Starting grad school in less than a month - any last advice?

[CauchyProcess]

Hello everybody, 

 

I am starting grad school very soon, and wanted to write a short post asking for any last-minute advice for my next 5 years.

 

Here's my situation: I'm an incoming PhD student in statistics. I'm attending a relatively new department/program, with all of its research very narrowly focused in one area. The program is unranked due to its young age, but has some well-known faculty. I am attending on full fellowship, for 5 years. My main goal within the program is to learn: getting a bachelor's in statistics just did not teach me very much on the subject. My career goals are fairly open: I'd love to work in academia, but feel that it's likely I will be boxed out of such a career due to the non "top xxxx" nature of my university, no matter what the quality of my own research is, so I'm keeping my eyes open toward industry careers as well. I've been spending my summer working: analyzing data for a healthcare company, they're interested in maintaining a relationship with me long-term and want to look into consulting services with the department that I am joining as well. Due to summer work, I am in good shape financially, but will still have a good deal of student debt while a grad student.  I have also accumulated a few research ideas stemming from my previous undergraduate research at an NSF REU, and previous NSF fellowship application, but I don't know whether I will have the mathematical preparation to begin anything anytime soon. I am moving up within two weeks, and will reside on campus for my first year.

 

Anything I should do? Think about? Any misc advice you would give me? I am open to any and all ideas.

Edited August 21, 2014 by CauchyProcess

[surefire]

Hello everybody, 

 

I am starting grad school very soon, and wanted to write a short post asking for any last-minute advice for my next 5 years.

 

Here's my situation: I'm an incoming PhD student in statistics. I'm attending a relatively new department/program, with all of its research very narrowly focused in one area. The program is unranked due to its young age, but has some well-known faculty. I am attending on full fellowship, for 5 years. My main goal within the program is to learn: getting a bachelor's in statistics just did not teach me very much on the subject. My career goals are fairly open: I'd love to work in academia, but feel that it's likely I will be boxed out of such a career due to the non "top xxxx" nature of my university, no matter what the quality of my own research is, so I'm keeping my eyes open toward industry careers as well. I've been spending my summer working: analyzing data for a healthcare company, they're interested in maintaining a relationship with me long-term and want to look into consulting services with the department that I am joining as well. Due to summer work, I am in good shape financially, but will still have a good deal of student debt while a grad student.  I have also accumulated a few research ideas stemming from my previous undergraduate research at an NSF REU, and previous NSF fellowship application, but I don't know whether I will have the mathematical preparation to begin anything anytime soon. I am moving up within two weeks, and will reside on campus for my first year.

 

Anything I should do? Think about? Any misc advice you would give me? I am open to any and all ideas.

 

Congrats on your acceptance and impending start!

 

I don't have a lot of insight on the industry vs. academy quagmire for your discipline, but I can give a little bit of advice for things you should do before you start!

 

1. Set up some mechanisms now that will benefit your life/work. Often, these are the kinds of things that, once set up, require minimal effort to maintain but can have a profound influence on your organization and networking. I'm thinking of things like: (1) going to the bank to set up something tiny and automatic fortnightly or monthly to address your debt - grad students are a broke bunch, but even a tiny arrangement to pay off some principle will compound advantageously over time; (2) set up a twitter account and follow your university, department, colleagues, relevant professional organizations, media that will put out stories regarding your areas of interest, and academic associations that will host the conferences you'll want to attend - it behooves you to partake in these conversations; (3) install software/apps and the like that will help you get organized - university libraries often provide "alert" systems that you can subscribe to that will notify you when someone publishes on your interests based on key words that you punch in and there is great (and free!) citation management software that will help you organize your research (many ppl tout the benefits of Endnote, I prefer Zotero).

 

2. Empower yourself with information. If you're at an institution with a Union, get acquainted with your collective agreement. Read through the expectations for your program and your School of Graduate Studies (SGS) (or equivalent, where applicable). Peruse the academic calendar to get a sense of typical semester-to-semester deadlines. Become familiar with funding/award structures and agencies via SGS (or, again, whatever equivalent) to get a sense of what's available in terms of things like conference bursaries.

 

The info empowerment also applies to getting acquainted with a few "advice-esque" sites that you can depend on for PhD navigation help. Here are some of my faves and example articles from them:

- ScholarShape: http://scholarshape.com/blog/2014/3/18/101-tips-for-finishing-your-phd-quickly

- The Chronicles of Higher Education Vitae (this one is really hit-and-miss and can be a little hostile about post-PhD prospects, so it's good for hard truths but it also easily produces cynicism, so beware; I joined and subscribed to the e-mail list, so I get weekly updates on what's being published on the site and I just access what's relevant to me): https://chroniclevitae.com/news/623-the-worst-advice-grad-students-get

- Get a life, PhD (this site is GREAT for easy how-tos on "things that you feel bad for not knowing but are actually tricky to get right", like building an effective Powerpoint presentation for a conference; I highly recommend this one!): http://getalifephd.blogspot.ca/

- Any other blog that might help you navigate. It's hard to find an exact match (something written in a style you're amicable to AND relevant to your discipline AND (in your case) with included industry vs. academia narratives) but, have a look around to find some voices that you trust, these places are solid refuges when you're feeling unsure about the role of your discipline (or YOUR role within it). You might like this one: http://andrewgelman.com/

 

3. Cultivate some good strategies now (this is connected to number 1). Get a gym routine (and a grown-up-ish sleep pattern). Figure out what time of the day you do your best work and make sure that those hours go towards the most important things (so, if you work best in the morning, research happens in the morning and the many other things that you'll be tasked with - bureaucracy, e-mails, marking - happens in the afternoon). Similarly, figure out under what environmental (ect;) conditions you do your best work and aim to cultivate your space/work habits accordingly.

 

HTH!

[Threeboysmom]

surfire

 

Great advice!!!