Grad school vs. Undergrad

[phonology_rocks]

I know as an undergraduate student, I would have loved to have read a thread about people talking about the change between graduate school linguistics and undergraduate programs...so I thought I would list what I think the main differences are....and maybe others can add their thoughts...

I'm in an MA program, with partial funding currently (meaning I am getting all my tuition paid for but not getting much of a stipend but that will change

* the quantity of work right from the start was a lot more

* I am way way way busier....

* all of my classmates are really hard workers, and in undergrad that was not the case....

* I find you get less guidance in class (like in undergrad if I had to read an article I knew what I was suppose to get from the reading)

* you get to do some enjoyable research!! (I only got one real experience as an undergraduate)

*based on my experience professors value your input more....

* its not just about school....I've been so lucky twice with getting funding...but I worked really hard for the opportunity I got and the one I will get, talking professors, showing interest, volunteering for things etc.

* you have less of a social life (I was a varsity athlete as an undergraduate so its not like I was partying much, but I still had more time to like hang out and relax than i've had so far here)

Grad school for me is a change, but in a good way.....i like school so much better already then I did as an undergraduate because its more interesting.....anyways I would be interested to read posts from those in Phd programs as well!

[3point14]

I'm in a PhD program (full funding through TAship). Here's what I've observed so far.

• The quantity of work is a lot more, but for me that is mostly coming from lab work and reading papers. My program emphasizes that yeah, you need to do well in your classes, but it's really the lab that's the most important thing
  
• my classmates are hard workers as well, but that's not really a change for me from undergrad
  
• Agree about less guidance. You kind of just have to jump right in and not worry too much about being wrong. It's also different because when my adviser asks me to read up on X topic, he's not just asking me as a test to see if I know the answer, he's genuinely asking me because he doesn't know. He's a mentor, but it's also something of a collaboration.
  

[comp12]

I've already been in grad school for a few years, but I went straight from UG, so lots of UG experiences are still relatively fresh on my mind for comparison:

• In undergrad, you feel as if you're the smartest person on campus.
  
• In grad, you are almost 100% sure you are the dumbest person in the entire region of the country.
  
• You had a full schedule of classes each week in UG, but in G, you really only have 2 or 3 real classes, and they only meet once a week each for ~3 hours. You find yourself actually really looking forward to going to them.
  
• Professors look younger.
  
• Undergrads look like children.
  
• Agree with 3point14. You find yourself being wrong more and making lots more mistakes.
  
• You stop using flash cards. You start using lots of thin post-it flaps.
  
• You go to the school library just for fun, and you hang out most often in the periodicals section, which you didn't know existed as an undergrad.
  
• You know exactly what times to avoid going to the university student center.
  
• School spirit matters nill to you; but hey, if your department had a hoodie...
  

[ladyling]

To add my two cents (PhD program, entering 2nd year):

• Your motivation comes from internal rather than external sources (e.g., a desire to solve a problem rather than a desire to get a good grade)
  
• Many of the problems you study don't have solutions yet
  
• You call your professors by their first names
  
• You have to keep track of external deadlines for things like fellowships, conferences, journal submissions, etc.
  
• You have to make your own food every day
  
• You keep doing academic work over the summers
  

There are many more things, substantive and silly, but that's what I can think of right now.

[antecedent]

A few weeks in to my Masters, the most noticible things are...

- Free shit! I get a locker and a printing quota, there's free tea/coffee everywhere, and library books are on a 12 week loan.

- Responsibility. I have 24 hour access to three buildings on campus. Also did I mention I have a locker?

- Collegiality. I'm invited to and welcome at any of the research group seminars that occur in my department. This basically means I don't have to sneak in anymore, but it's awesome!

- Workload. Definitely more readings/problem sets. I'm also more likely to work hard at the things I don't understand (enter formal logic), instead of ignoring them and hoping they go away.

[Guest Gnome Chomsky]

A few weeks in to my Masters, the most noticible things are...

- Free shit! I get a locker and a printing quota, there's free tea/coffee everywhere, and library books are on a 12 week loan.

- Responsibility. I have 24 hour access to three buildings on campus. Also did I mention I have a locker?

- Collegiality. I'm invited to and welcome at any of the research group seminars that occur in my department. This basically means I don't have to sneak in anymore, but it's awesome!

- Workload. Definitely more readings/problem sets. I'm also more likely to work hard at the things I don't understand (enter formal logic), instead of ignoring them and hoping they go away.

Just curious, what exactly do you do? I see your program is listed as English Language but then you mentioned formal logic. I'm just curious because I'm in linguistics but my area of focus is structure, and modal and symbolic logic have a lot of relevance.