Visiting Grad Schools: Tips for Requesting a Visit

[Lavabug]

Much to my delight and surprise, I have recently been offered admission grad school. I currently have one offer but am going to wait to hear back from a few more schools before possibly visiting and committing to one. I've kept in contact with the school and let them know of this intention.

The school has not stipulated any "open house" days or travel reimbursement as some other schools seem to offer, and I am wondering what the proper etiquette is for requesting a visit (and possibly a travel subsidy, if it's not a stretch, as I am in a tight financial situation right now). How should I go about asking this or any additional schools that send me an offer of admission?

I have a few ideas of what I would like to get out of a visit (talking with current grad students and the prof's who are most likely to supervise me, as well as gathering some idea about the living costs in the area), but it seems like a big request to ask for an "open house" day for a single student.

 

[Choppy]

Usually there is a graduate adviser or associate chair in charge of graduate students who can serve as a primary contact. I would email one of these people and simply tell them that you're interested in coming for a visit and name anyone in particular you'd like to talk to. If you have a particular supervisor in mind, you could also arrange the visit with that person specifically.

It's fine to ask about reimbursement. Some schools will offer this. Others won't. Although, chances are if they haven't already brought it up they don't really have the money for it.

 

[Mmm_Pasta]

As far as I know you are an international student. This could also be a reason why they have not mentioned any open house dates. It is worth contacting them, though.

 

[Vanadium 50]

Most US schools do not invite (and reimburse) prospective graduate students to visit, although some do. Choppy is right - they can usually arrange for prospective students to visit, but if they didn't mention reimbursement, it's likely they don't have a budget for it.

 

[jesse73]

Open House visits are reimbursed if your school has the money. I haven't seen anyone do it for international students though which makes sense (A ticket from East-West Coast runs ~$200 while an international ticket will run 2x to 5x that).

 

[radium]

For my schools, they all mentioned it in the acceptance and two sent specific follow up emails for RSVPs and more information.