Subliminal Impact of Visit Order

[DStory247]

I am curious to see if there are any patterns or correlations here, and just curious in general of others' experiences.

 

Obviously there are more questions that could be asked along this line of thinking, but I think these are sufficient for now.

[zabius]

The school that I decided on was the last one that I visited, but that's just how my schedule worked out... it was the last school to contact me and their visitation weekend was relatively late (in March). If I had been invited to visit other schools after that one, I would not have cancelled because it's always good to keep an open mind (plus, visits are fun and a good way to network). However, the visit to the program that I ended up accepting really did leave a very good impression on me, and subsequent visits to other schools probably wouldn't have changed my mind at that point.

 

In my case, I don't think that the visit order mattered. The school that I ended up choosing just really was the best fit for me, and its visitation weekend was also genuinely the most impressive-- it was longer (4 days!), full of more events, and the people were generally more sociable there. My earlier visits were not bad by any means, but this one easily won the prize in my mind. The fact that it was chronologically last seems like merely a coincidence.

 

Still, I'm interested in seeing if there are any patterns as well. Good poll! I hope that more people respond.

Edited April 5, 2013 by zabius

[bamafan]

Wow, the vote #s are still small, but it's interesting to see the results. I have wondered if I picked how I did because it was freshest on my mind... interesting findings so far.

[queenleblanc]

I chose to accept the school I actually started looking at FIRST online, whose program I do like the best. I actually am planning to visit them next week for a dept tour, and have not visited them at all prior to accepting. I visited the rest of the programs where I applied even before I submitted the application so that I would know what my preferences were if I received multiple offers, which I did. When you know where you want to go... The choice is a lot easier.

[wanderingalbatross]

The school I selected was my last visit, but they were my #1 choice through the entire process so it didn't make much difference.

[ShortLong]

I selected the school that i visited first, but that was mainly because I have been in contact with the professor since October about a specific project and he really wanted me to attend, so he made sure I was invited to the first visit weekend. I did cancel one visit because it was in a college town and i visited another school that was in a larger college town and did not like the small town feel. Also I was accepted to a very prestigious school that I was not expecting to be accepted to. 

[Chai_latte]

My current school was one of my first admits.  I didn't hear from the other places for another 3+ weeks.  So, my school had a hefty head start on the visiting calendar.  I nixed three of my other admits pretty quickly (no visitation required).  I would've visited the final admit, but I had actually lived in the area (briefly) before.  If that had not been the case, I would've planned another grad school visit.  That's for sure.

[Cookie]

It is weird thinking about this: the school I choose to attend is the first school that accepted me, and also the first one I visited.  It is also the lowest ranked among all I was accepted to.

Even so, I had the best time there, I love the people I met and the campus is sooo beautiful.  All the visits after that, I couldnt help comparing them with my first awesome visit... the heart wants what the heart wants  

[echlori]

Interesting seeing this poll after reading Kahneman's Thinking, Fast and Slow. 

[DStory247]

The two schools I wanted to visit, WashU and UCR, both had their recruiting weekends at the same time. I chose to attend the WashU trip since it was going to be 2 days instead of just one at UCR. This meant I would have to do an individual visit at UCR later.

After my visit to WashU, I was ecstatic and very excited about the opportunity to study there. I love St. Louis and the school/faculty/students were all great. I nearly decided to accept the offer on the spot and not bother visiting UCR. However, I knew that I would feel more secure in my decision if I was able to compare it to UCR and know for sure that WashU is what I wanted. Plus, I had never been to California before, so I decided to go if for nothing else to see what it was like.

 

Turns out UCR did an even better job at impressing me. Their facilities, while not as shiny and new as WashU's, had much higher capabilities and there were 3 PIs who I was just as excited to work with as the one at WashU. 

Needless to say I'm very glad I decided to continue with my UCR visit after having been so excited about WashU during their visit.

[Biostat_Assistant_Prof]

I only visited one of the schools I gained acceptance to and I'd be lying if I said it didn't have an impact on my decision. To be honest, the school I visited wasnt initially the highest on my list for all the schools I was accepted by... However, after visiting, it jumped up my list of choices significantly; the atmosphere of the department, the way I was treated by the faculty with whom I met, their eagerness to have me join the program, and the offer they made was too hard for me to pass up. After weighing pros and cons of the offers i was made with regards to funding vs prestige, location, cost of living, and research interests, I decided I didnt need to visit the other schools before making a decision and ultimately accepted the offer to the school that I did visit. In the end, it was an easy choice because they were already offering the best funding for the cost of living in the area and had matched research interests, the visititwtion was just "icing on the cake" making it easier to solidify my choice

[rising_star]

I never visited the program where I'm now doing my PhD, though I did visit four other programs that accepted me with funding. What's great about going on those visits is that I still run into those people every year at the national meeting and have great conversations with them.

[student12345]

I definitely preferred the last school I visited. I'm not sure if it altered my opinion enough to convince me to commit to a school without visiting the others (especially when all of the visits are absolutely free), but it certainly made me think about the certain school more. Or it could be a consequence of my poor memory...