How To Survive As A CSD
Graduate Student
Seán Slattery
Current Survival Rates
Graduate Students
40
35
30
Got Ph.D.
Gone
Absentia
On Leave
Still Here
25
20
15
10
5
0
1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000
Entering Year
Your Immediate Concerns
• Finding an advisor
• Doing some research
• Classes & other requirements
– Writing/speaking/hacking
– TA’ing
• Staying sane
Finding An Advisor: Step 1
• Find faculty you might be interested in
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IC Talks
Web pages
Faculty Research Guide
Suggestions from students & other faculty
Finding An Advisor: Step 2
Find out more about them
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Ask them for a meeting
Talk to their students
Talk to their ex-students
Read some of their papers
Maybe attend a project meeting
Finding An Advisor: Step 3
Come to an agreement
– Tell them you’d like to put them down as your
1st (2nd, 3rd) choice
– Verify that they’ll ask for you too
– Fill out your marriage form accordingly
Finding An Advisor: Questions
Questions to ask:
Availability – does s/he have room for you?
Commitment – will s/he stand by you?
Personalities – will you get along?
Research style – can you do it that way?
Research topics – are you interested?
Resources – do you want travel and toys?
Finding An Advisor: Pitfalls
• Not getting the one you wanted
• Not getting along with the one you got
• Losing the one you got (they leave CMU)
Reassurance: you can change advisors, but
– Don’t do it too many times (more than twice)
– Don’t burn your bridges
Finding An Advisor: Variations
Multiple advisors
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More benefits, more pitfalls
Often one has the money, one has the time
Maybe you want a non-CSD advisor
Sometimes a tactful way to transition
On Having an Advisor
• Like having a temporary parent
– Invested in you, responsible for you
– Sometimes that makes them act weird
• Communicate lots
– Tell them what you’re doing
– Tell them how you’re doing
– Tell them what you think you need
More on Having an Advisor
Advisors are human and flawed
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Often under lots of pressure
Don’t always have great social skills
Often forget to give any positive feedback
Can unintentionally seem rude or disapproving
Coping advice
– When you can, don’t take it personally
– When you can’t, ask for reassurance
Research: The Early Years
What you’ll (hopefully) get out of it
– Learn your own research style, and whether it
meshes well enough with your advisor’s
– A publication or two
– Your hacking/writing/speaking requirements
Doesn’t need to lead straight to thesis work.
Research: How’s Your Ego?
Undergraduate work
– Get given a task, complete it well, get praise
Graduate work
– Find a problem you want to solve
– Get grudging support for working on it
– Have to justify why your work is worthwhile
Do it because you want to
Classes, Skills
• Classes
– May seem very hard or very easy
– It’s not unusual to fail one, nor is it a big deal
– Always take more time than they should
• Speaking/writing/hacking requirements
– Still being debugged
More Stuff
• TA’ing
– Always takes way more time that it should
• In general
– Take your advisor’s advice on scheduling
Black Friday - How it works
• The faculty meet and discuss each student
• Key question:
Are you progressing and do the faculty believe
you will finish eventually?
• Your advisor writes a letter giving you
feedback and setting goals for next semester
• Jeanette signs the letter
Black Friday – What to do
• Make sure your advisor will be there, or has
arranged for someone else to be
• Talk to your advisor about what they’ll say
• Give your advisor information to work with
• Then, stop worrying
– Go back to your work
– Go to the Black Friday TG
Staying Sane
• Don’t get isolated
– spend time with people
– talk to people about your work
• Remember
– there’s life after CMU
– there’s life outside CMU
– you do this because you want to
• Work on something you love
Staying Sane: Maladies
Imposter syndrome
– You think you’ve been successfully faking
being good enough to be here, but one day
you’ll fail and everyone will scorn you
– Is very, very common
Best cure
– Talk to other students, admit feeling that way
Staying Sane: Maladies
• Spiraling perfectionism
– Your work is too trivial for anyone to care
about and you freeze up
• Best cure
– Read papers, go to talks, go to conferences,
recalibrate
Staying Sane: Maladies
• Trouble and panic
– Failed exam or course
– Research stalls or doesn’t pan out
– Fight with advisor
• Best Cure
– Remember it happens to everyone sometime
– Remember help is available
Resources
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Sharon (busy, but wise)
The Ombudsperson (Shawn Butler)
Your advisor
Other students
The CMU counseling center
The Zephyr anonymoose (see the FZQ)