Interview only partially reimbursed? Worth attending?

[paridiso]

Hello,

 

I was invited to attend an interview/recruitment event, however they are only reimbursing a portion of the flight, leaving me to pay for around $500 myself.  I've already been admitted, with no news on funding however.  Right now I'm reaching out to professors through email trying to set up phone calls to discuss a potential RA position.  Do you think it's worth flying out there and meeting with professors in person?  It's a decent amount of money and going on a ~12 hour flight back and forth wouldn't be a particularly enjoyable experience, so I'm sort of leaning against it, but it's a fantastic school and I would love to earn my PhD there.

 

Thanks!

[uromastyx]

That's for you to decide. Is money tight for you? Is this one of your top choices (which it sounds like it is)? Have you heard from other programs?

It's hard to decide to spend the time/money to visit w/out knowing about funding.

[paridiso]

I haven't heard from other programs yet.  Money's not super tight right now but at the same time I don't want to unnecessarily spend money, since it might be when I start grad school.  I could attend if I could justify investing the money.  Another option would be waiting to see if another school in the area (Stanford, Berkeley) fund my trip to visit their schools, and I could spend a bit to visit UCSB while I'm out there.

[OhMySocks]

Have you tried asking them if they might be able to provide more funding and present your situation? At least in my the two I've been invited to so far, the emails said something along the lines of "We will reimburse up to $X for travel expenses, but if your travel expenses exceed $X, let us know and we will consider your case." Even if the don't say that, unless they say in no uncertain terms "We will only provide a maximums of $X, no exceptions", it might be worth asking. Just say that you're really interested in coming to visit but you're international and present some information on what the flights actually cost you and see if they might be able to provide a little extra. It can't hurt to ask. 

[paridiso]

I haven't but I suppose it can't hurt to ask. The upper limited is clearly stated as the maximum but maybe they'll be flexible.  I'm not quite international, I'm just on the other side of the country and after two layovers the total flight length ends up being 12 hours.  

[selecttext]

I would just ask if I could meet over Skype. 

[PsychGirl1]

I'd go. It's only $500 in the grand scheme of things, and (in my opinion), you should visit somewhere and meet the faculty, graduate students, etc. in person before you decide to spend 5-6 years of your life there. What if you hate the other students once you enroll? What if your POI is actually abrasive in real life and you can't see working with them? What if the facilities suck? What if you hate the city/area? What if the grad students are obnoxious or tell you that they actually really hate the program/school/quality of life? This is a fairly big commitment to make without meeting anyone in person or seeing where you will be working- and who with- for the near future.

[selecttext]

I'd go. It's only $500 in the grand scheme of things, and (in my opinion), you should visit somewhere and meet the faculty, graduate students, etc. in person before you decide to spend 5-6 years of your life there. What if you hate the other students once you enroll? What if your POI is actually abrasive in real life and you can't see working with them? What if the facilities suck? What if you hate the city/area? What if the grad students are obnoxious or tell you that they actually really hate the program/school/quality of life? This is a fairly big commitment to make without meeting anyone in person or seeing where you will be working- and who with- for the near future.

 

You can Skype with the professor's graduate students - who are generally forthcoming.

[PsychGirl1]

Yeah, I mean, you can. I guess I'm just one of those people who prefer face-to-face contact and feel like I'm not getting the whole picture unless I'm physically there with them. I still feel like you can pick up on way more by actually visiting than you ever could with Skype. But that's just my personal opinion! If it was like $2k I'd say no, but $500 that you yourself say you can afford... I don't see the downside.