Questions to Ask

[rainy_day]

Is anyone else afraid that they are not asking the right questions/are forgetting something big? I thought we could help each other out by compiling a list of different questions to ask our potential programs, as people try to make decisions.

Some that I plan on asking:

What is the placement rate? How many of those are in TT or visting professorship positions (i.e. not adjunct)? What professionalization steps are available/supported/required? How are students prepared for the job market throughout the program?

What additional means of funding are available (summer work, summer teaching, conference/research grants, etc.)? If funding isn't guaranteed, how is it secured?

What are the steps leading up to the dissertation? How are students prepared/how do students prepare for the dissertation?

[ComeBackZinc]

Here's exactly what you do.

Bust in on the admit committee unannounced, preferably with a secretary trying to hold you back. Grab the grad director by the lapels and say "Listen, you pencil-pushing apparatchik. I'm the greatest scholar in the history of the English language. I want admission, I want funding, I want a research grant on top of that, and I want them now. I'll take my own office and free parking, to boot!"

I'm told that works.

Edited March 2, 2012 by ComeBackZinc

[Sparky]

- Percentage of students who successfully complete the program, i.e. earn their PhD.

- TA/teaching responsibilities--what years do you teach; will you have the chance to teach basic comp; will you have the chance to design and teach your own course.

- Opportunities for interdisciplinary work (if applicable to you), including whether you can get program credit for relevant coursework in another discipline.

- Chances for formal secondary language training.

- Job placement/completion broken down by subfield if possible.

- How your POI's most recent graduated advisees do on the job market.

- How many advisees your POI currently has (it's tough if they are swamped with students, but a good sign in terms of working with them; no or few advisees might point to someone impossible to work with OR an advisor with little power in the department=>no say on admissions--or it could just mean a rare subfield).

- Library resources, both ones already available AND the dept's budget for or say in future acquisitions.

- Grad student workspace (cubicles, closets, shared cubicles, shared closets...this should probably not be the make-or-break decision but it can help indicate things like how much pull the dept has with the university, how important the grad program is to the dept, etc).

[kikalique87]

The director of the PhD program at my school put together a pretty comprehensive list of questions to ask, here's the link. He also suggested asking a current graduate student what the worst thing that ever happened to him/her in the program was (did a professor steal a student's research, etc.).

Edited March 2, 2012 by kikalique87

[ComeBackZinc]

He also suggested asking a current graduate student what the worst thing that ever happened to him/her in the program was (did a professor steal a student's research, etc.).

Get this story I heard from a prof (not rhet/comp) who's about as big as it gets in his subfield. He presented a research question and preliminary data at a major conference. He later learned that his research had been stolen, almost word for word, by another well-known scholar in the field. How did he find out? Because he was asked to do peer review on the proposed article. Apparently he just called the guy and said, you should reconsider trying to publish this, and we'll leave it at that. But can you imagine if it happened to someone without his level of institutional authority? Scary.

[Fiona Thunderpaws]

Here's exactly what you do.

Bust in on the admit committee unannounced, preferably with a secretary trying to hold you back. Grab the grad director by the lapels and say "Listen, you pencil-pushing apparatchik. I'm the greatest scholar in the history of the English language. I want admission, I want funding, I want a research grant on top of that, and I want them now. I'll take my own office and free parking, to boot!"

I'm told that works.

Haha! +1

[Stately Plump]

The director of the PhD program at my school put together a pretty comprehensive list of questions to ask, here's the link. He also suggested asking a current graduate student what the worst thing that ever happened to him/her in the program was (did a professor steal a student's research, etc.).

This link is awesome. Thank you