will echo what the other posters have said -- you should definitely email the coordinator if this is making you uneasy.