My First Desk on Campus
The good and bad of moving into a student office
The key to my new student office finally arrived in the mailbox. On my first day as a graduate student of the linguistics program, I found my way to the office, and stood outside the door for a minute before opening it. I had never had an office of my own before. What would the […]
Do What You’re (Not) Good At
Avoiding the tendency to over-specialize in science
“What do you want to work on?” This is one of the most expected–and sometimes dreaded–questions that prospective graduate students encounter during the interview process. Because, as they say, “it’s a trap!” It’s not an innocent way to determine your area of interest. Rather, it’s a means to evaluate your degree of specialization. […]
Good Ideas
They don't grow on trees, so where do you get them?
Even at MIT, good ideas don’t grow on trees. Instead, I’ve found that good ideas have two ingredients: preparation and practice. 1. Preparation. The act of acquiring new knowledge and ideas. The foundation on which my good ideas will be built. 2. Practice. Generate lots of ideas. Engage with ideas in new ways. […]
In Pursuit of Riches
Publications as the currency of academia
I am a poor grad student. And I don’t mean in the classic, monetary sense. (Although, let’s be real, what grad student isn’t poor?) I am ‘poor’ in the currency of academia- publications. If you’ve never experienced academia for yourself, you might not be aware of how profound and accurate that comparison is. Some people […]
Why Would You Want to Do a PhD?
Student perspectives on the value of a graduate degree
If you are reading this blog post, there is a good chance that you are thinking about a PhD, possibly at MIT. But MIT or not, almost every doctoral program would ask you why you are interested in their program and how it fits into your career goal. A typical answer would be: I am […]
