Some Thoughts On Grad School

calnewport.com/blog/2009/03/12/some-thoughts-on-grad-school/
March 12th, 2009 64 comments
The End is Near(ish)
As my final year as a PhD student continues its unnerving hurtle
forward, I thought it would be nice to reflect on my grad school
experience. Below are a collection of ideas, warnings, regrets, and
assorted lessons Ive accrued over my time so far at MIT.
Some of this advice I follow. Some I only wish I followed. All of it, I hope,
is more or less true.
Thought #1: Research Trumps All
This is the master thought that most of the other thoughts support. The
job of a graduate student is to learn how to do professional-quality research. At the end of your grad school
experience you will be judged by the quality and quantity of the research. And thats basically it. Remind yourself of
this truth often. If youre not making progress on your research, then radically rethink your scheduling priorities.
Thought #1.5: Dont Let Courses and Quals Distract You From Thought #1
Dont get too caught up in your courses or qualification exams. Study smart. Do good work. But remember, this isnt
college, and doing well academically is merely a prerequisite for being a successful graduate student its far from
the ultimate goal. Keep coming back to your research as priority #1.
Thought #2: Dont Be a Firefighter
A simple truth: youll have more urgent things on your plate than youll have time to complete. If you spend your
days only putting out one fire after the next as they arrive in your inbox paper review requests, articles to read,
extra experiments to conduct for your advisor youll get very little original research done. This violates thought
#1.
This syndrome, fortunately, is easy to avoid. Spend the first 2 -3 hours of the morning doing original work. Only
then should you check your e-mail for the first time that day (and let the firefighting begin).
Thought #3: Stick to a Fixed Work Day
The nature of graduate student work is paradoxical. Youll always feel like you should be working more hours.
However, if you add these extra hours, your work output doesnt increase much. With this in mind, you might as well
fix a regular work day (I do 9 to 5:30) and refuse to work beyond these hours (with the obvious exceptions: the
night before deadlines, etc.)
Do this, and four things will happen: First, youll focus more and get work done faster. Two, youll start work earlier
which increases its quality. Three, youll start turning down time-consuming requests that add little to your career
(and be pleased to discover that youre allowed to say no). And four, your stress and guilt will plummet.
Thought #4: Three Projects is Optimal
Working on one research project at a time is not enough. If you get stuck you can go many weeks beating your
head against the wall and getting nothing done. This sucks. More than three projects are too many; quality will
suffer and youll feel overwhelmed. This also sucks. Juggling three at time seems to be just about right.
Thought #5: But Dont Work on More than One Per Day
Within the context of a single day, focus your attention on a single project.
Thought #6: Listen to the Married Graduate Students and Ignore the Unmarried Students Who Live in
the Dorms
Students with families have perspective on life and friends outside of the university. They tend to be happy and
productive and think sleeping on the futon in your office is childish. They also bathe every day. Which is a nice
bonus. The students who are unmarried and living in the dorm have probably escaped, thus far, exposure to the
real world in any meaningful form, and because of this they are likely to have a warped sense of personal worth
and work habits, and suffer from weird guilt issues. Ignore them.
Thought #7: Promise People Deadlines Then Follow Through
The easiest way to avoid being hassled is to respond to requests with the specific day on which you will complete
the work, and then actually follow through. Do this, and people will leave you alone to accomplish things on your
own schedule.
Thought #8: Challenge Yourself Once a Month
Its so damn easy for your research to fall into a rut grooved by short-term decisions based on the question:
Whats the shortest path between here and a new publication?. Many a graduate student, faced with crafting a
job talk after 5 years of work, realizes, with horror, that his research direction is weak, jumbled, and uninspiring.
Once a month take yourself out for breakfast and ask: What is my research mission as a graduate student? And
how do I get back there from here? I imagine this is how lasting careers are founded. (I wish I did this more.)
Thought #9: Dont Mistake Experience for Smarts
Undergraduates think their graduate student TAs are smarter than them. Junior graduate students think the senior
graduate students are smarter than them. Senior graduate students think their advisors are smarter than them.
Sense a pattern? It all comes down to experience. The more time you spend working in a field, the better you get at
it, and the smarter you seem to those with less experience. Therefore, when youre young, dont get freaked out,
and when youre older, dont get too impressed with yourself.
Thought #10: Take Days Off
The wonderful thing about being a graduate student is that you dont have a real job. Your responsibilities are long-
term (produce good research) not short-term (answer the phones from 9 to 5). Embrace this fact. Take days off to
reward work well done and to unwind. See a movie in the afternoon at least once a month. No one is secretly
punching a time clock for you.
For my graduate student readers, what thoughts do you have about your academic experience?
(photo by Lupton Library)