What to do and ask after acceptance

[etch00]

Hey all,  I was accepted to a top-20 English literature PhD program for Fall '17 (large public uni). Too new here to de-anonymize myself more than that yet, but what I ask here isn't school specific.  I am unsure whether I can attend the visit weekend yet because of work, but if I can't go then I will probably arrange an individual visit, but am likely to attend.  Not trying to weigh offers from multiple schools, but wondering what I should make sure to know before going in.

A few current students in the program have e-mailed me to offer to answer questions and talk about the program, but I'm just not sure what to ask either them or during the visit. Different programs are different, of course, but are there any things any of you currently attending would have wanted to know or ask about, before you went in?  Things you'd have tried to inform yourself about if you could go back?  I used the search function on the boards and have seen the thread "Questions to ask," which was helpful, but a lot of the questions seem likely to elicit polite positive answers: my cohorts and I get along, we get paid enough but not a lot, the area is good not perfect, etc.... What are the most important things to know that the DGS specifically would be the one to talk to about?   Also, are there any particular gaffes you can think of NOT to ask/do? 

True, a lot of this comes down to individual interest, like "what profs should I talk to about early modern," though that's the type of question you should probably be able to answer yourself before applying, from the website.

Not sure if I'm the only one, but I feel like I knew enough to get in, but then am useless and nervous about the process from here!

[positivitize]

This is also relevant to my interests.

Edited March 11, 2017 by positivitize

[fuzzylogician]

Well, for one, you want to ask these questions in person, if possible, and even better if off-campus at some event that involves alcohol (you don't have to drink). People will be much more forthcoming if there is no record of them having said anything negative.

You could ask about where students live, whether they have roommates (and how many), whether there are opportunities for summer funding, if anyone works alongside studying (all designed to get at money issues), as well as the straightforward "do you feel like you're paid enough" or "can you afford to rent without roommates".

You want to ask your potential advisors about their advising philosophy: how often do they meet with students? do they encourage collaborations? do their students submit/present at conferences? do they publish? what is the prof's policy on helping students come up with research topics?

Then ask the prof's students those same questions. Compare and contrast. Ask younger students if they enjoyed their classes, and if they felt the work load was okay, too light, or too heavy. Ask them when they got started doing research and how their first projects progressed/worked out. Ask how often it happens that people change fields and advisors mid-way through grad school. Ask about teaching/TAing -- how often do they teach? do they prep materials - how much time do they invest in that and in grading? who decides on the TA assignments? 

For department atmosphere, ask about social events - how often do they happen? are there parties? beginning/end of semester events? weekly happy hours? do faculty collaborate with one another and with students? Is there co-teaching? Ask senior students in your field who is on their committees and who has been on committees of people who have graduated recently (actually, some of that you can learn by looking at the submitted dissertations, which will have this info in them); this might raise red flags if people who you might expect to co-advise students because they have close/complementary interests in fact never do. If you attend an open house, spend some time just looking around -- at the inevitable lunch/dinner event, do students huddle separately from faculty or do they interact? does it seem like they have an idea of what's going on in each other's lives? are people friendly to one another? how does it *feel* to be there? You can get a lot of information by just observing, and by asking multiple people the same questions. 

[etch00]

1 hour ago, fuzzylogician said:

Well, for one, you want to ask these questions in person, if possible, and even better if off-campus at some event that involves alcohol (you don't have to drink). People will be much more forthcoming if there is no record of them having said anything negative.

You could ask about where students live, whether they have roommates (and how many), whether there are opportunities for summer funding, if anyone works alongside studying (all designed to get at money issues), as well as the straightforward "do you feel like you're paid enough" or "can you afford to rent without roommates".

You want to ask your potential advisors about their advising philosophy: how often do they meet with students? do they encourage collaborations? do their students submit/present at conferences? do they publish? what is the prof's policy on helping students come up with research topics?

Then ask the prof's students those same questions. Compare and contrast. Ask younger students if they enjoyed their classes, and if they felt the work load was okay, too light, or too heavy. Ask them when they got started doing research and how their first projects progressed/worked out. Ask how often it happens that people change fields and advisors mid-way through grad school. Ask about teaching/TAing -- how often do they teach? do they prep materials - how much time do they invest in that and in grading? who decides on the TA assignments? 

