Via Matt McIrvin, Total Drek's Unhelpful Hints for Graduate Students:
(1) It is important to realize as soon as possible that you are not an undergraduate any longer. In fact, you're not really even a student. Grad school is more like an apprenticeship program than traditional schooling. As such, you're here to learn by doing. Stop thinking about what you do as "school" and start thinking of it as "work" and particularly as "your career." You're no longer practicing for your future- you're doing it right now.
(2) Along these lines, keep in mind that nobody is impressed with your ability to get by while doing as little as possible. If you didn't want to do the work, you shouldn't have come to grad school. The idea here is to work hard and accomplish a lot, not just to pass classes.
Some bits of it are more applicable to social sciences and humanities than science, but for the most part, it's excellent general advice. If you're thinking about, or just starting grad school, read it.
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Coincidently, I am gathering data on grad school. I'd registered for grad school at a large New England university in 1973, earned a M.S. in a year flat (though administrative error delayed its award by a semester), and then plunged into PhD research and publication.
Now, 34 years later, I start classes later this week at a different grad school at a large California university. This time, it is just to tunnel through the absurd barriers imposed by Federal "No Child Left Behind" regulations, to continue some High School teaching. I was on campus last week to get my Student photo ID card made, ahead of the first-classes rush. The folks in the appropriate office on the 2nd floor of the new Student Union building pondered the first digit of my student ID number, per an email from the VP of Student Services, Enrollment. "This means that you're an employee," they said.
"I don't think so," I demurred. I'm in the College of Education, to get teaching credentials."
They insisted.
"Okay," I said. "Where do I go to get an advance on my first paycheck?"
It may be that the ID number is a remainder from when I was in the Faculty Pool to teach Computer Science at that university, which never was actualized due to budget cuts.
So the linkage between grad school and job is complicated.
I hope to see how grad school has changed in 1/3 of a century. It is already clear that MANY more people are seeking Master's degrees, for various reasons. The cult of the MBA (such as George W. Bush has) is one reason. Schools have exploited the revenue possibilities of the expanded Master's niche. For another, a Bachelor's degree has been generally dumbed down.
Why are we here?
Colleges ignore life's biggest questions, and we all pay the price
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/ideas/articles/2007/09/16/why_are_we_h…
Don't forget the university-issued creepiness as well. But yeah, that was an interesting post.