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[euges116]

I just want to gage some general opinions from you all. How do you choose amongst PhD programs you applied to? Of course, there are so many factors, including faculty, related research interests, financial aid, strength of the program, job placements after graduation, what have you. And of course, you should always choose the program which will best help your future endeavours, right?

But for those who are already in grad school, how did you make your choice?

I'm kinda in a situation where I have to choose one among several top choices. It's really hard! I like one school, but don't really want to turn down another! Argh...

I know your experiences would be different, but any comments, experiences and advices would be greatly appreciated.

Much thanks.

[vardahilwen]

Sounds like you have an embarrassment of riches.  I applied to a handful of programs that were all of a certain caliber, and within a certain geographic region.  The first acceptance I got was from my first choice, so it was a no-brainer.

Have you made campus visits?  Met students?  Faculty?

You might want to email them and ask if they could put you in touch with a current student from the program.  They'll usually give you the real scoop on what the program is like.

Good luck.
Vardahilwen

[euges116]

Hey, yeah, I have three campus visits within the next four weeks. Lots of (free) travelling!

Also another question:

One of the schools which has made me an offer has an explicit early deadline (mid-March), it's a non-US school, while all other US schools submit to the usual April 15 deadline.

My "dream" school still hasn't responded yet. Is it okay to send them a quick e-mail (or a phone call) to let them know that "I got another offer. I'm still interested in your program should an offer arise. Can you please let me know before Month Day?" (Of course, I'll word it a LOT nicer, but you get my drift.)

Or is that usually frowned upon? I just don't want to have accepted the non-US school's offer, THEN hear of my dream school accepting me.

[vardahilwen]

I think it's okay to ask them when they will have a decision, but I wouldn't approach it in the way you suggested ... this isn't a job interview situation.  The school has a deadline for applications.  They probably won't look at them until the deadline passes.  Then a committee will meet and decide who to make offers to.  I doubt you could speed up that process by asking for a response by a particular deadline. 

They probably have a glut of applications and can choose whomever they want.  Unless you are a superstar, they probably won't make an exception in their normal process.  The program I got into rejected 15 people for everyone they admitted.

[euges116]

One of the reasons I was told to possibly "rush" (bad diction, I know), is that, by telling them other schools are interested in you and there's a deadline I, the applicant, have to abide by, if the other school I'm e-mailling/calling is really interested in me, they would make me an offer as soon as possible, knowing other schools are interested in me too.

Long sentence, I know. Did that make sense to everybody? Hmm... :P

P.S.: The deadlines have all passed, back in December or January. Whether the admissions committee have started looking at the applications, that remains to be seen. But obviously, some schools already have, and some even have made offers.

[contemporary_]

how did you make your choice?

In order, top to bottom, more or less:

Famous Advisor (who is attentive and amenable to me as a person, with many well placed past advisees)

Money (I turned down more money for the right advisor, I don't regret it one bit)

Innovative program, cutting edge of the discipline

Strength of faculty in my field and other departments (full and tenured profs, potential replacement advisors, strong diss committee)

Diversity of student body (grad and undergrad)

Quality of students (in terms of maturity and research interests)

High quality faculty to develop subspecialties (this was GENIUS, if I may say so myself)

Proximity to family  (this could go higher or lower on this list, but I've realized this is a boon I may not have ever again)

Skyrocketing reputation of the entire institution


Things that didn't play into the final decision:

Rank, placement of past grads for the dept as a whole, faculty ass kissing on admit day, quality of admit day lunch. 

Find out how many advisees your desired advisor is supervising.  This could have cost me big time, had I not made a point of asking a professor who seemed stretched too thin.

My "dream" school still hasn't responded yet. Is it okay to send them a quick e-mail (or a phone call) to let them know that "I got another offer.

I wouldn't, but if you are in touch with a potential advisor, you might consider going that route.

I would try to stall the pressure from the early deadline school, they just want to be able to offer your package to someone else.  It high pressure school would have to be OUTSTANDING, because USA PhDs are pretty desirable worldwide.

Also make yourself familiar with the differences between the US/UK/Canadian and Australian, etc approaches to the doctorate before making a decision.

[t_r_b]

I'm kinda in a situation where I have to choose one among several top choices. It's really hard! I like one school, but don't really want to turn down another! Argh...

You need to give us more detail: why do you like the one school? And if you like it so much, why don't you want to turn down the other?

Choosing one school necessarily involves turning down other schools. After all, you can't choose all of them. And keep in mind that by turning down an offer you are likely opening up a spot for someone else, who may be a better fit there than you are.

For me it came down to faculty: both potential advisor and other potential committee members. Location helped a bit, cool grad students I met helped a bit, but faculty was the key.

The ideal is to find someone to mentor you who is enthusiastic about your work, has a good reputation with current grad students, has a successful track record with launching PhD students on successful careers (i.e. ask about recent job placement of advisees), and can and will go to bat for you when it comes to securing funding, writing strong letters, clearing bureaucratic hurdles, etc.

If you can find all that, then that's your dream school. Everything else is secondary, even funding. Though funding isn't secondary by much.

One of the reasons I was told to possibly "rush" (bad diction, I know), is that, by telling them other schools are interested in you and there's a deadline I, the applicant, have to abide by, if the other school I'm e-mailling/calling is really interested in me, they would make me an offer as soon as possible, knowing other schools are interested in me too.