For department atmosphere, ask about social events - how often do they happen? are there parties? beginning/end of semester events? weekly happy hours? do faculty collaborate with one another and with students? Is there co-teaching? Ask senior students in your field who is on their committees and who has been on committees of people who have graduated recently (actually, some of that you can learn by looking at the submitted dissertations, which will have this info in them); this might raise red flags if people who you might expect to co-advise students because they have close/complementary interests in fact never do. If you attend an open house, spend some time just looking around -- at the inevitable lunch/dinner event, do students huddle separately from faculty or do they interact? does it seem like they have an idea of what's going on in each other's lives? are people friendly to one another? how does it *feel* to be there? You can get a lot of information by just observing, and by asking multiple people the same questions. 

 

Thanks! this is very helpful. Any more thoughts welcome.

[CrunchyMamademic]

I asked a few questions via email, but really got the best feel for the program and campus community when I did my visit. Like was said above, people are much freer in their speech than emails.

Going and meeting everyone in person was a nice way to get the vibe of the department. I felt comfortable just outright saying "you guys look really happy. How do you balance everything? What is the level of support like? Are there department politics I should be aware of?"

Honestly, my email questions were probably pretty meh. I asked the DGS about some program specifics that I didn't find the answer to online, chatted with some professors who contacted me first, and reached out to one grad student. However, I was trying to be quite professional and poised in my emails, and I just don't think text is a good way to really show off your personality and get people chatting with you on a personal level.

As far as things not to do, I'm not even sure. I think as long as you are polite and don't act entitled, you're pretty good. After all, they already decided they want you!

[cypressknee]

A couple of years ago @lyonessrampant posted a list of questions that I found super useful for when I visited programs. 

The post itself is here, but these are the questions:

 

-PLACES TO STUDY AND WORK
-Where do most people do their writing and reading?
-What study spaces are available? Do students get a carrel? Do those who teach get or share an office?

-LIBRARY
-What is the library system like? Are the stacks open or closed?
-What are the library hours?
-Are there specialized archives/primary sources that would be useful to my research?
-Are there specialist librarians who can help me with my research?

-FACULTY
-Are the faculty members I want to work with accepting new students? Are any of those faculty members due for a sabbatical any time soon?
-Are professors willing to engage you on a personal level rather than just talking about your work?
-Are there any new professors the department is hiring in areas that align with my interests?
-Students’ relationships with their professors – are they primarily professional, or are they social as well?

-FUNDING
-Is funding competitive? If so, do students feel a distinction between those who have received more generous funding and those who haven’t?
-How does funding break down among the cohort? i.e., how many people receive fellowships?
-How, if you don’t have much savings, do you make enough money to live comfortably?
-Are there external fellowships one can apply to? If so, what is available? Does the program help you apply for these fellowships? How does receiving an external fellowship affect internal funding?
-If people need more than five/six years to finish, what funding resources are available? (For instance, Columbia can give you an additional 2-year teaching appointment.)
-Do you provide funding for conferences or research trips?
-How often is funding disbursed? (i.e., do you get paid monthly or do you have to stretch a sum over a longer period of time?)

-COHORT
-Do students get along with each other? Is the feeling of the program more collaborative than competitive?
-Do students in different years of the program collaborate with each other, or are individual cohorts cliquey?
-How many offers are given out, and what is the target number of members for an entering class?
-Ages/marital status of people in the cohort – do most people tend to be married with families? Are there younger people? Single people? What sense do you have of how the graduate students interact with each other socially?
-Do people seem happy? If they’re stressed, is it because they’re busy or is it because they’re anxious/depressed/cynical/disillusioned?
-Is the grad secretary/program administrator nice?
-What is the typical time to completion? What are the factors that slow down or speed up that time?
-I’ve read that there are two kinds of attrition: “good” attrition, in which people realize that the program, or graduate study, isn’t right for them and leave early on, and “bad” attrition, in which people don’t finish the dissertation. What can you tell me about the rates of each, and of the reasons why people have chosen to leave the program?

-JOB MARKET/PROFESSIONALIZATION
-What is the placement rate? How many of those jobs are tenure-track?
-What are examples of institutions in which people in my field have been placed?
-How does the department prepare you for the job search? Are there mock interviews and mock job talks?
-Are the people helping you navigate the job search people who have recently gone through the process themselves?
-If you don’t get placed, is there anything the department can do for you? (e.g., can you stay an extra year?)
-How does the department prepare you for and help you attain conference presentations and publications?

-SUMMER WORK
-What is encouraged/required?
-If there separate funding/is the year-round funding enough to live on during the summer?
-Do people find themselves needing to get outside work during the summer in order to have enough money?
-Am I expected to stay in town in the summer, and what happens if I don’t?

