Questions for POIs after cancelled open house

[clearvoyant]

Hi All,

Both of my accepted schools' open houses were cancelled due to coronavirus concerns. One of them is holding an online event for general grad school questions, not specific to my department, and the other one has just flat out cancelled and has said "in lieu" of the event use this opportunity to contact POIs via email. 

What questions should I make sure to email to the school/POIs? What questions do you wish you had asked? I know there's no substitute to meeting professors/potential cohort in person, but I want to make sure I try to cover everything I can. 

Thanks!

[KinoCat]

If you're not planning to already, make plans to talk on the phone/skype with professors!  And students if they're open to it!  I managed to have two visit days just before all of this started, and even though in person meeting is definitely invaluable, I feel like I had most of my questions answered and information given on phone calls. 

Questions:

 - Could you describe the structure of the program? Classes? Timeline? Basically just asking them to give you their spiel. Getting multiple professors to do this can also be revealing.

- What makes students successful in the program?

- What's the department social atmosphere like?

- What makes this program unique?

- Could you go into more detail about the funding package? When would I get paid (by semester? every few months?)? How negotiable is funding? (especially if you have other offers)

- How live-able is the city with the stipend (better question to asks students)

- How does teaching and research assistantships work? What kinds of classes would I be TAing? Are they all in my field, or would some of them be less related?

- Any additional paid work opportunities outside of the funding package?

- What kind of funding is available for conference and research travel?

- What's the job market like? (This question also reveals how optimistic/realistic/helpful their advising might be)

- Would you be able to provide financial assistance for moving costs?

- How would the department be able to support [your specific research interest] (This also gives you a chance to talk about your topic/interests and see how knowledgeable/helpful they are. Basically, how does it feel to talk about your ideas with them?)

- If your doing Art History, is there a good art scene in X city? (Gives you a chance to learn more about the place.)

FOR STUDENTS (in addition to the above questions):

- How is the faculty? Any to avoid? Ask students who are working with your POIs how they are as advisors/supervisors.

- Are there any politically oblivious faculty? ( a way of asking if there are any profs who are racist/sexist/oppressive to avoid)

- How livable is the place with the stipend? Where do you live? With roommates or partner or alone? Do they have financial support outside of the stipend (ie family, partners, etc)?

- Hows the social atmosphere with your cohort? With faculty?       

- How is TAing? Did you get to choose the classes you TA for?

- Talk about your work and their work. (Gets a sense of how you might fit socially/intellectually there)

- How did you make your decision to come here?  DEFINITELY ask this to multiple students if you can - is this a place people go because they want to be there? Or because they were accepted?

 

Again, I would really stress trying to have a phone call or a skype call to talk to people!  A big part of visiting is just getting the vibe, which is very hard over text!  You can tell a lot in a phone call!  And in their willingness to correspond with you too!

Hope this helps!

 

[clearvoyant]

3 hours ago, KinoCat said:

If you're not planning to already, make plans to talk on the phone/skype with professors!  And students if they're open to it!  I managed to have two visit days just before all of this started, and even though in person meeting is definitely invaluable, I feel like I had most of my questions answered and information given on phone calls. 

Questions:

This is insanely helpful, thank you so much! Luckily I live fairly close to one school, so if the campus remains open I can meet with a professor in person. For the other I'll try to set up a skype meeting to really feel out the vibe. 

Thank you again!