Open-House weekend?

[06aculot]

Hey guys,

I recently got admitted into my top school with full funding. Naturally, I am extremely excited. I had previously interviewed with my potential adviser, and he knew this university was my top choice (he knows I am accepting the offer). After receiving the offer, I was invited to an Open-House weekend where "all of our best prospective students are invited" for joint activities, meeting other potential peers, professors, etc.

Now, I am very familiar with interview weekends where you attend before being accepted. However, has anyone attended an event of this type before? And if so, despite the fact that I was already admitted, should I be prepared for an interview-like environment (including a dress suit, etc), or should I be viewing this event as a "touring" opportunity? It certainly feels like a more laid back event, but I am worried it might still be an interview-like scenario.

Cheers!

[quadsbaby]

Hey guys,

I recently got admitted into my top school with full funding. Naturally, I am extremely excited. I had previously interviewed with my potential adviser, and he knew this university was my top choice (he knows I am accepting the offer). After receiving the offer, I was invited to an Open-House weekend where "all of our best prospective students are invited" for joint activities, meeting other potential peers, professors, etc.

Now, I am very familiar with interview weekends where you attend before being accepted. However, has anyone attended an event of this type before? And if so, despite the fact that I was already admitted, should I be prepared for an interview-like environment (including a dress suit, etc), or should I be viewing this event as a "touring" opportunity? It certainly feels like a more laid back event, but I am worried it might still be an interview-like scenario.

Cheers!

I haven't been to one yet (but I will be going to them, and it's pretty common for my field). I'm not planning on bringing a suit (when I informally/unofficially interviewed at Cornell and UIUC I didn't) but I will bring a nice shirt (not a t-shirt, but not anything you'd wear with a tie) and jeans. Think of it like this--it's a sort of interview, but it should be really fun and there is no pressure.

[rising_star]

Now, I am very familiar with interview weekends where you attend before being accepted. However, has anyone attended an event of this type before? And if so, despite the fact that I was already admitted, should I be prepared for an interview-like environment (including a dress suit, etc), or should I be viewing this event as a "touring" opportunity? It certainly feels like a more laid back event, but I am worried it might still be an interview-like scenario.

Cheers!

Yes, they're actually the only kind of school visits I ever did. No, you don't need a dress suit. If female, I'd go with dark jeans and a decent shirt. If male, maybe khakis and a button-down? That's the fanciest you'll need to get. This isn't about them seeing if they want to admit you. Really, they're presenting themselves to you and trying to show off for you. So, come prepared with questions about the program, its faculty, its resources, etc. And treat every situation as if you're the one doing the interviewing (because you are--to see if they are the right program for you). These things are generally laidback, and the atmosphere with other students is awesome because no one is competing against anyone else. Oh, and don't drink too much!

[BlueSwedeShoes]

I got an invitation to an informal open house to one of the 5 places I'm seriously considering. It's the first one to get back to me too (yay!).

Problem is, I'm in Europe. Traveling over would cost a lot of money but I could afford it. It takes a lot of time (almost a week all things considered) but I'm planning my own time this semester so I could arrange that. So, it's pricey and time consuming, I could do it...but is it worth it? Surely it wouldn't reflect negatively on me if I, all things considered, can't make it? Or would it?

The other option is to do a conversation over the phone, but I personally think I would do better in the face-to-face meetings that would be on the open house. I'm not a big fan of talking over the phone and my phone voice (and comprehension, after all I'm a stoopid forienger speeking bad english) is not the best

So I would greatly appreciate some input from you guys/gals on whether the trip is worth it or not. Cost/Time on one end, the positive effects of actually going there and meeting with people on the other (and see the campus/area myself).

Also, my irrational fear just went from "they'll throw away my app without even looking at it!" to "they'll reject me for sure if I don't go there in person!"...

[rising_star]

waylance, I wouldn't visit unless you've been admitted with funding. And, I'd plan to visit all the US schools you get admitted to in one big trip.

[BlueSwedeShoes]

Yes, one trip to all schools that I'm accepted to would be the best option for me. It's a bit hard to plan though when the acceptances/rejections will drop in one by one over the next two-three months or so...but it's good advice, thank you

[fuzzylogician]

Now, I am very familiar with interview weekends where you attend before being accepted. However, has anyone attended an event of this type before? And if so, despite the fact that I was already admitted, should I be prepared for an interview-like environment (including a dress suit, etc), or should I be viewing this event as a "touring" opportunity? It certainly feels like a more laid back event, but I am worried it might still be an interview-like scenario.

I attended two open house weekends. Open house events are really about the department selling itself to you, not the other way around. You'll have meetings with professors in your field of interest, which you should use to see if they do work that interests you, and if you have chemistry with them and can see working yourself with them as your advisor. There will be breakfast/lunch/dinner events where you can meet with other prospective students and current students and get some frank information from them; and there will be tours of the university facilities and the town. You'll be able to see how current students live and if/how they get by on their stipend. They were always very honest about how they felt in the program and told me inside information about professors in my subfield (like who might be retiring, who has funding, etc).

