I just sent an email to a Cultural Studies list asking for Phd program recommendations and got an email asking about advice for grad school. I just wrote a long ass email so I figure I'd post it for all to benefit:
- know your program well and take just what you need to take or you will never graduate (like some of my peers who've been in the program 5 years +)
- go to office hours and get to know the personalities/academic specialties of your profs, and be quick to find a couple that will really know your work well. you need to start thinking about who you'll choose for your thesis/exam committee
- time flies FAST - do not leave things (like figuring out which profs you want as advisors, committee members etc)
- be sure to stand out. grad school is the time to form relationships with profs so they'll write you good letters for scholarships and doctoral programs -- this is really important
- participate a lot in class but dont take over dicussions no matter how smart you (think you) are -- participate too little and people think you're creepy, participate too much and the class will hate you
- go to the parties and be fun but behave - you'd be amazed the value of friendship and networking with your peers (this is not the time to be a hermit or "that creepy dude")
- try to start thinking about your thesis topic so you can work on the same topic in more than one class e.g. research methods, criticism, intro to grad study etc.... that way you have chipped away at your lit review so you have less work to do when thesis time comes around. (this saved my ass, trust me)
- even if you have a job already, try to TA because it gives you teaching experience and increases your exposure to profs, which then makes you more eligible for department awards and scholarships
- talk discretely with more senior students to get the scoop on the profs (and go to ratemyprofessor.com). You'll want to make sure you don't get too close to faculty who are known to be dishonest, tempermental, or just plain crazy
- make sure you are well equipped - computer, printer etc. I've seen a lot of students scramble because of technology failures/relying on campus resources
1 comment:
... and all this time, I thought grad school was just a way for people to stay in the world of academia, to (a) escape the cruel cold real-world and (b) to extend their time to attend crazy college parties.
Post a Comment