Grad school hangups - poll!

[jmae]

Hi all:

I'm polling scientists (mostly grad students) for personal experience -- any comments or insight on the following would be great.

Throughout the grad school process, what do you wish people had just sat down and taught you beforehand?What are some skills that you sort of had to learn on your own

Comments

[casecob]

I think my contribution would to this would be the following:

Your relationship with your advisor matters far more than the sexiness of the science you do. If you're already very independent, maybe you don't need to worry about mentorship. But if you care about mentorship, then really consider your relationship with your advisor very thoughtfully. If you learn how to think, investigate, and question very deeply, you'll always have a post-doc to try something that's more personally intriguing to you. But if you're seduced to work for someone who isn't a good fit for you, personally, then your future career prospects are going to be difficult, no matter how interesting your science is or how successful you are in that setting. Faculty positions, industry positions, post-doc positions - they're all going to want to talk to your PI; make sure it's someone that regards you and your future plans as a priority.

[keeperofthekeys]

x 1000000000000000000000000000000000000

Learned that one the hard way, and it's probably the first bit of advice I give new students.

[moklp]

[darbyunlimited]

I would have worked to get on search committees - reviewing cover letters, resumes, and transcripts, and being on the "low stress" side of interviews would have better prepared me for the "high stress" side.