Attend an Open House? How was it?

[TransnationalHistory]

For those who've recently attended open houses for accepted students, what were they like? I've got two coming up, and I know I'm curious about how they work, and I'm guessing other people are too. When you respond, please include your general field (science, humanities, etc.)

[ZeeMore21]

For those who've recently attended open houses for accepted students, what were they like? I've got two coming up, and I know I'm curious about how they work, and I'm guessing other people are too. When you respond, please include your general field (science, humanities, etc.)

Congrats on Vanderbilt! Is your open house also this Thursday? I will be visiting Vandy as well. Looking forward to reading the responses for this post.

Edited March 15, 2011 by ZeeMore21

[TransnationalHistory]

Congrats on Vanderbilt! Is your open house also this Thursday? I will be visiting Vandy as well. Looking forward to reading the responses for this post.

Actually it's Friday, I guess they stagger them a bit. But yeah, I'm looking forward to it.

[Gunner24]

Just had one this last weekend. It was set up like a "recruitment party', and I believe was open to accepted students only. It was at a faculty member's house, and there were a large amount of faculty and current grad students there, as well as 10-15 prospective students. It was very laid back and casual -- the school is in a warm climate so everyone was dressed down and hanging out outside, drinking some brews. Faculty and grad students mingled with the new students and we all got to know each other. We talked both personal, fun stuff as well as current research, what I'd like to research, etc. I got to talk to a couple POIs, which was great. What the event did for me was allow me to see the dynamic between grad students and faculty. It was a very "work hard, play hard" attitude (the school is in one of the most fun cities in the country, but the school as a whole and my program are known for their academic rigor), and it seemed like a very collaborative atmosphere that also fostered healthy competition. i LOVED it. Everyone was incredibly nice and welcoming- none of us were viewed as a potential threat or second-class citizens.

After a couple hours of food, drinks and talking, we went and watched the department's kickball team play a game, which seemed like a ton of fun. After that was karaoke at a local dive, which I abstained from -- this time

My field is communication studies, and this is a very large but very competitive R1 state school. I hope this helps!

Edited March 15, 2011 by Gunner24

[Nikara]

I'm going to my first (and probably only) admitted student open house on Friday. I'm really excited and nervous. My school didn't do any interviews, so this will be my first time on campus and my first time actually meeting anyone from the school. It is a day long event, and seems to be pretty well structured. I'll be flying cross-country for this, without financial help, so I hope it will be great!

Any advice for this type of thing would be welcome.

[Gunner24]

Be yourself They [current grad students] are all just normal people just like you, who were in the exact same place you're in not long ago.

[yellowpin]

Be yourself They [current grad students] are all just normal people just like you, who were in the exact same place you're in not long ago.

hey, could you please tell me how to to that?

______________________________

wii accessories, wii remote, ps3 controller, xbox 360 controller

Edited March 19, 2011 by yellowpin

[Nikara]

Just got back from my open house on Friday. It was a really great experience. I got to meet several of the professors and students currently in the program, and got all of my questions answered. On the plane I wrote up a list of any question that I could think of about the program. I didn't actually intend to ask many of the questions (as they were a bit too personal/revealing), but surprisingly, many came up anyway during the course of the day. It gave me direction with what to look for during the day.

We spoke with the current students both with a faculty member present and without (during lunch). The latter was definitely more useful, as we could ask some of the "harder" questions about the program, and also ask a bit about the silly student things (cars on campus, where to live etc.).

The interview for research assistantships were very interesting. We each spoke with 3 professors from the department, and each one asked different questions. The head of the program basically told us individually what our odds are of getting funding (which will be decided this week). They didn't really appear to be looking for that much new information, just confirming what was on the application and clarifying things. They also accepted lots of questions about the program (although we were somewhat questioned out by then!). It made it a bit awkward after, because we had such different experiences. One girl before me walked out and shared that funding was really tight this year, and she wouldn't here until May! Yikes! Then when I met with the same interviewer, she was very encouraging about my getting funding, and that I would hear in the next two weeks. I only point this out, because you need to watch your words- not everyone will be getting the same story, and there were some awkward conversations later amongst ourselves about how the interviews went.

While I got to get to know the program far better at the end of the day, I also got to know my potential cohort pretty well too! There were 8 of us in the program, and we all had lots of conversations throughout. I could see some budding friendships just from that.

I'm very glad that I went to the open house, even though it was very expensive to do. It really helped cement my decision for next year.