Open House Dates

[Bobandham]

Does anyone know if institutions plan their open houses around when the grant offers of admission. Basically, I don’t want to RSVP for an open house at a backup school and realize that I cannot go to an open house for a different school (to which I haven’t heard whether or not I have been granted admission) because they are on the same date.

Thanks

[jabennett2194]

I worry about this as well. I asked the same question last year and there is really nothing I've thought of yet! Would appreciate other's thoughts. (Luckily not the case this year, got into one of my top choices so I'm very comfortable paying for the plane ticket because I know ... unless I get into Caltech or MIT and its on the same day, I'm totally going.)

[jabennett2194]

I wonder if it would pay to go back through old Applicant profile 201* threads to see if there is any mentions of open houses for programs you're looking into, and then comparing.

Or even reach out to your top choices and don't even ask about your application status yet, just say "you're my top choice and I want to know if you have any inkling of when the open house for the program may be so i can know if i should book this flight to a school lower on my priorities."

[jabennett2194]

I was thinking we could get the accepted students at schools we are interested in to give us some info now!

What I know:

Stony Brook = March 29th and 30th

Northeastern = March 21st

Virginia Tech = No set date (Admitted students in the U.S. are highly encouraged to arrange a campus visit. Instead of one designated weekend, we are flexible with dates. (Although, we do suggest a Thursday-Saturday visit, if possible.) Please contact Betty Wilkins ([email protected]) at your earliest convenience to plan a visit that meets your schedule and that of your faculty of interest. The department will cover all lodging and meals, as well as transportation costs of up to $300 to and from Blacksburg. (If this amount is cost-prohibitive, please let us know.))

Perimeter Institute = They don't have one

Can everyone please comment about the open house dates they know? This way everyone can know about any potential scheduling conflicts that may arise if they're accepted to one of their top choices.

Personally, I would like to know the dates of the following:
Johns Hopkins
Caltech
Princeton
UCSB
U Michigan
Cornell
U Southern California
Rutgers
Boston U
UIUC
Brandeis

[cat_mama]

Open house dates I know:

UW Seattle: 02/28-02/29
UCSB: 03/08-03/09 (women in physics dinner on 03/07)
Stanford: 03/10-03/11
Cornell: 03/20-03/21 (women in physics dinner on 03/19)
Columbia: 03/22-03/23
UIUC: 03/27-03/28

with some social activities scheduled for the evening before the start of open house for those that arrive early.

[jabennett2194]

Open house dates I know:

UW Seattle: 02/28-02/29
UCSB: 03/08-03/09 (women in physics dinner on 03/07)
Stanford: 03/10-03/11
Cornell: 03/20-03/21 (women in physics dinner on 03/19)
Columbia: 03/22-03/23
UIUC: 03/27-03/28

with some social activities scheduled for the evening before the start of open house for those that arrive early.

Brilliant, thank you @cat_mama!

[lastgobestgo]

UT Austin: 02/12-14
Penn State: 03/27-28

[s1gexc]

Uni New Mexico - 3/6-3/7

[Bobandham]

Does anyone know when UC Irvine's Open House is?

[jabennett2194]

Johns Hopkins is on Mar. 12 and 13. There will also be an optional dinner with graduate students on Mar. 11 and a brunch for women in physics on Mar. 14.

Does anyone know Boston's?

[Nishikata]

Will these Open House events still be held, I wonder?

Even APS March Meeting was cancelled this week due to coronavirus.

In Japan, all events are largely cancelled.

[cat_mama]

Will these Open House events still be held, I wonder?

Stanford cancelled Open House yesterday. I'm thinking of going to Bay area anyways though and individually visit the labs since I'll already be in CA for UCSB and bought my outbound plane ticket from San Jose, and I imagine other cross admits would do something similar, since buying new inbound/outbound tickets at this point would be absurdly expensive.

[geekusprimus]

Will these Open House events still be held, I wonder?

I think it largely depends on where and when. Most of the students invited to these open houses for US schools are going to be in the US already. Some schools in California and Washington might cancel their events, but events in the next week or so elsewhere in the country will probably still be held. For those being held at the end of the month, I guess it probably depends on how bad it gets.

[cat_mama]

I think it largely depends on where and when. Most of the students invited to these open houses for US schools are going to be in the US already. Some schools in California and Washington might cancel their events, but events in the next week or so elsewhere in the country will probably still be held. For those being held at the end of the month, I guess it probably depends on how bad it gets.

No Cornell just cancelled their Open House happening towards the end of March minutes ago, and Ithaca is hardly a high risk location. I'm just a slight bit annoyed because I got the cheapest tickets for all my visits, which means that I can't even get any refunds for cancelling. Presumably the schools will reimburse anyways, but at this point, I might as well go on all those trips.

EDIT: Yikes UCSB just cancelled (Heard same for UC Berkeley from my friends and presumably other UCs as well). I was supposed to fly there tomorrow..

[jabennett2194]

I think it largely depends on where and when. Most of the students invited to these open houses for US schools are going to be in the US already. Some schools in California and Washington might cancel their events, but events in the next week or so elsewhere in the country will probably still be held. For those being held at the end of the month, I guess it probably depends on how bad it gets.

