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[larryc]

I just saw this article by Deirdre McCloskey over on Metafilter, "How to Be a Good Graduate Student." I think the advice is very solid and wondered what the rest of you think about t.
http://deirdremccloskey.org/docs/pdf/Article_315.pdf

[balancing_act]

I think it's a good article too. However, I would disagree with the "grades don't matter" part of it. You can't keep funding without the grades; professors don't care for students who don't make the grades. Maybe you can get away with this in economics, but I'm less certain it can be done in the humanities.

As a graduate student, I wish I could gear all my coursework to my Final Project, but it's just not always possible.


Nevertheless, I have saved the article, Larryc, and will read it often. Thanks for posting.

[acrimone]

Eh... I thought it was OK.  What it should be titled is "How to be a particular kind of good graduate student."

It's a useful bit of vaguely-framed advice for a straight-from-college unmarried type who wants to be a leader in their field.  That's probably a plurality of grad students, but there are others.

[newbie]

It was okay.

Grades don't matter for getting a job, but they do matter for your reputation. Not turning in a final paper looks horrible, and professors talk.

Likewise, trying to turn every paper into something that explicitly relates to your dissertation can also sell you short. At least in my field, you need to publish in your area, but you also need to understand what's going on in other areas in the field, at least to the point that you can have conversations with others about their research.

Not spending too much on teaching is a good idea though.

[larryc]

Yeah, I do think the article is dated by the author's experiences in an earlier era. I don't think you could possibly refuse an assignment and take an F and stay in most graduate programs today.

I do think he makes a vital point that the graduate student's job is not just or even primarily to take classes.

[namazu]

I think the author is a "she".  (This isn't necessarily relevant to the advice, just to the pronouns.)

My first thoughts were along the lines of Acrimone's (with the addition that it applies to a particular kind of grad program as well, and to students who have the luxury of not having to work much for their funding).  I agree with Balancing Act and Newbie; students can certainly get away with "B"s if they're sacrificing coursework to do research or read widely, but not "F"s.

[balancing_act]

Yes, I agree LarryC. It's easy to get hung up in the coursework and teaching. I liked it because it serves as a reminder to work on and constantly be thinking about the dissertation.

My husband, who already has his PhD reminds me of similar things often. Strategy is the key, and the completing the dissertation is the goal.

[larryc]

Not just the dissertation but growing intellectually. That is the part about hanging out with your professors and the best graduate students being more important than your classes.

[minorleaguer]

"Fortunately I'm here to help you.  I'm an expert, I assure you."

Ladies and gentlemen . . . WE GOT 'EM!

[contemporary_]

Is there any field more slippery than Economics?  Interesting, but not especially useful for my work, intellectual goals or field.

All that matters are your Diss, publications, presentations and teaching evaluations.




There are no criteria for determining the 'best faculty'.  That's fairly problematic.  Best known doesn't always add up to best faculty.  It is wise not to avoid intimidating faculty.  I've posted that more than once on this board.

Every paper for the diss is suicide, early on.  That's a sure way to develop tunnel vision and not grow in interesting and potentially profitable ways.  Every paper a potential publication makes more sense.

(In my field) Watching trash TV, keeping up with the tides of pop culture, or playing Wii with a Notable Scholar can do as much for a grad student as hanging out with people who don't have a life('the best students').

I would also say, if you are going to hang out with 'the best students' (the ones who can't discuss trash tv or play Wii) make sure they are a geek.  They will have MP3s of lectures that you want to hear.

[watermarkup]

Good article. I wish I had read it about 10 years ago.

My only disagreement is with "take your time." That's probably good advice for econ Ph.D.s, but I've met a lot of humanities Ph.D.s who really need to finish the damn thing and get on with their lives.

[larryc]

"Take your time" is a risky thing to say to an academic.

[contemporary_]

So is "Borrow money."

[elsie]

I think the author is a "she".  (This isn't necessarily relevant to the advice, just to the pronouns.)

Depends on whether the article was written before or after 1995.

http://www.deirdremccloskey.com/bio.php#inform

[minorleaguer]

More seriously.  This article has some good points, but it mostly just made me want to hit myself in the face.  Spend time with positive people.  Follow instructions.  Listen to your elders.  Show up on time.  

Please.  My mom teachers her kids this crap in elementary school.  My mom even tells her kids, "Don't be obsessed with what your non-academic relatives say."  She makes them repeat this several times before holidays.  

I absolutely despise it when people use graduate school as an excuse for not having any sort of outside life.  I watch sports.  I went out to a pub last night.  Sometimes I even read the news and ponder getting a real hobby like woodworking.  I go hiking.  It might sound really glamourous to tell someone that economics or history or medicine is their life now, but it isn't.  Not unless you are a pretty serious loser.  "I'm too busy for the dating scene?"  My cousin told me that right before she re-read the Harry Potter series.  In the time it took me to write this post I could have started an eBay business or be half way up Mt. Kilimanjaro.  

You can be a successful graduate student and have a family, watch football on Sunday, play with your dog, and so forth.  That does not make me a frat guy.  I work seven days a week, but I don't work 24 hours a day.  And here is the big shock.  If I stop thinking about my field long enough to go for a run, watch a football game, or look at art, I come back refreshed and am MORE productive.

But from the sounds of it, I won't get a job at Harvard.  I'm heading straight for Minnesota or Iowa.  Shame, because from the sounds of it, I could have been totally uninteresting.