Campus Visits

[1Q84]

The visit was great in many ways - the staff was incredibly welcoming and friendly, everything was well-organized, and overall I had a lot of fun and met some great people. However, despite all of that, I also feel that the program is not the best fit for me. That being said, it sounds like an absolutely stimulating, fantastic program and place to study. It is all still too fresh for me to fully articulate and, as I said, I need some time and distance before I can really say how I feel - but, without being able to fully articulate at this point, I couldn't help but feel by the end of the day that, despite how impressive the program is, it is not the best one for me.

 

Sorry, I realize I am rambling - my head is kind of full now. Hopefully what I typed sort of makes sense.

 

I always say go with your gut in these cases! Fit, of course, is one of the most important aspects of succeeding in a program. The program seems to think you'd fit, but if you had the feeling that your interests wouldn't be nurtured as much as you want at that school, then take it as a sign! Maybe not the only determining factor, but one of the more important ones.

 

Good luck! Sounds like a really tough choice you're making.

[empress-marmot]

Is it...unusual to visit a program twice? 

To be specific, I live about half an hour away from the school I'm about to accept, so I didn't ask for funding besides a parking pass. 

The first time, my prospective adviser had a family emergency, but he will be there on the official recruitment day. 

 

For those of you in graduate school, would you think someone visiting a second time was strange? I am probably overthinking this, but I really don't want the people in my program to think of me as "that weird person who came here twice."  Thank you for your advice!

[InHacSpeVivo]

Marmot: I don't think I would be weird to visit twice, especially considering you live super close by and that your prospective advisor wasn't available when you visited. Meeting your advisor is crucial, and I couldn't possibly imagine anyone thinking it strange that you made a short drive to meet with your advisor in person before formally accepting.

[CarolineNC]

I'm with whoever got sick on a visit. I just had to miss dinner because I got so sick. So embarrassing! They didn't get my email so they called me in my room wondering where I was!! Ugh!! Why!!!!

[thepriorwalter]

ME. I'm so sorry that happened to you!

[ProfLorax]

Bumping because it's that time of the year again! This thread has so many great questions to ask when you're deciding among programs. 

[bhr]

So how do I approach recruitment weekend at my own campus? Do I argue for staying in the hotel with the external candidates? Do I do the interviews/meetings? Can I blow off my Thursday evening class (That one is a given)

[A blighted one]

I have a somewhat unrelated question: I'm attending recruitment day at a university I've been accepted to with full funding and I'm wondering if programs ever provide help with the cost of moving across the country if I am to accept their offer? This school is 2,800 miles away from where I am currently living and having just graduated from undergrad, I have little to no savings.

Not even sure if this is something that happens, so I'd be mortified to ask at the recruitment day if the concept is farfetched. Thanks in advance!

[bhr]

24 minutes ago, A blighted one said:

I have a somewhat unrelated question: I'm attending recruitment day at a university I've been accepted to with full funding and I'm wondering if programs ever provide help with the cost of moving across the country if I am to accept their offer? This school is 2,800 miles away from where I am currently living and having just graduated from undergrad, I have little to no savings.

Not even sure if this is something that happens, so I'd be mortified to ask at the recruitment day if the concept is farfetched. Thanks in advance!

Some do, if it is in their budget. It never hurts to ask. (I have a list of 3-4 wants that Im asking for at visits, including a tech budget and extra travel support, and just hope I can get one or two)

[Tybalt]

So just to turn the question around on its head a bit, what do people WANT out of a visit weekend?  Another student and I are in charge of organizing our program's visit weekend.  A lot of stuff is built-in (ie--stuff we just have to schedule/arrange, like the wine/cheese thing, the grad hangout night, the dinner, the visits with profs, sitting in on classes, etc).  So I guess most of what we will DO is already decided, but what kinds of things would be useful? 

 

Just looking for ideas--my own app season, I only did one formal visit weekend, and I sort of did it informally (I was wait-listed, and stayed with a local relative).

 

Also--My program has prospectives stay with current grad students--not for lack of money, but to create opportunity for informal stress free discourse.  I've been doing my best to wrangle volunteers with guest rooms (so prospectives will have a bed and a private space rather than a couch, haha).

