Potential Questions for Visitors Representing Graduate Programs
- How many new graduate students do you bring in each year in your department? How big is your research group? What is the distribution of people in it? What are other groups like in your department?
- How long does it take your students to complete their Ph.D., on average? Is this the same for all groups?
- What interactions or meetings do you have with your group members? Is that typical of other groups in your department?
- What is involved in “qualifying” to pursue a Ph.D. at your department? What fraction of your entering students qualify? What fraction of those complete their degree?
- What does a graduate student do day-by-day in your department? How much time per week do students work in your group? in your department? Is this different from the first year to the second and third year and beyond? How much undergraduate teaching (“TA work”) might I expect to do? Is that the same for all the students at your department?
- What are the strengths of your department?
- What do graduates from your department do after graduation? (Do they get jobs in industry; do they post-doc? Are some left unemployed?)
- What is the community like where your school is located? Is it expensive to live there? Is it safe? Where do most of your students live?
- What do your graduate students do when they aren’t working on chemistry?
- Do graduate students get vacations? If so, for what periods of time?
- What financial support can I expect?
- What should I know about your school/department or about graduate school in general, that I don’t know to ask?