One of the biggest surprises for me as a graduate student has been adjusting to a new type of educational environment. I attend a big research university which has a completely different vibe from UPS. You have to make a bigger effort to form relationships with professors as they are often very research focused. However, you can gain a lot if you do because many of them have wonderful connections that can really help you after you graduate. I even had a professor give me the email address from a professor at another university whose research I was using to write a paper so I could ask him questions personally. This is, at least at my school, a perk for the grad students only.
As for the workload, etc, I feel that UPS really prepared me well, as it does not seem like a huge transition. I feel especially prepared when it comes to writing. I would recommend brushing up on your math, as many programs are very quantitatively focused. Also, I would brush up on your theory for your particular sub-field as I have found many of the graduate classes to be heavily weighted on theory, especially if you are in classes geared to PhD students. Also, I would highly recommend taking a year off at least before pursuing graduate school as it seems like the students with some life and job experience seem to fare better as they seem more grounded and oftentimes are more focused in their studies as they seem to have a better idea of exactly what they want to do when they graduate.
A greal deal of wisdom in a short space. Thanks, Julia, and those of you who are interested in knowing more, check out her blog. Maybe some other alums would like to add to her thoughts? Comment below or email me and I'll post it.
As for the workload, etc, I feel that UPS really prepared me well, as it does not seem like a huge transition. I feel especially prepared when it comes to writing. I would recommend brushing up on your math, as many programs are very quantitatively focused. Also, I would brush up on your theory for your particular sub-field as I have found many of the graduate classes to be heavily weighted on theory, especially if you are in classes geared to PhD students. Also, I would highly recommend taking a year off at least before pursuing graduate school as it seems like the students with some life and job experience seem to fare better as they seem more grounded and oftentimes are more focused in their studies as they seem to have a better idea of exactly what they want to do when they graduate.
A greal deal of wisdom in a short space. Thanks, Julia, and those of you who are interested in knowing more, check out her blog. Maybe some other alums would like to add to her thoughts? Comment below or email me and I'll post it.
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