I recently met a graduate student who, looking a bit stressed, asked if I had any advice for him. The problem, he said, was that he had grown tired of learning. What to do he asked me, when the desire to learn has left you?

This week I met with recently admitted graduate students. We talked about research, the various programs on campus, and choices. These students are really lucky: they have more than enough choices for graduate school. You would think that in a situation like that, the students are very relaxed. What can possibly go wrong if you have the opportunity to not just study at one good school, but multiple. But no, there is significant stress amongst them because of one misconception, the misconception that life can be optimized. 

How do you deal with these little voices in your head that whisper to you, particularly just when you want to get some needed sleep, about all the things you still have to do, all the things you did not do that day you should have done, and all the mistakes that you made.

We are 3 weeks into the new quarter and around me there are plenty students with a severe case of the first quarter jitters. These are affecting more students this year than before, I have noticed. Probably to do with the feeling of discomfort and anxiety around the heartbreaking events of the last three weeks: Puerto Rico, Las Vegas and the Wine Country fires that are pretty close to home (for example, one of our MS students is a fireman in Sebastopol and has been on duty this last week). 

In my dreams, we (at ICME and partner departments) can accommodate all passionate and dedicated students who are interested in studying with us. Alas, the admissions rate is small. So, what is a prospective graduate student to do to increase his/her chances of getting accepted? Quora is full of questions like this, and if you are such a prospective student I recommend that you spend a bit of time exploring answers there, as not all graduate programs are organized in the same way. 

Emails

(ps although some of this blog is applicable to prospective students also, the advice re finding the actual advisor is tailored to graduate students already on campus)

This blog is about the search for the perfect advisor who gives you the perfect project that will revolutionize your field and launch your illustrious academic career.  If only.

Dear all,

For years, friends of mine and I have joked about creating a new "Journal of Failed Approaches" in computing or modeling. We should really do that. Currently, journal papers rarely report shortcomings of (new) algorithms and models, and there is a great reluctance to publish negative results. This is a real bummer. If wrong tangents, failed approaches and misconceptions are not openly and frequently discussed, the same mistakes are repeated again and again by researchers/students entering the field.

What makes a graduate student successful? Apart from passion and grit and sheer determination, it is clever time management. The most common frustration / complaint I hear from graduate students (as well as faculty, staff, undergrads) is that there is not enough time to do everything, or to do everything well.