Making a pre-application visit...cross-country??

[pea-jay]

After talking to a pair of recruiters from NYC schools, it's became clear from them that they both highly recommended visiting their respective campuses, meeting with the department chairs and in one case the rep offered to find cheap accommodation (no small feat in that city) and work to arrange meetings with profs with similar research interests. Don't know if this was standard salesman ship or a genuine response to my 60 second background of myself but ever since then, the idea of making that trip has been flying around my brain. (pun intended)

Price-wise, tickets are affordable in a window I am interested in, but how much weight will face-to-face interviews have on the application process (assuming they are with professors)? Will the fact that I made a cross-country trip (without any guarantees of admission) come across as showing that special level of interest in attending that university give an edge over similarly qualified applicants that did not? Or rephrasing this, do applicants that make personal visits to the university have a tendency to beat out those that do not?

My previous grad school admission experience did involve multiple personal visits to my intended school and an eventual admission, despite so-so undergrad grades and a tissue paper-thin resume. (I did not receive funding tho, a factor that lead to my having to leave the program). But that was comparatively easy as I lived in the same city. This time it's transcontinental.

Thoughts

[socialcomm]

If you have the time and resources to do it, I'd say go. Putting a face with the name on an application could help you in the long run. At the same time, you'd be able to see the facilities where you'd be working, meet the people you'd be working with. That could help you with decisions later on if you're accepted. Good luck!

[swisnieski]

As per the above poster, if you have the resources, do it. Personal visits can make a really big difference. The fellow from How I Got Into Stanford had a mediocre GPA but was admitted to the #1 psych program in the country in part because he made extensive contacts with the professors there.

[joro]

When do you suppose a good time to make such a visit would be? I'd like to do the same for one school. Should I make the visit before the due date for my application or should I do it after?

[peppermint.beatnik]

When do you suppose a good time to make such a visit would be? I'd like to do the same for one school. Should I make the visit before the due date for my application or should I do it after?

If you are able, it would be good if you could visit prior to the application deadline.

When I applied last year, I visited a school right after I submitted my application. The visit went really well, but I probably would not have applied to the school if I had visited before applying. I think that's one definite advantage.

Also, you can alter your application given the information gathered during the visit.

[kahlan_amnell]

This is unusual for graduate school applications. Most department want to to visit once you have applied, once you are in serious consideration, or once you are accepted.

If this school seems serious about you visiting earlier, then go for it if you can afford it. Good luck!

[coyabean]

I don't know, but I am visiting my top three. Only one is local. A mentor told me this summer that meeting me was my best weapon. I am not going broke to do it. I just planned visits during fall break and the like. I'm turning them into mini vacays. I surely need it with all the madness of applying.

The ivies and northeastern schools seem to really like the visitation thing. They were the schools that had a process and coordinator set up specifically to handle requests.

I am just making sure to visit during class days and not during peak exam times. I coordinated to sit in on a class, contacted those profs to tell them I would be there, set up an appointment with the grad school director, a tour and to meet with a current student. I think I'm covering all my bases.

My first trip is actually this upcoming week. I'll try to report back here on what transpires and if I felt the trip was worth it.

[alexis]

I'm applying to local programs and know I should probably visit sooner rather than later. I guess partially I'm worried that if I'll visit, I'll make a bad impression (which is stupid; I usually do well on first impressions/interviews), and also not really sure if I feel entirely comfortable talking about my research interests--I'm worried I'll sound like an idiot as I'm still learning about my specific area of interest (though I know I love it). Is it a bad thing to wait to see where I got accepted, then visit? I'm applying to 5 programs, but I think I'll be lucky if I get into 3. I'd almost rather stress about visiting (and deciding where I want to go) once I know if they want me/what money they have to offer. I'll feel much more confident talking to them as well. Not sure if this is the best approach though...

[pea-jay]

Thanks for the advice! Im totally going to do this, got time and resources to put together a mid-nov trip. And as my signature line notes, three of the four universities are within a few miles of each other. I have already been to the fourth.

[pea-jay]

Well I did it. I booked a trip to the Big Apple Nov 11-14. <Gulp> At least they were cheap, slightly less than $200. Already registered to sit in one class, working on professor contacts. Definitely visiting Baruch and NYU, probably Hunter. Still havent worked out where to stay just yet.

My first trip is actually this upcoming week. I'll try to report back here on what transpires and if I felt the trip was worth it.

So how did it go?

Edited October 24, 2009 by pea-jay