-LANGUAGE REQUIREMENT
-What is done to help people who don’t have language proficiency attain it? Does the university provide funding?
-What is the requirement, and by when do you have to meet it?
-Given my research interests, what languages should I study?
-When do you recommend doing the work necessary to fulfill the language requirement? (i.e., summer before first year, summer after first year, while taking classes, etc.)

-LOCATION REQUIREMENTS
-How long are students required to be in residence?
-How many students stay in the location for the duration of the program? (i.e., how many dissertate in residence?)
-How is funding affected if you don’t stay?

-Incompletes on papers at the end of the term: What is the policy, how many students take them, and how does this affect progress through the program?

-TEACHING
-What sort of training is provided?
-What types of courses do people teach?
-Does teaching entail serving as a grader? Serving as a TA? Developing and teaching a section of comp?
-How are students placed as TAs? Is there choice about what classes you teach and which professors you work with? Do classes correspond to your field?
-How many courses do you teach per semester/year?
-How many students are in your classes?
-How does the school see teaching as fitting in with the other responsibilities/requirements of graduate study?
-How do students balance teaching with their own work?
-Is the department more concerned with training you as a teacher/professor or with having cheap labor to teach their classes?
-How, if at all, does the economic downturn affect teaching load/class sizes?
-What are the students like? Can I sit in on a course a TA teaches to get a sense of them?

-METHODOLOGY
-Is a theory course required?
-What methodology do most people use?
-Where, methodologically, do you see the department – and the discipline – heading?
-Is interdisciplinarity encouraged, and what sorts of collaboration have students undertaken?

-Typical graduate class and seminar sizes

-What should I do to prepare over the summer?

-Ask people I know: What are the questions – both about the program itself and about the location – I should ask that will most help me get a feel for whether this is the right program for me?

-Ask people I know: What do you wish you knew or wish you had asked before choosing a program?

-Is the school on the semester or the quarter system, and how does that affect classes/teaching/requirements?

-What is the course load for each semester, and how many courses are required?

-What kind of support is provided while writing the dissertation? I worry about the isolation and anxiety of writing such a big project. What does the program do to help you break the dissertation down into manageable pieces, and to make the experience less isolating?

-What do writing assignments look like in classes? Do they differ based on the type/level of class and/or based on whether you intend to specialize in the field?

-Ask professors: what have you been working on lately?

-Ask professors: What is your approach to mentoring and advising graduate students?

-How long are class meetings?

-How often do professors teach graduate courses?

-Are course schedules available for future semesters (10-11, etc.)?

-Can I see the grad student handbook? Are there any other departmental documents – such as reports on the program prepared for accreditation – that I can see?


-QUALITY OF LIFE
-Prices – how does the cost of gas, milk, cereal, etc. compare to other places I've lived in?
-Cost and quality of typical one-bedroom apartment.
-What does the university do to provide you with or help you find housing?
-When (i.e., what month) do people start looking for an apartment for the fall, and where do they look?
-Is it easy to find a summer subletter?
-How close to campus can—and should—one live?
-What grocery stores are there in town?
-How late are cafes, bookstores, malls, restaurants typically open?
-What do people do to make extra money?
-Does the town have more of a driving or a walking culture? What is parking like near campus (availability, ease, cost)?
-Where do most English grad students live? Most other grad students? Most professors? Where is the student ghetto? Do most students live near each other, or are they spread out far and wide?
-How far does the stipend go in this location?

[Yanaka]

Had been looking for that post, @cypressknee, thanks!

[Courtney Whited]

@cypressknee That list of questions is incredibly helpful! Thank you so much! 

[Dr. Old Bill]

On 3/11/2017 at 11:13 AM, Yanaka said:

Had been looking for that post, @cypressknee, thanks!

2 minutes ago, Courtney Whited said:

@cypressknee That list of questions is incredibly helpful! Thank you so much! 

Be sure to go back to the original post and give @lyonessrampant some upvote love as well -- she's been a helpful presence on this board for several years, and undeniably deserves it!

 

[Yanaka]

25 minutes ago, Old Bill said:

Be sure to go back to the original post and give @lyonessrampant some upvote love as well -- she's been a helpful presence on this board for several years, and undeniably deserves it!

 

Done! Thanks for reminding me to do that  

[lyonessrampant]

Happy to share friends  Best wishes to all on negotiations and campus visits!

[cypressknee]

1 hour ago, Old Bill said:

Be sure to go back to the original post and give @lyonessrampant some upvote love as well -- she's been a helpful presence on this board for several years, and undeniably deserves it!

 

Absolutely! This is a such a great list. All credit is due to @lyonessrampant!