Good Grad!: A Practical Guide to Graduate School in the Sciences and Engineering

A graduate student in the sciences and engineering has to attend conferences, write journal articles, navigate collaborations, negotiate for lab equipment, mediate between squabbling lab mates, indulge eccentric professors, teach undergraduates, and secure funding every semester. Undergrad teaches you none of these skills, and no one warns you before you start grad school that you need them.

Good Grad is a practical-and politically incorrect-guide for current and future grad students trying to unravel the mysteries of the master's degree and Ph.D. For most of your time in grad school, you're not worrying about looking good to an admissions committee or beefing up a resume. Instead, you're hoping that you'll get that teaching position next semester so you can pay the rent; you're working late into the night to get that conference abstract submitted before the deadline; you're wondering how to get forms signed when your advisor is out of town; you're hoping you won't have to spend the weekend feeding rats in the lab. Good Grad contains the hard-fought wisdom of those who have gone through these trials by fire and come out the other side.

For budding scientists and engineers, Good Grad is an indispensable resource at every stage of a graduate career, from when you're deciding whether to attend grad school at all to when you're finally defending your thesis, and all the years in between.

Table of Contents:

Introduction

Chapter 1: Going to Grad School

Chapter 2: The Milestones of Grad School

Chapter 3: Your Advisor

Chapter 4: The Research Group

Chapter 5: Your Research

Chapter 6: Funding

Chapter 7: Going to a Conference

Chapter 8: Publishing a Journal Article

Chapter 9: The Bureaucracy

Chapter 10: Getting a Job

Epilogue: Social Life