B-School PhD Campus Visit

[anxious2011]

Hey guys,

I was recently invited to a campus visit at one of the schools I had applied to. I'm not really sure what to expect going into this. I believe I will be scheduled to meet faculty, and current PhD students.

1) any color on whether these campus visits are super competitive, or are they just so that the faculty can meet you in person before making a final decision? (I am just going to assume they are competitive to be on the safe side)

2) What should I do to prepare? Definitely going to read faculty's papers, and go over my 'why PhD', 'why my chosen field' answers.

3) Questions to ask faculty and current PhD Students. What might be some good questions to ask?

Not sure if this topic is covered anywhere else, but hopefully this is helpful for more than just me!

Cheers

[jprufrock]

Second post.

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Also, make sure to dress nice. Apparently, a lot of people go to these in sweatshirts and ragged jeans. Who are you going to accept: anxious2011 in professional attire, or unkempt candidateB with his greasy handshake and subtle smell of manure?

I'd caution against being competitive, as it might leak other undesirable traits. Go prepared, confident and, most of all, friendly. People never give enough credit to smiles. That is, smiles are subconsciously more powerful than we think.

Edited February 14, 2011 by jprufrock

[anxious2011]

I'd caution against being competitive, as it might leak other undesirable traits. Go prepared, confident and, most of all, friendly. People never give enough credit to smiles. That is, smiles are subconsciously more powerful than we think.

Thanks for the info! Totally agree, prepared confident and friendly is my strategy too. By 'competitive' I meant that I'm not going to assume I'm 'virtually in', and going to assume that the interview to acceptance conversion is still relatively low.