[bhr]

So, serious question: What the heck do you do when you are visiting your own campus? Finishing my MA, but am attending PhD recruitment soon. They have me scheduled to meet with faculty I see regularly... (Also, I'm skipping the "sit in on a class" part so I can attend a class I'm actually in, which is odd)

[empress-marmot]

2 hours ago, bhr said:

So, serious question: What the heck do you do when you are visiting your own campus? Finishing my MA, but am attending PhD recruitment soon. They have me scheduled to meet with faculty I see regularly... (Also, I'm skipping the "sit in on a class" part so I can attend a class I'm actually in, which is odd)

Hi bhr! If this were me (and this might be me next year), I would probably take the opportunity to ask about collaborating with faculty, or perhaps a professionalization plan for the future. If you've already satisfied most course requirements for the PhD, what other classes would they suggest you take? Could you expect to take your exams earlier? Do you want a particular faculty member to be your mentor/adviser? 

Since you already know the program and the faculty, why not take a couple hours to figure out what they can do for you? 

[fuzzylogician]

8 hours ago, bhr said:

So, serious question: What the heck do you do when you are visiting your own campus? Finishing my MA, but am attending PhD recruitment soon. They have me scheduled to meet with faculty I see regularly... (Also, I'm skipping the "sit in on a class" part so I can attend a class I'm actually in, which is odd)

If you don't know the faculty very well, I'd treat it pretty much like any other interview. If you know them well, you could ask more open-ended advice-type questions: "what makes someone successful here? what's a successful first year? how do you recommend students get started finding a research topic? do you think it's better to continue with my masters topic or start a new one? when should I start worrying about conferences/publishing?" or you could ask about the faculty themselves: "what are you working on? what will you be teaching next year? are you going to any conferences/giving keynote speeches any time soon?" or alternatively you could ask about career advice: "I am hoping to do X after I graduate. What should I do now to make the most of the program and give myself the best chances to succeed?" I don't think it's all that different from any other interview, even if you know these people already. I don't suppose you talk about grad school applications with them too often, so this is just a meeting with a different topic than usual. 

[TakeruK]

On 2/8/2016 at 10:12 PM, A blighted one said:

I have a somewhat unrelated question: I'm attending recruitment day at a university I've been accepted to with full funding and I'm wondering if programs ever provide help with the cost of moving across the country if I am to accept their offer? This school is 2,800 miles away from where I am currently living and having just graduated from undergrad, I have little to no savings.

Not even sure if this is something that happens, so I'd be mortified to ask at the recruitment day if the concept is farfetched. Thanks in advance!

It's not that farfetched, however, I've found that there are very few programs that have the money to provide this support. In general, I think graduate students are expected to pay for this move out of pocket (however, you can deduct it on your taxes!). My school doesn't offer money but they do offer a $2,500 no-interest, no-fee loan so you can use it to pay for things like this (you get a 6 month grace period, then you make 18 equal monthly instalments to pay back the $2,500 you were loaned).

The only school I've ever seen offer a moving stipend was a Canadian school and the offer was that students get up to a total of $1000 for both the recruitment visit and moving costs. So, in reality, you would only generally have less than $200 for moving expenses, unless you skip the recruitment weekend.

I would encourage you to still ask and find out. But of course, try to phrase it as an inquiry if there is such a fund, rather than a demand!

On 2/8/2016 at 10:38 PM, bhr said:

Some do, if it is in their budget. It never hurts to ask. (I have a list of 3-4 wants that Im asking for at visits, including a tech budget and extra travel support, and just hope I can get one or two)

I think these are great things to ask about. Again, I would highly encourage you to ask them as an inquiry into whether or not the fund/support exists, instead of a demand. At least, do so at first. Usually, for department-level stuff, it will be unlikely for you to get something that the other students do not also get. One program at my school has a $1500 tech budget for incoming students (almost everyone uses it to buy a laptop). My program has a $400 travel fund for all first year students to attend any conference. The idea is that you might not have anything to present in your first year, so your advisor might not send you; however, attending conferences is important for professional development so this money is for you to go even if you cannot present. Since these programs are usually things that faculty have fought hard for to get benefits for their students, if you phrase as a demand asking for special treatment, it will probably not go well. Most departments will want to support all the students in the same way.

