<p>Out of curiosity, when is it a good time to go visit graduate schools? Before or after applying/getting in? I'd actually like to go visit some schools this summer before I apply.</p>
<p>Graduate schools (at least the engineering PhD programs I’ve applied to) typically have a visit day for prospective students in the spring, after they have been admitted.</p>
<p>Although many graduate programs invite admitted students to visit, if you have time and uncertain about whether or not you would be happy living in a particular type of environment, i.e. big city or small town, east coast or midwest, you might want to visit graduate schools, or at least the places where some schools are, during the summer before you plan to apply. These visits might help you narrow down your list of graduate schools. </p>
<p>My child found summer touring helped eliminate some schools from a list of potential academic matches. Because graduate school applications are time-consuming to complete and visiting days for admitted students occur mostly during February and March, at least in my child’s field, it was not feasible to apply to more than about eight programs at six schools. Eliminating some schools because their locations did not suit was extremely useful.</p>
<p>Call the admissions office. Most schools allow for visits any time. They have scheduled tours and events and they even take individuals if you can’t make the events. You should always visit before you apply if it’s feasible. If not visit after you get accepted but before you spend any serious money.</p>
<p>Personally I didn’t think it was such a good idea to visit before I was admitted - just from living to adulthood I had some ideas about the type of environment I wanted to live in anyway, but geographic location and type of area should be lower on the totem pole when picking a graduate school anyway. It’s my opinion that you shouldn’t eliminate anything from a list of academic matches BEFORE you apply, because you never know what kind of fantastic offer you’ll get and how well the department is a match for you. Especially for competitive PhD programs, I think it’s a bad idea to eliminate places based solely on location unless the location is somewhere you know you’ll be miserable. Graduate school is only about 5-7 years, which in the long run is not a long time to live somewhere you don’t love but can at least tolerate, especially if you have a useful degree and great contacts at the end of it.</p>
<p>I did visit one school before I applied, but that’s because I lived 20 minutes away from it. I think it’s better to save your money and time to visit after you’ve been admitted and hopefully have an offer in hand.</p>