How to learn about the reputation of a program and hear from current/past students?

[bragierrnot]

Hi everyone, I'm an MSW applicant trying to decide between a few schools. It would help if I had a better idea of the programs reputation and the chance to hear from actual students. One of the programs (WashU) has actually been doing Q/A's on Zoom where prospective students can talk to current students, but thats it. 

Edited April 8, 2020 by bragierrnot

[joysii]

I was in the same boat and emailed the faculty I was in contact with that I wanted to talk with current students. In all the instances they were more than happy to connect me. Personally, I just straight up asked the students how they decided on the school (asking what other schools were their options when they were considering). That helped give me perspective since you get the gist of what the students applied to and got into what other programs.

[Lewis-H]

But perhaps there is still more that could be done to ensure that this most intense and crucial of academic relationships doesn’t end up on the rocks. In that spirit, two academics with strong views on the matter – one from science and one from the humanities – set out how they think the supervisory task should best be approached. Their guidance may not amount to a stake through the heart of the PhD horror franchise: as B-movie history amply demonstrates, good advice is not always heeded. But the exposure of the problems to further sunlight may at least slow the drip-drip of blood on to the doctoral carpet.