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Most Ph.D. programs require personal interviews. This is a great opportunity to get to know programs and to visit the schools. Masters degrees typically do not require personal interviews; however it is wise to visit the programs.

Keep in mind that even though a university is large in size, you will spend almost all of your working time in a single building and will interact with a relatively small group of faculty and graduate students. Therefore, investigate the specific place where you may be and don’t be taken in by the large size of the undergraduate campus.  If the program does not have a formal visitation time or personal interviews, you will have to arrange visitation for yourself.

Before visiting a school, call the program administer or graduate admissions coordinator to help arrange your visit. They will help arrange a tour of the department’s facilities.  It is also helpful to see if you can stay with graduate students.  This provides an excellent opportunity to spend time with someone on the “inside”.

Consider all the time you spend at the program a long interview. While you are gathering information, others are gathering information about you.  Professors will often quiz you on your plans and your background, and this could have an impact on whether they accept you into the program. Typically a visit to a program will consist of a long day of one-on-one interviews with around 5-6 professors.  They will also talk about their research and expect thoughtful questions and a scientific discussion.  Often students are given a list before they arrive of professors they will be talking with.  In order to help your discussion of their research, you should investigate what these professors do.

If the program does not give you an itinerary, it is fair to ask the admission coordinator what to expect such as format of the interviews, schedule of visit, etc.  
Dress code for the interviews is “Dress Casual”. Formal attire (suit and tie) is more normal for medical school interviews or applying for a job.

Things to tour:
- equipment that is available for use by the graduate students
- office space reserved for graduate students
- library facilities (proximity to labs, range of journals, electronic access to journals, books, space to study, etc)
- access to personal computers (almost all labs have plenty of computers now, some labs provide students with their own laptop)
- extras: bookstores, local restaurants and bars, transportation (shuttle bus, trains, etc), churches, parks, etc. Remember you may have to live here from 2-7 years.
 
Spend time talking to one or more graduate students. Students are a far better source than faculty members for many of the following questions. Ask if you can have an opportunity to talk to a student. If there is not a scheduled time, offer to treat a graduate student to lunch.

There is a lot of important information to gather about each school outside of program information.  Some main questions to ask current graduate students are:

What is the availability of stipends and fellowships?
Are you able to live off the available stipend?
Where do students live and are the neighborhoods safe/nice?
What is the quality of life in the community outside the university?
How do they like the program, facilities, faculty, and student groups?
What are their impressions concerning prospects for employment after graduation and the involvement of faculty in helping them find jobs?
Are the faculty open to you going into alternative careers (science writing, patent law, government regulations, etc)?
What does the teaching assistant workload involve?
How is the overall relationships between graduate students and professors?

After your visit is complete, it is important to remember to send a short note or e-mail to thank whoever spent time with you on your visit. It is extremely important to send a note ASAP to any professor you had contact with, because some of them will be involved in the admission decisions.

Keep the following in mind when writing your thank you note:
- Your note does not need to be long, but keep it professional. Check spelling and grammar, and have someone proof read it.  Remember, every interaction with them needs to be your best.
- Try to mention a conversation you had with them so that they will remember you from everyone else they talked to.
- If they talked about their research, mention it, such as, “Your description of the hedgehog pathway and fruit fly development was very interesting.  It was fascinating how studying the development of the fruit fly could help us understand skin cancer.”
- Make sure you get the details correct. You don’t want to offend or appear not be interested in their research.
- Keep Thank You notes in mind when you are meeting people, and make mental notes (or physical ones) of what to include. 
- Remember to actually state that you would love to be a part of their program. Don’t figure that it is implied.

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