Campuses:
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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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