Visiting grad programs

I'm going to start visiting philosophy PhD programs next week, and have been gathering advice on what to look for. Here is a summary (this post will be subject to continuous revision):

Talk to as many grad students as possible, to determine:

• the availability of various professors
• the quality of mentoring
• what each professor is like as an advisor
• the collegiality vs. competitiveness of the environment
• what's worst about the program
• overall morale
• whether grad students do much teaching, and how fun/distracting that is
• the level of support given to students to help them pass "milestones" in the program (qualifying exams, papers, etc.)
• how long it usually takes to complete the program
• what convinced them to choose the program
• what percentage of those who start the program complete it, and why those who drop out do so
• what topics they are working on
• If anything surprised them after they showed up at the program

Talk to the professors you might want to work with to get:

• a general "read" on your potential compatibility
• an idea of the level of support you might expect when you're looking for jobs
• their view on what sorts of students wind up being the most successful in the program
• their view on what sorts of projects wind up being the most successful dissertations
• an understanding of why they think you are an attractive candidate for the program
• what they most want to improve about the program

The Athena Report provides a good example of the sorts of questions to ask of students.

Finally, although there is no real pressure to make any decisions until April 15, it is a good thing if you're able to turn down schools early, so students on waitlists have a chance. This is particularly relevant the more offers you're sitting on, for at least two reasons: 1) with more offers, you are influencing more waitlists, 2) the more offers you have, the more likely that certain programs can be ruled out altogether from your consideration.