Importance of Visiting Schools

[hikarizx]

I was just wondering if anyone had thoughts on whether it's important to visit grad schools. Most of the schools I'm applying to would require a flight and hotel to visit, which I'm sure would be $500+ for a weekend. Is it worth the cost to visit the schools?

 

I applied to 6 schools that would require traveling to visit, so it's kind of a lot if you add it all up. I was thinking I should probably wait until I hear about funding before I decided where to visit, but I'd still have to do that before April 15. Any thoughts?

[iphi]

I would wait and see what your top 2 are and the possibility of visiting each. All of my decisions I made based on faculty, funding and general fit, which unfortunately meant going somewhere that (geographically) I didn't even like. So after visiting other schools it was theoretically more disappointing.

[rising_star]

It has value and it doesn't. For me, visiting basically eliminated schools more than it made me want to attend them. Had the programs not been paying most or all of my expenses, I wouldn't have visited at all. And, I never visited my PhD program.

[MathCat]

I think it depends how well you know what you want to do and how well each program fits for you. For me, I am unsure of my interests (not unusual in math), and so other factors are more important to me than the research interest fit. The atmosphere and other students, how much I like the location and how well I feel I would fit in, etc. are very important to me, and can only be gauged by visiting. However, every visit I have been on has been at least 75% covered by the department. If I had to pay entirely out of pocket, there are some I would probably not have bothered visiting.

[gr1277]

I've been thinking about this too. How genuine do you think professors/grad students are with potential students? When my department has informational days, we have to stay positive. That's not to say that I wouldn't tell a prospective student the truth if I was blatantly asked a question in private. However, can one actually get a feel for the department by one short visit? 

Edited March 7, 2015 by gr1277

[jujubea]

My visits helped sooooo much.

I'd say, after you get funding info, if you're struggling to decide, then def visit.

If they don't pay for you to visit, and you can afford it, I'd go check out your tops.

[MathCat]

I've been thinking about this too. How genuine do you think professors/grad students are with potential students? When my department has informational days, we have to stay positive. That's not to say that I wouldn't tell a prospective student the truth if I was blatantly asked a question in private. However, can one actually get a feel for the department by one short visit? 

I think how honest people are depends on the program and the person you are talking to. However, every visit I went on felt very honest, in that both professors and grad students were not mentioning only positive things. On one visit, a student flat out told me if I wanted to study X then he would not recommend doing it there. In all cases, when I discuss my other options (they have always asked), everyone has mentioned pros and cons of their program vs. those. Another told me that it would probably better to accept one of my other offers (much higher ranked). I'm sure some people will be less honest, though.

 

I do think one needs to be wary of relying too much on the first impression you get from a visit day - the opinions of current students, if you believe them to be honest (you have to judge for yourself), should probably carry more weight. One thing is to ask the same question to multiple students at different times, so you are not relying on only one person's answer.

[rising_star]

I was always extremely honest with visiting students. I will say though that my ability to comment on both the positives and negatives of my program vs others improved as I spent longer in the program and talked more with friends at other institutions. By my 4th year, I was incredibly honest, almost to a fault, with prospective students because, as I told one, I really had minimal stakes in them coming since I'd never be in a class with them and we'd have different advisors. YMMV obviously.

[hikarizx]

Thanks for the responses everyone. I still haven't heard from any more schools so I'm still deciding about visiting!

[MathCat]

If it's going to be out of pocket, you should probably narrow the list down before visiting, or it would get pretty pricey. You also have to decide if it's even worth it to you - how much do the factors you can't gauge on paper matter to you? If it's about personal fit with your PI, maybe you could simply arrange a skype or phone call, which would probably be about as real as a brief meeting for gauging that, and thus save yourself the time and money.

[lupine]

I have visited 2/3 acceptances (out of pocket) and have been really surprised how the trips influenced how I feel about the departments, programs and the towns. I can't say it's making my decision easier (I prefer one department & faculty but prefer the other town & program, and still have one more school to consider) but it has at least made my decision more informed. Personally, I think it was worth it paying my way, but I had also saved up for a year in planning of campus visits.

 

Seeing how faculty and students are interacting with each-other is, I think, really important and I wouldn't have gotten that experience without visiting. If you can afford it, I say consider the trip it early "networking" in your field. That way even if you don't attend the school, you will meet students (your future colleagues) and faculty who you can get your name out to, and the trip wasn't a waste. Otherwise, the advantages of skype and phone conversations have already been covered. I suggest talking to as many people as you can stand.