I successfully visited four grad schools in three days. I met with 18 professors and post-docs, and several more grad students. I was only late to one of those meetings (damn traffic on 95!), and I really learned a lot about the schools (well, excepting for MIT: after living there for five years, I really don't need to watch a promotional video).
Princeton: This was the only school on this trip that I visited during the official prospective student days. I had lots of half-hour meetings with professors, went on a tour with one of the current grad students, and Prof Bartels invited the Americanists over for dinner at his large and beautiful house. It was odd being on a campus where the poli sci building was closer to center campus than computer science (certainly not the case at MIT).
Columbia: What I found interesting about Columbia is that the school is on a platform above the city's street level. Thus, they are able to build a somewhat normal-looking campus in the "middle" of Manhattan. Besides the obvious symbolism between academics and city-dwellers, I think the setup works quite nicely. The department was nice enough to send me to lunch with other grad students in the fancy faculty dining hall. The desserts ther were phenomenal.
Yale: In direct contrast to Columbia, this campus is built into the city of New Haven much more than I expected. Unfortunately, most of the professors in my subfield weren't around to talk. I met with post docs and took a tour of Yale that was mainly tailored for undergrads. During the tour I stepped on an unlucky stone by accident--the tour guide didn't warn us! (I say "an unlucky stone" instead of "the unlucky stone" since given the amount of superstition on that campus, I'm sure there are more than one. Perhaps this mysticism comes from the culture of the secret societies.)
Mara was kind enough entertained me Thursday evening; Sam D stopped by as well. Mara, her sister, and I had famous New Haven brick-oven pizza; following dinner we went to the Yale Rep theatre (the one with the big red doors). I can't say that the play we watched (Miss Julie) was all that engaging--I started to doze off at some points (hey, all these meetings tire you out).
MIT: Thanked my former professors for giving me such a great undergrad education that I got in to all these schools!
For the curious, I am closer to making a decision, but you'll have to ask me about it personally, as some of the aforementioned schools have visited MindlessPhilosopher.
More on the non-school part of my trip later. (Chicklet and I are trying the Avenue Q lottery again tonight.)
methinks something exciting is occurring in your life. do tell. in pursuit of your phd, mon ami? doing what? poly sci? comp sci? sci sci? okay i made that one up. but it was funny to me. mba? something else? being a professional student? ;) hehehe well i'll be a doctor before you! nyah nyah nyah! 2006 baby! hey i think i'll be the first one out of our group to be like 'hey what's up i'm a docta, baby' ;)
much love, hope all is well. *hugs*
Phd in political science (or "politics" at Princeton).
Yeah, I definitely think you'll beat me to becoming a doctor. The absolute earliest I could get my degree would be 2009. (Damn that seems like a long time from now.)
i'll beat you to being a doctor, but you might get a little more sleep than i will once i graduate. however, i know i'll be in good company future Dr. S. good for you, poli sci phd! excellent! i'm glad you're getting out there and using your potential for all that schoolin'! :)
*hugs* - future Dr. H.
Hopefully I'll be as useful with my phd at healing the world as you will be with your MD
*more hugs*