Grad school advice -- Year Two
So, after my first year in the lab, I met with my advisor for my annual chat about "the big picture." I consider most of our meetings as being about the trees rather than the forest, but once a year I try to get my advisor to think about the forest, and part of that forest is how I'm doing as a grad studet and what I could do to be more effective.
So, I reminded my advisor what he said last year. Then I asked him what I should work on this year. His response: multi-task. He told me that I shouldn't be working on just one project right now, but that I needed to get something burning on each burner plate.
At the time, I was a little bit disappointed and I thought that this was his way of saying that I wasn't working hard enough, and that I needed to work more in general.
In retrospect, I realize that he wasn't worried about how much I was working, but rather how much I was working on one thing. Early in grad school, you have to branch out a bit and see what works for you. You surely learn quickly that not everything is going to pan out, so you need a plan B, C, and D.
It's a lot like investing. The number one rule of investing is to diversify. That way, if you get a lemon or two, you're not completely out of luck. Also, by diversifying, one of your picks might be the next Microsoft, Ebay, or Google. That lucky pick might just get you a yacht and an early retirement.
Likewise, you might strike gold with one of your early research projects and land a good paper or two early in grad school. If so, then you earn yourself a little freedom for the last couple of years of grad school because you've already done enough to probably earn a degree, but you just need to put in the time expected by your advisor, committee, and/or department.
So, diversify, diversify, diversify early in grad school. You'll naturally find yourself gravitating to whichever project is the most interesting to you (and probably the one that is working the best). Once you've found that project, you're probably ending your second year, and you're ready for next year's advice (see next post).
So, I reminded my advisor what he said last year. Then I asked him what I should work on this year. His response: multi-task. He told me that I shouldn't be working on just one project right now, but that I needed to get something burning on each burner plate.
At the time, I was a little bit disappointed and I thought that this was his way of saying that I wasn't working hard enough, and that I needed to work more in general.
In retrospect, I realize that he wasn't worried about how much I was working, but rather how much I was working on one thing. Early in grad school, you have to branch out a bit and see what works for you. You surely learn quickly that not everything is going to pan out, so you need a plan B, C, and D.
It's a lot like investing. The number one rule of investing is to diversify. That way, if you get a lemon or two, you're not completely out of luck. Also, by diversifying, one of your picks might be the next Microsoft, Ebay, or Google. That lucky pick might just get you a yacht and an early retirement.
Likewise, you might strike gold with one of your early research projects and land a good paper or two early in grad school. If so, then you earn yourself a little freedom for the last couple of years of grad school because you've already done enough to probably earn a degree, but you just need to put in the time expected by your advisor, committee, and/or department.
So, diversify, diversify, diversify early in grad school. You'll naturally find yourself gravitating to whichever project is the most interesting to you (and probably the one that is working the best). Once you've found that project, you're probably ending your second year, and you're ready for next year's advice (see next post).
posted by pro_blogger at 2:33 PM
1 Comments:
I wish I'd realized this early on. Now I have several projects, and it seems like the right thing to do. 'Cause, sometimes you hit a roadblock on one project, and you need to have a backup!
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