I applied to a few schools and my chances of getting into either one of them low at best. One school invited me (and other candidates) to meet with faculty and attend the annual research review. I will not be able to make the visit because on the day it is scheduled I have to work (career/salary job/I'm on important projects and can't skip work or take the day off).
Does declining the invitation reflect poorly on my candidacy?
Am I screwed? - No hope of getting in?
I would try really hard to take care of the work obligations some other time. Work all night the next week if you have to.
Good luck.
try to go wrote:
I would try really hard to take care of the work obligations some other time. Work all night the next week if you have to.
Good luck.
Thanks for the tip. It is a good idea, but in my field projects are VERY time sensitive. I work with live data, consistently pouring in. My job is to take the latest data, synthesize it and disseminate the useful information to the public. I can not
The job you're in now is your present, but graduate school is your future. Ask yourself this: "Is it worth risking my future success to work one day in my present job?"
If the answer is no, then go to the interview. If the answer is yes, then why are you leaving your current job? If you care so much about it that you won't miss one day, why leave?
I disagree with the above posters. I'll give you my input as a grad student at a decent, fully-funded program and have been on our admissions committee (reading all files, etc) and have been involved in too many 'recruitment weekend' type events (i.e. one is too many). Keep in mind that this is only my experience with profs in my department; perhaps this is not the norm.
I didn't go to my own recruitment weekend since I was, like you, engaged at work. When you tell the profs that "I can't come, I am collecting data," they hear "I am serious about my work/research and will apply the same work ethic to grad school if accepted." That's definitely how profs in my department think, and is basically what they have actually said when discussing recruits who can't make the recruitment weekend trip.
Furthermore, since you were already invited out of a likely huge number of applicants, they already think you are good. Now, ask yourself this question; will most of these academically distinguished recruits be able to be even more impressive in person than in their totally inflated letters of rec, statements, and undergrad grades? No, they won't. Which illustrates the fact that these events often CAN hurt you but OFTEN cannot help. They probably set up a phone interview instead, where you'll just talk with your potential advisors for 30min or so.
Anyway, if you were applying to my program, I would advise you not to come. Hopefully that is the case with your program.
For PhD programs in engineering, if you get invited to a recruitment weekend you are 99% of the way into the university. They want you to come so they can convince you to attend school there, not the other way around. If you don't go, communicate with the department's administrative people as much as you can--either try to find another weekend you can go or set up a chance to talk with a few professors over the phone. In other words, if you are going to miss the recruiting event make sure that they know you are VERY interested otherwise they won't waste an admission spot on you.