How to Succeed in Graduate School: The Early Years

How to Succeed in Graduate School:The Early Years

Start with thanks • Later I’ll advise you to find mentors • The advice I’m giving today is not just my own • It also comes from some of my mentors and role-models, especially David Schmidtz and Matt Zwolinski

The Olympics • Suppose a person plans to win gold in the Olympics in 3 years • She says, “Oh, I have plenty of time. I’ll begin training when the time comes. I work better under pressure anyway.” • Does she take the Olympics seriously?

Your Job is to Get a Job • You are an academic in training • In a few years, you’ll be running the Olympics • There’s no silver medal • The way to succeed in getting a job is to start working for it right now.

Backwards Induction • Ask: What will it take to have a highly competitive dossier when I go on the market? • Then ask: What do I need to do now to make sure I have that?

It’s YourJob to Get a Job • Not your advisor’s job • Not your committee’s job • Not your placement director’s job

Common Mistakes • Senior grad students shouldn’t act like grad students • They should behave like assistant professors • Junior grad students shouldn’t act like grad students • They should behave like what they expect senior grad students to behave like • Or, better yet, like assistant professors

The Job Market • In most fields, bad and getting worse • If you want a job, you need to spend the next five years making yourself as competitive as possible • The time to start professionalizing yourself is right now. • Sorry, but that’s how it is.

When Should I Start Publishing? • 5th year grad student: “Hmmm. I should really start to consider publishing some articles.” • 1st year grad student: “I should write my term papers with an eye to pleasing my professor.” • WRONG!

When to Start Trying to Publish • Right now! • Don’t write term papers for class. Write articles for publication. • If you write to please a professor, you waste an opportunity • Starting no later than your third year: Always have at least three papers under review at all times, period, no matter what.

Publications > Almost Everything Else • A good journal publication matters more than almost anything else. • Your professors are paid to write you a good letter. • Journal editors don’t care about you. What does it say to search committees if an editor devotes space in her journal to you?

But I just want a teaching job! • Still, publications > almost everything else • Given how tight the market is, the more you do, the better

But what if it’s not my best work? • You will be better in your fifth year than in your 1st. • But, still, if you are good enough to publish in a good journal in your 1st year, no one will hold it against you that the paper isn’t as good as what you’d write now

Which Publications? • Single-authored peer-reviewed articles in top journals • Not: • Book reviews • Co-authored articles with your advisor • Encyclopedia entries • The Journal of Ayn Rand Studies or The Review of Libertarian Heterodox Economics

Publish or perish? • Do you think publishing is the cost of being an academic? • If so, quit now. (Stop watching and quit academia now, while you’re ahead.) • Publishing and writing are the job. If you don’t love it, go do something else you’ll love more, or at least get paid more to do.

Collect Rejection Letters • You can’t be afraid of rejection • You need to be willing to hear “no” or you will never hear “yes”.

Teaching • If you want to be a college teacher in the future, don’t let teaching college consume your time now • What to do as a TA? • Should you do extra teaching?

Models and Mentors • In your first year, find out who the most successful grad students are. • Which get the most interviews? Which get the awards and publications? • Figure out what they do, and copy their behavior. • Find mentors and potential advisors right away • The best advisors have standards • They don’t take all comers.

What Does It Take to Succeed? • Internal Locus of Control • Passion • Courage • Organization • Writing

1. Internal Locus of Control • Yes, there’s lots of luck in every aspect of your career • But you should ignore the effect of luck • Act as if it’s all in your control • People who dwell on luck have bad luck • People who ignore luck have good luck

2. Passion • You’re a volunteer, not a conscript

2. Passion • Don’t be a slave to an ideology or an idea • You are here to seek the truth, not to defend a pre-existing belief • Surefire way to burn out is to become a spokesperson for someone else’s project

2. Passion • “Here I stand, I can do no other.” • Find a project that you feel you must do. • Find a project so gripping that you feel you have no choice but to pursue it. • Oddly, that feels liberating.

2. Passion • Earn rewards, then take them • Set goals—real accomplishments, and reward yourself for them. • E.g., Write for 20 hours M-F? • Go to bar Friday night • Get a book contract? • Buy a new guitar

2. Passion • Do you have a significant other? • Academics can easily alienate their partners • Organization is key to being a good partner as an academic • If you burn out your partner, you’ll probably burn out yourself

3. Courage • Be willing to say something! • Typical grad student paper: 25 pages of summarizing field, plus 2 pages making a minor original point. • Be willing to challenge status quo • “Clearly” “Obviously” “Of course”

3. Courage • Respect your colleagues • They are not at war with you • Being courageous does not mean defiantly calling everyone else an ideologue • If you think everyone else is too corrupt to be worth talking to, you probably aren’t worth talking to. • At any rate, quit now and go do something else.

4. Organization • Success is all about time management • You will never be caught up • There is always more to do • It only gets worse • As a grad student, you have it easy.

4. Organization • The urgent vs. the important • Emails, committees, meetings with students, administrative stuff is urgent • Research and perfecting the art of teaching is important. • Never sacrifice the important for the sake of the urgent

4. Organization • Schmidtz’s advice: • Writing log • 20 hours/week, no matter what • Important thing: Set concrete goals: • “I will write X pages per day.” • “I will write one chapter per month.” • Earn breaks, then take them • Earn rewards, then take them • If you can write 2 pages/day, you’ll have your dissertation drafted in 6 months.

4. Organization • If you find yourself cramming for a comp exam, show respect for your advisors and quit.

5. Writing • Don’t write like a graduate student • Don’t write for your seminar classmates • Don’t write to prove you’re a scholar who has read all the background literature

5. Writing • Your professors are paid to read your writing • Journal readers are not • Have a hook • Try to write in such a way that you could convince a non-academic to read your paper • Put cool ideas up front • The first paragraph sells the paper • Have fun! Don’t be boring. • Be clear, not obscure.

5. Writing • Write first, revise later. • A draft is a draft • Common mistake/excuse: “I won’t put type a sentence unless I’m sure it’s perfect.” • If you do that, you’ll never write anything. • Write first, read later • Common mistake/excuse: “I shouldn’t start writing until I’ve read all the background literature.”

Summary • For better or worse, the days of waiting to professionalize are over • Success now is about doing what it takes to succeed in the future

How to Succeed in Graduate School: The Early Years