Considerations in Picking a Graduate School:  (In no particular order)

Be sure to ask both faculty and graduate students!

1.  Location:  Is it in a part of the country/world where you want to be?  Is it in the right kind of place in terms of city vs. country?  Is there good public transportation?  Will you be able to find affordable housing near the university?  Can the public transportation get you from where you’ll probably live to where you’ll work?  2-body problem.  Is the kind of social life which interests you available?   Do students have time for a social life?

2.  Money and Work:  Does it pay well enough to live on (compare cost of living indexes for area)?  What type of work is expected of you as an entering grad student?  How much work is expected of you?  When are you expected to teach a class and what kind of preparation for teaching is there?  Does the pay rate change?  How do duties change as you progress in the program?  Are you guaranteed funding for the duration of your studies?  For a set number of years?  Or is funding awarded on a yearly basis?  What would disqualify you from funding?

3.  Health Care:  Does the school provide health care?  What does it cover, who does it cover?  Do you have to pay for parts of it (size of copayment, limits to coverage, do you foot any of the bill of the policy itself)? Does the school provide dental care?

4.  Learning:  What is the school’s academic reputation in your field?  How is the program set up, i.e. how structured is the coursework and what do they expect you to already know (what topics do their undergrad classes in things like algebra and analysis cover)?  How many classes do you take at a time?  How long should the program take?  Do they try to stall students to keep them there longer as inexpensive, well-trained labor?  If you aren’t sure about PhD, do they have a Master’s program and is it reputable?  When (and how) do you choose an advisor?  How easy is it to change advisors?

5.  Exams:  Are there qualifying exams?  What kind of qualifying exams are there (written vs. oral)?  Are the exams used as weeding?  What percentage of students pass them on the first try?  What’s the time table for taking such exams? What kind of foreign language knowledge is required?

6.  Your Interests:  Are there people there doing things you’re interested in working on and possibly writing your dissertation about?  If you don’t know what you want to work on, do they have people doing research in a variety of topics?  Watch out for people who may be retired by the time you will have passed your qualifying exams.

7.  Atmosphere:  What is the general atmosphere like?  How many graduate students are there, how many faculty?  How much contact is there with undergrads?  When do the professors acknowledge graduate students as worthwhile individuals?  What’s the gender ratio among students and faculty, and importantly, among degree recipients?  What’s the ratio of Americans vs. Internationals? Are the graduate students happy there (make sure you ask them directly)? 

8. Afterwards:  How well are recent degree recipients employed, and where? 

9.  Special Considerations for Women:  Are there female faculty?  Talk to female graduate students!  You may want to do this in private.  Do they feel that the department is supportive/exclusionary of women?  Do they feel included in the informal community of the department?  Are there any male professors or graduate students who have been known to behave inappropriately toward female members of the department?  Are there faculty members who are known to mentor female students particularly well?  Is there a women’s support group?  What do they do?