If you’re interested in pursing a tenure-track job, there’s this thing you need to know about: the research pipeline. I never heard the phrase “research pipeline” in graduate school, but this is the concept behind advice like “always be publishing,” which I certainly did hear. It was only after graduate school as I got deep …
Graduate school is a place that can break down the most confident of students. It isn’t just that you may go from being the smartest student in a room to being one of many brilliant students. It is also in the disparities with which graduate students are treated through mentoring in the classroom setting and …
Graduate school is full of hidden curriculum. From how to get an office to where to find sample comp exams to why to use independent study credits, there are a lot of things you won’t know about when you start and some things you won’t know to ask about. There are books you can read …
One way my career before graduate school helped me was preparing me to “manage up.” When we think of the word manage, the process that most often comes to mind is a supervisor monitoring, training, and evaluating a subordinate. But management really happens in both directions in the workplace. Supervisors give assignments, but their employees …
Last week, I listened to the Professoring podcast episode on Academic Break Ups. The co-hosts discussed a range of kinds of break ups they experienced as graduate students including breaking up with advisors who were no longer a good fit. The podcast (which I highly recommend) got me thinking about finding advisors and committee members …
I recently did a virtual panel discussion with first year graduate students in my program. It was a moment of realization that the constraints on research, particularly qualitative research, that we are currently experiencing due to coronavirus are even more extreme for first years. Faculty and advanced graduate students have data and works-in-progress that they …
These days, graduate students learn early that to get and keep an academic job they need to publish, publish, publish. In fact, many programs have turned requirements like a Master’s thesis into a paper so that students have something early on to place before they hit the job market. What’s not as often communicated is …
Going into a PhD program is a bit like having a baby: Everyone has advice to give and an opinion about what you should do and how you should do it. Like with being a parent, you have to figure out what works best for you and your circumstances. For the most part, folks are …
practical phd 