No Cornell just cancelled their Open House happening towards the end of March minutes ago, and Ithaca is hardly a high risk location. I'm just a slight bit annoyed because I got the cheapest tickets for all my visits, which means that I can't even get any refunds for cancelling. Presumably the schools will reimburse anyways, but at this point, I might as well go on all those trips.

EDIT: Yikes UCSB just cancelled (Heard same for UC Berkeley from my friends and presumably other UCs as well). I was supposed to fly there tomorrow..

wow this is terrifying. i think the open houses will be a huge part of making sure the school is right for you. im praying mine don't get canceled! D:

[viggomortensen]

Though it is for the best, I fear the impact cancelling these open houses will have. It's very difficult to get an honest impression from the faculty and graduate students without being face-to-face. It must be especially difficult for students who have to decide between multiple schools and were relying on the open houses to help them in their decision.

[jabennett2194]

Though it is for the best, I fear the impact cancelling these open houses will have. It's very difficult to get an honest impression from the faculty and graduate students without being face-to-face. It must be especially difficult for students who have to decide between multiple schools and were relying on the open houses to help them in their decision.

That's exactly my point.
In my personal situation, I've been accepted to one of the best schools in the country for my intended sub-field, and another school that has roughly 3 PIs that I'm interested in working under and who are available to take a student. (Annoyingly, the other school has a higher OVERALL physics ranking and has international name recognition ... it's just weak in my intended sub-field compared to the top-choice school.)
But I was still planning on going to both open houses in case I got amazing vibes from the backup school and awful vibes from the top choice.
The open house of the other school was just canceled.
I know it seems rash, but there is no way I'm considering the other school now.
The city, the personalities of potential mentors, and potential peers of this other school are not things that can be conveyed via email (or rather, not all can be conveyed via Skype).
Now I'm just praying the top-choice school's open house isn't canceled!

[ChunnyD]

It seems like many open houses have already been cancelled. I just got notice that Chicago is closing theirs, which was scheduled for this upcoming weekend. Besides that, I've heard that Harvard, MIT, Berkeley, Cornell, and JHU have also cancelled their open houses.

Not sure if there is anything that we as a community can do? I was really looking forwards to meeting people from this incoming class - maybe having more facebook groups/forum spaces for the incoming students to mingle?

[cat_mama]

I know it seems rash, but there is no way I'm considering the other school now.
The city, the personalities of potential mentors, and potential peers of this other school are not things that can be conveyed via email (or rather, not all can be conveyed via Skype).

Honestly this is me right now. Everyone agrees Stanford is much more famous than UCSB, but at the moment with my limited information, I like UCSB better. I was hoping to attend the Open Houses to be maybe convinced that Stanford is more awesome (or confirm that UCSB is the right choice for me), but at this point, I don't know how that would happen over a virtual Open House. I really needed this Open House...

[jabennett2194]

I know it seems rash, but there is no way I'm considering the other school now.
The city, the personalities of potential mentors, and potential peers of this other school are not things that can be conveyed via email (or rather, not all can be conveyed via Skype).

Honestly this is me right now. Everyone agrees Stanford is much more famous than UCSB, but at the moment with my limited information, I like UCSB better. I was hoping to attend the Open Houses to be maybe convinced that Stanford is more awesome (or confirm that UCSB is the right choice for me), but at this point, I don't know how that would happen over a virtual Open House. I really needed this Open House...

You're field is CME if I remember correctly? Sorry don't know anything about the schools in that regard!
If it were me, UCSB and Stanford both have roughly the same # of amazing PIs in HEP-th and CMT, and all of them are going super cool work.
I would email the grad students who are working under the PIs you're interested in!
Ask about working with them, their work, the school etc.
Other factors I can think of:
although UCSB is super well known in the physics (and honestly all other STEM fields) the world-wide prestige of Stanford is astounding.
want to live on the beach or in silicon valley
cost of living in each and the stipend

[cat_mama]

You're field is CME if I remember correctly? Sorry don't know anything about the schools in that regard!
If it were me, UCSB and Stanford both have roughly the same # of amazing PIs in HEP-th and CMT, and all of them are going super cool work.
I would email the grad students who are working under the PIs you're interested in!
Ask about working with them, their work, the school etc.
Other factors I can think of:
although UCSB is super well known in the physics (and honestly all other STEM fields) the world-wide prestige of Stanford is astounding.
want to live on the beach or in silicon valley
cost of living in each and the stipend

Yes I'm CME! My problem is that if I choose UCSB, it would all be for this one professor I like above all other professors (yes, very risky, I know). In every other aspect (location, # of profs in my field, name recognition), Stanford comes out top. Thankfully finance isn't a problem because I have money saved up from working in tech, which is great because I plan to maintain my current living standards. One of the ways I'm working around the Open Houses being cancelled is setting up Skype meetings with all my potential advisors and their students, but I wonder how well those formal meetings compare to the more casual interactions that would occur in an actual Open House.

[jabennett2194]

when you say "it would all be for this one professor I like above all other professors" does that means there is one prof you like there, and the rest you just haven't interacted with yet (but they do cool work)?
Or does it mean there is literally one prof whose research interests you?