My visit experiences

[hippyscientist]

Hi Everyone,

I just got back from a 2 week trip visiting 3 different schools in the US, looking at their PhD programs in Kinesiology/Biomechanics. I figured I'd write a little about my experiences for anyone who's interested.

My first school trip was 2 days after I arrived in the US, giving me a little time to get over jetlag and get to the school in question. I was emailed an agenda the day before, and it was packed full of meetings from 8am through til 5pm. I met with various faculty members, current grad students, my POI and attended a seminar. I also had a tour around the labs, campus, sports facilities and was taken to breakfast and lunch. It was such a useful visit, I got a real sense of the department dynamic, the thinking and style of the POI and answered so many questions.

The second school visit was a few states down (flying and driving took all day), and I had unfortunately planned this trip on labor day (N.B. Intl students - make a note of holidays!) but the POI here was in the lab and willing to show me around. This should have been a red flag - there were other comments made, and combining with the atmosphere, the location and my gut reaction I learnt that this school is not for me.

My third school was another plane ride away, and I had previously skyped this POI. It was great to meet in person, and we had organised a two day visit. My days were a little shorter here, but I learnt a lot. The lab(s) were amazing, students very friendly, POI a little forgetful but all in all very informative.

All schools fed me lunch, allowed 1-on-1 time with grad students, POI and other faculty members. This really helped me to get a clear picture of each of the schools, and I've come away with my preference order re-evaluated. Each POI gave me invaluable information to add to my SOP, as well as a strong idea of who they are and what they expect from their grad students. I know it's frequently said on this forum that visiting before submitting an application isn't worth the money, but I think this is very field- and your own finances dependent. This trip has really helped me, and all three POIs said I was their top choice out of the prospective PhD applicants that they were talking to (and it was genuine - not a flattery while I was there thing). 

 

[hippyscientist]

I also wanted to add that while this website has been incredibly helpful, it made me doubt myself as an applicant as everyone seems to have such high numbers, and advice really is course specific. For my courses above 50th percentile GREs and a 3.0 and grades don't matter - I was repeatedly told LORs will be the main decider. Of course, this only relates to the three programmes I visited.

[fuzzylogician]

Visits are super helpful and absolutely can cause one to change their mind about school preferences. I am glad your visit did all that for you. The reason we tend to say this is less helpful before submitting the applications is precisely what you hinted at -- it's expensive and time consuming. Not all schools will go out of their way the way that your programs have (my PhD school, for example, would allow students to visit before applying, but they are pretty much left on their own to figure things out). After you're admitted, schools will often cover the cost of your visit, or share with other schools, so costs are much lower to the student. You can then concentrate on visiting schools that are actual options -- namely, ones that admitted you. But yes, it's definitely informative to also go earlier, if you have the chance. I think the main point we usually try to convey is that it's not necessary, much like scoring at the very top percentile in the GRE, having a perfect GPA, and having publications all are nice but not necessary. Like all else, things depend and change across fields, among other things, so it's very hard to give general advice without knowing the specifics of each case. In your case, I suspect that we don't get that many kinesiology students here on the board, so our knowledge is limited at best. We can only tell you what happens in our fields based on our knowledge, and (like anything else in life) you need to decide what to do with that information.