What is Graduate School about?
Goals and Survival Skills
Acknowledgement: CRA-W Graduate Cohort
Outline
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How to succeed in grad school
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How to manage common issues
Important to realize
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Class performance is not as important as
before – but you still have to do well
In research, no-one knows the answer!
You’re in charge of your education and
career
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not yet sure of your destination – cover all
bases
need help – apprentice in research
Colleagues you meet can be lifelong friends
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Research Success
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"If you want to make important
discoveries, work on important problems” P.B. Medawar
Find problems that will have an impact and are
fun to work on
Apprenticeship
Learn from all aspects of grad school
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Classes: engage in discussions, ask
questions!
Projects: improve programming/system
skills, develop assessment, writing skills
Seminars: learn how to frame an idea
... and ask more questions!
People: sound out ideas - colleagues
Papers: learn the art of reading a paper
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Critical reading – goals match what was done?
Assumptions?
Apprenticeship - cont
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Attend seminars
Attend Ph.D. proposal presentations
Attend Ph.D. defenses
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Broaden knowledge
Might find an interesting topic or see a
relationship
Listen to how others ask questions
Pay attention to how people give
presentations
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Select courses and profs strategically
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Get project experience
Learn about likely research areas
Learn about important techniques
Learn about the profs ... and impress
them!
Communicate technical material well
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Distill complex ideas down to a few
clear, concise statements
Volunteer to present in seminars
Get (and give) feedback
Write multiple drafts of papers
Talks - practice, practice, practice!
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By yourself
In front of friends and family
In front of colleagues
Manage your time
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Prioritize
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Eliminate context-switching overhead
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Decide what is most important
Make time to think about and do research!
For TA duties, respond to emails in batches,
rather than being interrupt-driven
For research, allocate several contiguous hours &
eliminate distractions
Plan ahead for departmental milestones
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qualifying exams, breadth requirements, finding
an advisor
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Not that you expect to, but...
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Sometimes unanticipated situations arise
when working closely with others...
Consensual relationships (or close personal
relationships) with faculty are against policy,
due to inherently unequal positions of power
„ Best case scenario:
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not a good forum for experiencing & evaluating a
relationship
Worst case scenario:
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uncomfortable at best
may color what other faculty think of you
may compromise your career
faculty partner may have to go – and you?
Always believe in yourself
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it’s normal to lose confidence sometimes
if you always excel, you’re probably not
taking enough risks
find others who believe in you too
ask about scholarships, travel awards
suggest paper deadlines
celebrate each step forward!
Outline
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How to succeed in grad school
Some common issues and how to manage
them
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Adjusting to grad school
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Everybody arrives with different strengths &
experiences
„ But really, everyone is in the same boat
„ With practice, you can get up to speed
Grad school is very “bursty”
„ At times, it will demand enormous amounts
of time – paper deadlines, exams
„ Give yourself time to recover between the
bursts
Growing as a researcher
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A major transition happens in grad school
„ Classes are almost done
„ Now, you have to define your own research agenda
„ Self-driven schedule
Having a good support network will smooth this transition
„ Build relationships with mentors during first 2 years
„ Turn to them for support and inspiration
„ Re-introduce structure to your environment
„ reading groups
„ monthly social lunches to build a sense of community with
peers
You are in charge of your
graduate career...
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You need to make things
happen
You CAN make things
happen
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and if you need it, help is
there. Use it!
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