On the other hand, if you are talking about specific advisor-to-student funding/support, then the dynamic is a little different. I would instead phrase things as questions on whether or not the advisor can send me to conferences (e.g. "How often do your students present at meetings?") etc. You would want to find out how well funded they are etc. 

[A blighted one]

Is anyone else nervous about their upcoming campus visit? I'm attending one on Wednesday and I have no idea what to expect, how to act, what to wear, ahhh! My schedule has me booked to meet with professors. 

I will say that my visit to Washington University in St. Louis (WashU) was spectacular. The atmosphere of the whole department is very collegial and supportive, or so I gathered from speaking with professors and graduate students. The professors also have some very broad interests, so no matter who I spoke with, we seemed to have some overlapping interests, either in time period or genre or the like.

As I said before, the campus is gorgeous, and there's a lot to do around there. The program seems excellent, with a lot of focus on filling in the gaps in your education with the required survey courses the first year and a lot of focus on preparing students to actually teach. It seems great. It also makes my decision a lot harder to make.

[mk-8]

I'm SO nervous, @A blighted one! I have one coming up on Wednesday as well, and I have NO idea what to wear. I wasn't really worried about what I should wear until I was browsing the forums and saw something about business casual. I wasn't necessarily planning to go that dressy, but now I'm freaking out thinking that I need to.

[echo449]

I wouldn't worry too much about what you wear. I would advise you mostly to look clean and put together, but not necessarily even business casual. Honestly, if you've been admitted, they are selling you on the school, and, so long as you don't dress as if you couldn't give a shit to be there, then you'll be fine. 

[ashes_are_burning]

Is anyone else attending Brandeis' open house? 

[Tybalt]

5 hours ago, echo449 said:

I wouldn't worry too much about what you wear. I would advise you mostly to look clean and put together, but not necessarily even business casual. Honestly, if you've been admitted, they are selling you on the school, and, so long as you don't dress as if you couldn't give a shit to be there, then you'll be fine. 

Yup.  This.  You aren't there to impress them.  You've already done that.  When you meet with the professors, chat about your interests and see how they react to those interests.  I had a meeting with a prof once who heard about my interest in stage fools and immediately connected it to something in his field in an excited way.  It was a great conversation.  I had a meeting with a different prof at a different school, and he couldn't have been less interested in my areas of research (even though we were in the same historical period). 

 

The key to a visit (hell, part of the key to graduate school) is starting to think of yourself not as a student who needs the approval of the instructor, but as a junior colleague who wants to learn under a more established mentor.

[Aloice]

tfw Georgetown and Penn State's open houses are basically on the same day...

[KTF87]

I am sorry if this has been asked before, but what does one do when s/he is invited to two different co-terminous campus visits?

I am an international student and I would need to fly out evidently. Are we to be honest with the departments and tell them, in order to reduce their expenses?

 

 

[loganondorf]

2 hours ago, KTF87 said:

I am sorry if this has been asked before, but what does one do when s/he is invited to two different co-terminous campus visits?

I am an international student and I would need to fly out evidently. Are we to be honest with the departments and tell them, in order to reduce their expenses?

 

 

From what I've seen/heard from others, it's important to be as honest and open as possible and see what the universities are willing to give you. This could also be good, because it'll make the departments want to compete for you!

[AP]

On 4/3/2015 at 9:42 PM, CarolineNC said:

I'm with whoever got sick on a visit. I just had to miss dinner because I got so sick. So embarrassing! They didn't get my email so they called me in my room wondering where I was!! Ugh!! Why!!!!

Not to worry. We got students visiting that got drunk the second night and could not do some activities on day 3. Not big deal. Just to clarify, it was recruitment weekend (they were already accepted into the program). One of them is actually a great student now!

On 1/8/2016 at 1:55 AM, bhr said:

So how do I approach recruitment weekend at my own campus? Do I argue for staying in the hotel with the external candidates? Do I do the interviews/meetings? Can I blow off my Thursday evening class (That one is a given)

I'm not sure what you are asking. It seems you either thinking you have a lot of freedom or you actually have a lot of freedom. Let me tell you that in some visiting weekends I hosted we received students that had graduated from our college and now were applying for a PhD after a Master's somewhere else. They used the visiting weekend as a party weekend with friends. I knew many of these because we took some seminars together. I thought it was really unprofessional to do that. They skipped meetings and events. Granted, they new the department, but still. They did not accept the offer of coming here. So, from my perspective as an organizer of these things, please try to attend everything you can and to stay where they tell you. If you have your reasons not to do that (for example, you may live nearby), then that is absolutely fine. But avoid skipping meetings just to take a nap (I know people that have).

