Grad School Rush

Coming up soon is the time of year when a whole gaggle of college seniors start going around to various graduate programs to decide where they will attend graduate school. At least in astronomy (I can't really speak to other academic fields), many schools really wine and dine the students, trying to entice these 22-year olds to grace the department with their scholarly presence for the next 4-6 years. It can be a very bizarre thing, this whole courting of students thing. It's all very "sorority rush" to me. (And yes, gasp, I did the sorority in thing in college. It's apparently atypical for an astronomer, hence the blank stares of confusion directed at me when I used to mention to colleagues my days in a college sorority.)

It really is like an academic rush. Because the students are often admitted to the school before being invited to visit, the whole point of the visit becomes the department trying to impress the student. There's a whole dog and pony show that the department puts on, showing off their dazzling research opportunities and the fantastic locale where you are now lucky enough to get to live should you choose to attend Astronomy U. There are presentations detailing the glories of the department, there are tours of the facilities, and there are parties designed to facilitate after hours interaction between students and faculty. The whole thing is often topped off with a weekend-long demo of the frighteningly stunted social skills of an entire department of astronomers. All this to convince students that this department is the one to join instead of all of the others to which they were also accepted.

When I take a step back to look at it, it's all just a very strange event. One I am sad to say that I am not looking forward to this year. I'm just to old to smile and put on a good show any more.