Questions to ask current Graduate Students at Prospective Schools

[butler blue]

Everyone should read asquare's list of recommended questions at the beginning of this. I asked a number of them while visiting and I should have asked more of them. That said, I would add one. The most useful question I found was the most general one I could think of:

 

What is the best thing about this department and what is the worst?

 

It pins grad students down on evaluating their own department, which is what you really want.

[Andronicus]

Bump. I'm catching a plane today to visit Pitt, so there are probably others about to start flyouts as well.

[rvalchev]

bump. A priceless thread that might not always be all that visible hidden in the FAQ. Anybody who wants to update it feel free to do so, flyouts should be in full swing any time now.

[Elliephant]

Bumped (flyouts have begun).

 

A question to current students: Is there anything you wish you had asked/known before starting?

[Woobs]

Bumped since flyouts are coming soon

[Python7768]

Keepin it bumped.

[packardm]

Everyone should read asquare's list of recommended questions at the beginning of this. I asked a number of them while visiting and I should have asked more of them. That said, I would add one. The most useful question I found was the most general one I could think of:

 

What is the best thing about this department and what is the worst?

 

It pins grad students down on evaluating their own department, which is what you really want.

 

I'm seriously considering Georgetown right now and may not make it to the visit b/c of work, how would you answer that question?

Edited March 5, 2013 by packardm
... didn't realize that quoted post was from 2008

[behavingmyself]

Good thread. I don't mean to mess with a good thing, but I encourage prospective students to ask specific questions. For one, vague questions get vague answers. But more importantly, grad students know their own programs well but know other programs only by reputation. Therefore it's generally difficult for us to make the kind of comparison that's implicit in a question like "is your school supportive of students?"

 

So, to get a sense of faculty involvement, ask students how often they meet with their advisor. To get a sense of non-research obligations, ask how many hours per week they spend on TA work. To get a sense of attrition, ask how many people from a student's cohort are still in grad school.

[econaddicted]

Bumped

[mathenomics]

Bumped! Seems useful right now.

[cdreier]

Thanks for bringing this back. I wonder to what degree current students are asked to "sell" the department versus just being honest? Is it reasonable to take everything they say at face value, or should I be accounting for some bias/salesmanship?

[tbe]

I am a DGS and encourage all prospective students to talk with our faculty and current students before making their choice. (As an aside, I'm surprise how many don't take me up on this.) Ask current students what they like about the program, what they don't like, what they know now about graduate school that they didn't know when they were choosing a school, why they decided to come to our program, whether they feel supported by the department, in what ways could the department do more to support them, which faculty are the most helpful, work with students, etc, is there competition among students?

 

I tell our current students to be honest with prospective students and I think they are. They certainly aren't afraid to talk about deficiencies in our program.

[startz]

We regard our current graduate students as the best sales force for the program. That doesn't mean they think everything is perfect, of course. We also see to it that prospective students have time with current students with no faculty around.

 

And I can tell you that there are programs where current students say "don't come here."

[Dommull]

Bump. This seems useful and very relevant now!