Questions to ask

[s2020]

I will be applying to PhD programs in the fall and am meeting with the chair of one of my top choices soon to "discuss the program." I have some questions of my own but was curious to hear from others about what kinds of questions might be important to ask. Things you wish you would've known? Questions I've likely forgotten? Thanks for your help! 

Edited May 26, 2019 by s2020

[theofan]

This is pretty obvious, but it was helpful for me to read the department's PhD manual, which was on the university's website. I gleaned a few good questions from that. 

[ACurlyShepherdLad]

Others may want to weigh in on this--and s2020, feel free to dismiss it--but I always think it's a good idea to ask what schools are doing to promote the physical and mental well-being of their students. Academia has a certain rigor and it can often take its toll on students (faculty and staff, too). I don't want to make anyone look wishy-washy by asking such a question--and this is, of course, a more practical one--but I also don't like the idea that there's something noble about sacrificing oneself on the altar of their studies. The perfect programs will have the right resources to help you cope with the challenges ahead, and faculty and staff who care about students' well-being.

Edited July 2, 2019 by ACurlyShepherdLad

[sacklunch]

Re above, while I completely agree, this may be off-putting to the professor. But you should ask current graduate students at said school about this. Again, we should hope that all advisers would care about the mental well-being of their students, but the reality, at least from my experience, is that most academics have never had to think much about it and I suspect that some even think it is completely outside their role as adviser/mentor. If that is a deal breaker for you, then fair enough, many others will happily--or unhappily as the case may be--pretend as if their advisers have no bearing on their mental health. Again, speak to the graduate students. They/we are easy to read.

[Deep Fried Angst]

Ask about culture of the program. Conference travel support. What the program is doing to help prepare the students for the job market, apart from adding three letters after their last name. Get a better picture of the TAship program, if there is. Ask anything that can get the chair to brag on their program, the distinctives, why that person chose to work at that uni, etc. 

But definitely email a couple of the students in the program and ask them if you can buy them a beer and pick their brains. They will be more forthcoming with the goods and the bads of the program. 

As @theofan said, do your research. I read all 100 pages of my department's polices and procedures before I asked questions, and it paid off.