On 2/8/2016 at 3:12 AM, A blighted one said:

I have a somewhat unrelated question: I'm attending recruitment day at a university I've been accepted to with full funding and I'm wondering if programs ever provide help with the cost of moving across the country if I am to accept their offer? This school is 2,800 miles away from where I am currently living and having just graduated from undergrad, I have little to no savings.

Not even sure if this is something that happens, so I'd be mortified to ask at the recruitment day if the concept is farfetched. Thanks in advance!

It couldn't hurt to ask but I seriously doubt it. 

On 2/11/2016 at 2:41 AM, Tybalt said:

So just to turn the question around on its head a bit, what do people WANT out of a visit weekend?  Another student and I are in charge of organizing our program's visit weekend.  A lot of stuff is built-in (ie--stuff we just have to schedule/arrange, like the wine/cheese thing, the grad hangout night, the dinner, the visits with profs, sitting in on classes, etc).  So I guess most of what we will DO is already decided, but what kinds of things would be useful? 

 

Just looking for ideas--my own app season, I only did one formal visit weekend, and I sort of did it informally (I was wait-listed, and stayed with a local relative).

 

Also--My program has prospectives stay with current grad students--not for lack of money, but to create opportunity for informal stress free discourse.  I've been doing my best to wrangle volunteers with guest rooms (so prospectives will have a bed and a private space rather than a couch, haha).

One of the best things of these visits is that you get a sense of the program, the department, the university, the city/town, and the environment in general. Disclaimer: I did not attend my student visit weekend but I couldn't have been happier. My experience is in weekends where students have already been admitted, there are no admissions interviews there. What we do is arrange interviews with other POIs, even from another department; invite students to a class, show them around campus, show them around town, have caucus parties, arrange meetings with librarians. All the labor is ours, the other graduate students, so you can get a sense of how awkward we are, how competitive we are, or how friendly because you simply spend a lot of time with us. 

2 hours ago, KTF87 said:

I am sorry if this has been asked before, but what does one do when s/he is invited to two different co-terminous campus visits?

I am an international student and I would need to fly out evidently. Are we to be honest with the departments and tell them, in order to reduce their expenses?

They should know this. Be prepared because they may not cover all expenses (in my case they offered a refund of up to $800). 

Questions you could ask students:

• Can you survive on this stipend? Do you compensate with something else? Can you work on campus?
• Questions about health insurance: Have you used it? What for? Do they include...? etc. 
• TA/RA responsibilities. What's your TA/RA experience in the department? 
• Resources beyond the library: Do you have a digital humanities lab? Have you used it? How do they help? Are there internships/fellowships there? Do you have a media lab/3D printer/software services/etc?
• The unsaid resources: professionalization workshops, lectures, support for conferences, etc. Are there any resources for TA or instructors? (I found out later I could use the Teaching for Excellence resources on campus).
• To students with your same advisor: How is she on a daily basis? How are her classes? Does she read your drafts quickly/send you good feedback/etc?
• Life: Do you do any sports/belong to any clubs? Do you participate in any organization on campus? How do you keep healthy? Do you attend religious services? etc etc etc 

(I can't think of anything else)

 

[bhr]

Dude, some of those posts are 2-3 years old. Maybe you should lay off tagging people with advice

[NowMoreSerious]

On 2/17/2016 at 5:05 AM, bhr said:

So, serious question: What the heck do you do when you are visiting your own campus? Finishing my MA, but am attending PhD recruitment soon. They have me scheduled to meet with faculty I see regularly... (Also, I'm skipping the "sit in on a class" part so I can attend a class I'm actually in, which is odd)

Are you already accepted? Waitlisted? Because if you are already accepted, just go to see who else got accepted and consider whether it might affect your choice.  

As for "sit in on a class" the whole point is to get a sense of how seminars/classes are run, which you already know. 

If you are waitlisted, then I would participate in everything with the passion of one who just got into their dream school.