There was always a party for students and staff at one of the faculty member's homes, and there was an outing with grads alone -- really, you're given as many opportunities as possible to gather information about the school. Re: clothing, dress nice, but casual. Dark jeans, a nice cardigan and nice shoes should be fine, no need for suits or anything of the sort. You might want to have something nicer for evening outings.

waylance - I was able to incorporate visits to my other schools in between these two open house events, and negotiated with the schools so that the (partial) funding I got from each of them eventually covered all of my travel expenses. The biggest expense was obviously the flight, so you want to only do that once. I know it's hard to make plans just yet, but keep that in mind and if it gets reasonably close to when you have to decide whether to attend the open house and you still haven't heard from other places, it's legitimate to contact them and ask what the status of your application is.

[06aculot]

Thanks a lot guys. All of your responses were very helpful. It definitely makes me less nervous and more excited about the trip.

[BlueSwedeShoes]

I attended two open house weekends. Open house events are really about the department selling itself to you, not the other way around. You'll have meetings with professors in your field of interest, which you should use to see if they do work that interests you, and if you have chemistry with them and can see working yourself with them as your advisor. There will be breakfast/lunch/dinner events where you can meet with other prospective students and current students and get some frank information from them; and there will be tours of the university facilities and the town. You'll be able to see how current students live and if/how they get by on their stipend. They were always very honest about how they felt in the program and told me inside information about professors in my subfield (like who might be retiring, who has funding, etc).

There was always a party for students and staff at one of the faculty member's homes, and there was an outing with grads alone -- really, you're given as many opportunities as possible to gather information about the school. Re: clothing, dress nice, but casual. Dark jeans, a nice cardigan and nice shoes should be fine, no need for suits or anything of the sort. You might want to have something nicer for evening outings.

waylance - I was able to incorporate visits to my other schools in between these two open house events, and negotiated with the schools so that the (partial) funding I got from each of them eventually covered all of my travel expenses. The biggest expense was obviously the flight, so you want to only do that once. I know it's hard to make plans just yet, but keep that in mind and if it gets reasonably close to when you have to decide whether to attend the open house and you still haven't heard from other places, it's legitimate to contact them and ask what the status of your application is.

Got the official invitation yesterday. In that invitation it's mentioned as a "interview day" with one-to-one meetings with faculty. And that offers of admission will be sent out one to two weeks after that.

I guess I'll have to do phone interviews instead. It would have been nice to be able to go though

Edited February 1, 2010 by waylance

[fuzzylogician]

Too bad! but phone interviews are also nice, in a way. You can have your notes right in front of you the entire conversation so you can be much more organized than in a personal interview. I had 3 phone interviews and in all of them I had multiple documents open on my computer - a list of questions I wanted to ask, information I wanted to find out; a word-for-word answer to "so tell me about yourself" (didn't end up using it, but it made me feel better to have it there); my homepage, cv, sop, writing sample; the program homepage, the interviewer's homepage+recent papers.. it helped me sound sooo much more knowledgeable than I really was

[liszt85]

Too bad! but phone interviews are also nice, in a way. You can have your notes right in front of you the entire conversation so you can be much more organized than in a personal interview. I had 3 phone interviews and in all of them I had multiple documents open on my computer - a list of questions I wanted to ask, information I wanted to find out; a word-for-word answer to "so tell me about yourself" (didn't end up using it, but it made me feel better to have it there); my homepage, cv, sop, writing sample; the program homepage, the interviewer's homepage+recent papers.. it helped me sound sooo much more knowledgeable than I really was

I wish I'd done that for the University of Jyvaskyla interview that I had. He asked me how serious I was about going there and I got tongue tied. Sure enough, they didn't make the offer. He was very excited about my application prior to the interview though. Anyway, that was scary because that was way before I got accepted by the US schools. So yea, having stuff in front of you is definitely a good idea!

[downtownchick]

I truly appreciate rising_star's and fuzzylogician's advice. I'm going to one in 2 weeks and I have absolutely no clue how it's gonna be like.

[BlueSwedeShoes]

Too bad! but phone interviews are also nice, in a way. You can have your notes right in front of you the entire conversation so you can be much more organized than in a personal interview. I had 3 phone interviews and in all of them I had multiple documents open on my computer - a list of questions I wanted to ask, information I wanted to find out; a word-for-word answer to "so tell me about yourself" (didn't end up using it, but it made me feel better to have it there); my homepage, cv, sop, writing sample; the program homepage, the interviewer's homepage+recent papers.. it helped me sound sooo much more knowledgeable than I really was

Well, had my phone interview and did just this. I didn't need to use half of all the pages I had open, but writing out answers to the common questions (e.g. "tell me about yourself", "why our school", "why this (sub)field" etc) was very good for giving a coherent answer!

I was also told that I'm #1 on their shortlist, which made me really happy first but now has me stressing over if that means that I really, really should have tried to go to their open house/interview day instead of doing the phone interview

If I'm not accepted there I'll definitely kick myself in the ass for not going...

[fuzzylogician]

Well, had my phone interview and did just this. I didn't need to use half of all the pages I had open, but writing out answers to the common questions (e.g. "tell me about yourself", "why our school", "why this (sub)field" etc) was very good for giving a coherent answer!

I was also told that I'm #1 on their shortlist, which made me really happy first but now has me stressing over if that means that I really, really should have tried to go to their open house/interview day instead of doing the phone interview

If I'm not accepted there I'll definitely kick myself in the ass for not going...

Glad to hear your interview went well!

I don't think you need to worry about not attending the interview in person. People can't make it to Open House events but still get accepted all the time (you know, internationals, people with a full-time job or a family who can't get away, people whose flights were canceled because of blizzards.. ). Just concentrate on the positives, and I'm sure you'll be hearing good news soon enough!