Long sentence, I know. Did that make sense to everybody? Hmm... :P

I don't want to be too snarky, but I'd like to point out that success in grad school involves a skill known as "revision." This skill involves changing a piece of writing so as to more effectively communicate one's point before asking others to consider that point. The sooner this skill becomes a habitual part of your life, the better.

[t_r_b]

My "dream" school still hasn't responded yet. Is it okay to send them a quick e-mail (or a phone call) to let them know that "I got another offer.

I wouldn't, but if you are in touch with a potential advisor, you might consider going that route.

For that matter, if you are not in touch with a potential advisor, how on earth do you know it is a dream school? It could be the #1 place in the country and a disaster for you if you can't find a decent advisor (many have been down that road, and it's not where you want to be).

So get in touch with your dream advisor. If they're excited about working with you, they'll let you know. If not, they'll soon forget you had the impertinence to ask.

[pikachu]

The single most important criterion to use in choosing a program is the frequency with which your intented advisor publishes in good journals with current advisees as co-authors. The existence of suitable (as explained above) potential replacement advisors is the second.

[imawakenow]

how did you make your choice?

In order, top to bottom, more or less:

Famous Advisor (who is attentive and amenable to me as a person, with many well placed past advisees)

Money (I turned down more money for the right advisor, I don't regret it one bit)

Innovative program, cutting edge of the discipline

Strength of faculty in my field and other departments (full and tenured profs, potential replacement advisors, strong diss committee)

Diversity of student body (grad and undergrad)

Quality of students (in terms of maturity and research interests)

High quality faculty to develop subspecialties (this was GENIUS, if I may say so myself)

Proximity to family  (this could go higher or lower on this list, but I've realized this is a boon I may not have ever again)

Skyrocketing reputation of the entire institution


Things that didn't play into the final decision:

Rank, placement of past grads for the dept as a whole, faculty ass kissing on admit day, quality of admit day lunch. 

Find out how many advisees your desired advisor is supervising.  This could have cost me big time, had I not made a point of asking a professor who seemed stretched too thin.

Very good advice.

My decision criteria were similar: 1) Rising star adviser doing cutting-edge research who also expressed a willingness to work with me; 2) Strength of faculty in department but also in fields directly related to my research interests (One of my committee members is the top researcher [measured in impact, production or name recognition--take your pick] in his subfield, which relates directly to my dissertation; 3) family considerations (my SO had friends living in the area); 4) funding and 5) placement of grads.

For me, ass kissing was not important nor was the diversity or strength of incoming class.

Keep in mind that if you have multiple offers you're sure to experience the "grass is always greener" syndrome. Don't worry, it will pass. I'm very happy where I am, and I'm confident I will land a TT job at an R1.

As far as contacting other programs, I don't think it is out of line to send an email to the DGS and say something like, "Hey, I am really interested in your program but another program is pressing me for an answer." I wouldn't give the name of the other program, especially if it's not one of the top 1 or 2 programs in your field.
 

[daurousseau]

I'd say go to the cheapest place that's decent, unless they all offer a full ride.
Keep in mind that even if they offer a TAship most of the time, that also allows them to jerk you around like a puppet on a string.

[the_honey_badger]

The problem with grad school admission and the idea of promoting the sense you are "wanted" or being "courted" is that everyone has "safety schools" on their lists. If you emailed me at (say) Yale and told me that you were getting "offers" or even "fly outs" my first impression would be "who knows? Harvard or Oklahoma State?"   With the job market some of these things are easier to determine but with grad admissions?  Much more opaque process from everyone's position and in most fields (even in History) there are a dozen great candidates for admission for every one you "lose."

[euges116]

The problem with grad school admission and the idea of promoting the sense you are "wanted" or being "courted" is that everyone has "safety schools" on their lists. If you emailed me at (say) Yale and told me that you were getting "offers" or even "fly outs" my first impression would be "who knows? Harvard or Oklahoma State?"   With the job market some of these things are easier to determine but with grad admissions?  Much more opaque process from everyone's position and in most fields (even in History) there are a dozen great candidates for admission for every one you "lose."

I hear ya, that makes sense. But I also agree with the fact that if the school *really* wants you (say, if you were in their top 5 choices out of say 200+ applicants, they would want to make you (err... me) and offer to keep you (err... me) from going to another school.

Of course, this would only be true if they REALLY wanted me. And I wouldn't know, of course, if I'm even in their top 100!

[contemporary_]

But I also agree with the fact that if the school *really* wants you (say, if you were in their top 5 choices out of say 200+ applicants, they would want to make you (err... me) and offer to keep you (err... me) from going to another school.

Of course, this would only be true if they REALLY wanted me. And I wouldn't know, of course, if I'm even in their top 100!

No, this would not be true.  Time to get over yourself.

[vardahilwen]

In reading your posts, I kind of wonder if you are underestimating the rest of the applicant pool. When you get to a Ph.D. program, you discover that you're not the smartest kid in the room anymore - EVERYONE is a star.

If they have 200 applicants, chances are that - once they screen out the handful of total losers who shouldn't have applied in the first place - they will still have dozens and dozens of people to choose from to fill their 6 or 8 (or however many) slots.  Every one of those people will have high grades, great letters of recommendation, all kinds of superb qualifications.  The committee chooses the cohort based on a lot of things, "fit" being an important one.  

I'm truly not trying to burst your bubble.  I'm just saying that, while I'm sure you're highly qualified, nearly everyone else in the applicant pool is probably *as* qualified, if not more so.  As you climb the ladder in life, the field narrows, BUT you are competing against better and better people.

Vardahilwen