Campuses:
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| groups:wipa:home:survival_guide [2014/02/06 17:08] – [Dealing with advisors] bao | groups:wipa:home:survival_guide [2014/02/06 17:10] (current) – [Looking beyond grad school] bao | ||
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| =====Thesis ===== | =====Thesis ===== | ||
| + | * Thesis projects vary from lab to lab and within a lab so you should discuss with your advisor what constitutes a completed thesis project. Also discuss what is required if the project doesn’t work. As you near completion you will most likely need to have these discussions more often, not less. They will just be much more specific. | ||
| + | * Write papers for publication as you go. This will make writing the thesis a lot easier and increases your value on the job market. | ||
| + | * Set smaller goals for writing your thesis (e.g. I’ll have chapter one finished by the end of May) and start writing the background/ | ||
| + | * Theses are typically written to serve as a reference to the lab. | ||
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| =====Work / Life balance ===== | =====Work / Life balance ===== | ||
| + | * Decide on a hobby/ | ||
| + | * Don’t give physics all of your best hours. Schedule in non-physics activities into your day/ | ||
| + | * Connect with a community of people outside the university. That hobby/ | ||
| + | * If you have non-physics interests that might be relevant to alternative career paths, develop those. Volunteering for an organization or interning for a business is a good way to accomplish this. | ||
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| =====Looking beyond grad school ===== | =====Looking beyond grad school ===== | ||
| + | * Within the first year or two, know what you want to do with your Ph.D. Otherwise get your masters degree. A Ph.D. may price you out of certain job markets. | ||
| + | * Choose several people to serve as your references and keep in touch with them regularly. You’ll want to have 2-3 research references, 2 teaching references and 1 general character reference. | ||
| + | * Network and develop contacts beyond the department. | ||
| + | * Conferences are a good way to do this. Ask your advisor to introduce you to people he/she knows in or near your field. Go out to dinner with other research groups. | ||
| + | * Another good way to network is to go to seminars offered to other departments at the U of M that interest you. If graduate students give the seminars volunteer to give a talk about your work. | ||
| + | * Other graduate students (from the U of M or other schools) can be great resources for finding out about post-doctoral advisors. | ||
| + | * Whatever career you decide to pursue, you are on your own for finding positions when you are done. Advisors are of typically of little use in finding a position after graduate school, even post-doctoral positions. | ||
| + | * Seek out opportunities that will “pad” your CV or resume for your chosen career path (e.g. teaching a course at a nearby college if you want to teach when you are finished). Do these even if your advisor isn’t supportive. | ||
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