Great Material for Visiting Weekends

[migrationdude]

This seems like the most comprehensive and detailed resource of questions to ask and pitfalls to watch out for:

http://members.terracom.net/~dorothea/g ... ccess.html

[samoth]

She's a bit embittered, don't you think? did you read the previous page?

[hip2btriangle]

this is REALLY good info. i'm totally bringing a list of selected Qs to visits.

[samoth]

In a hope-for-the-best-prepare-for-the-worst way, yeah this is great and I'll have it in mind when I visit the university.

[migrationdude]

This seems like the most comprehensive and detailed resource of questions to ask and pitfalls to watch out for:

http://members.terracom.net/~dorothea/g ... ccess.html

She is definitely a little bitter about grad school, as anyone would be after her experience. Still, I think someone like her is best situated to create a list of the most common problems with grad dept's.

[ejuliast]

In a hope-for-the-best-prepare-for-the-worst way, yeah this is great and I'll have it in mind when I visit the university.

Agreed. It's certainly bitter, but it good to be ready. I've been warned again and again about going into this adventure naively, so I'm mentally preparing for the whirlwind that's going to hit me in September!

[samoth]

Is it just me, or are most of the links broken on that site? It's obvious that this person had a horrible experience in grad school, but whenever it comes down to the actual details of what exactly happened all I get is broken links...

[migrationdude]

Yeah, you're right, the links were broken. Thankfully the internet is archived!You can copy each hyperlink and search for it on the "wayback machine" (http://www.archive.org/index.php). Here's an example:

http://web.archive.org/web/200504212227 ... ichua.html

[dirkduck]

To fix the broken links, just change the "www" to "members"

e.g.

http://www.terracom.net/~dorothea/gradsch/firstyr.html

changes to

http://members.terracom.net/~dorothea/g ... rstyr.html

Interesting read!

[samoth]

Thanks. I guess this makes talking to current grad students before accepting offers a very good idea.

By the way - does anyone know what attrition rate is considered "normal"?

[rising_star]

This thread is really useful. I'm going to suggest that someone take some initiative and post the links under either "Applications" or "Decisions, Decisions" so everyone can benefit.

Cheers!