November 2008 Archives
Doing PhD is not just getting a bit more education; it is a long arduous journey that will profoundly change you in a number of ways.
Ph.D. is a life style:
You will always have endless work to do:
But, if you love your filed of study, PhD will finally make you brilliant and make a big name is academia.
If you don't enjoy doing research, prepare for the horrible stress and boring study life. And maybe, quit as soon as possible, and find another way to live.
I read this attractive article "So long, and thanks for the Ph.D.!" a year ago and it really helped me to think about why I was doing Ph.D. here and what was the value for my life. In the first year, graduate study was tough, tiring and boring for me because I have been studying for almost sixteen years. I didn't spend much time thinking why I was doing this until I came to Penn State. At last, I came over all difficulties and decided to complete my graduate study. There is too much to say and thanks to this great article, but now I want to focus what makes me better in this grad school.
Among the three websites suggested for this week, at this moment I found the blog "Grad School Survival" written by Alice most useful. A lot of things happen to others and you never notice until someday you get it. I highly agree with some points raised by the author, especially though my own experience. Hopefully these thoughts along with other wisdom ideas will help me make it though graduate school and move onto a successful career, either in academia or industry. Following are something I find useful from Alice's blog along with my experience.
Health is most important. Eat good, sleep well and relax yourself whenever you need it.
Work efficiently. Try to finish eight hours' work in three hours but of course, do the job well. This is what I learn from Dr. Andrea Tapia in the Graduate Career Workshop.
Keep good relationships with faculty. They are much more experienced than most of us and can always offer good advices. Of course, they will write recommendation letters when you are looking for a job.
Be reasonably ambitious. You should always set a goal (both short-term and long-term). Keep working on where you want to go.
Build social network. If you have chance, go to conference and meet people. Give a good impression to the audience when presenting. The recruiters might be sitting there and you may have surprising opportunities later on.
Be a decent person and do good work. I like this!
Be brave. You suffer travesty in any work as well as graduate study. Just think about good results after you survive and everything will become better.
I
have been in State College for almost one and half a year and attended a lot of
activities organized by different associations. People in those organizations
are all very nice and their activities are really interesting, but I did not
and don't plan to join any groups in the future. In my spare time, I would like
to hang out with friends, having dinner together or doing some sports.
Friday
night is definitely a good time to relax and have fun and LateNight-PennState
is absolutely a good choice. The mission of LateNight-PennState is to make
available to students quality late night entertainment during prime social
times, namely 9:00pm through 2:00am (Friday and Saturday) and 9:00pm through
midnight (Thursday). LateNight provides an alcohol-free environment with
opportunities for students to gain experiences in programming, leadership
development, and responsible social interaction. We usually play badminton with
a bunch of friends there on Friday and sometimes make handicraft products in
HUB.
In addition, I also joined the Friday Dinner and Fellowship organized by International Ministries at PSU and trip to Virginia by the Chinese Student Scholar and Family Ministries. They have great people and nice food!
