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--- wishidknown [2016/02/11 18:00]
jasnyder created
+++ wishidknown [2026/06/25 12:58] (current)
asimons [Miscellaneous advice] Updated content!
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-Useful things to know when starting graduate school...
+====== Useful things to know when starting graduate school... a Timeline======
-...as contributed by experienced grad students!
-A Timeline ... put together by graduate students who wish they had known.
-Attending Seminars and some General Advice
-Miscellaneous advice
-A Timeline ... put together by graduate students who wish they had known.
 This document was prompted by many discussions with graduate students about feeling lost as to how to transform from a new graduate student to ABD, and from ABD to PhD.
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 N.B.: This document is written from the viewpoint of students who intend to stay in academia. Let this note be a plea for someone knowledgeable in obtaining jobs outside of academia to revise this document.
-Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | ... | Year n-1 | Summer before Year n | Year n=graduation year
+**For all of the miscellaneous basic needs (food, housing, etc) that you need to juggle while also doing your PhD work, look at the [[https://docs.google.com/document/d/1lJWo_JPrb5ivOo63VzPPxZ8xEOXLhbXbyMcZSMUQ0bs/edit?tab=t.0# | UC Davis Basic Needs Document]] is a wonderful resource. It is continually updated, and has lots of information about free and reduced cost access to basic needs.**
-YEAR 1
+Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | Year 4 | Summer before Year 5 | Year 5=graduation year
+==== YEAR 1 ====
+Main theme: Mathematical breadth; pass prelims.
 Introduction. Your first year will be hard but in many ways the most crucial. You should have two main goals: find an advisor or research area (details below) and pass the prelims. There are many required courses for first years and it is essential you keep up with them! It may seem overwhelming to take required courses while trying to break into research and coping with TA duties. The core courses are necessary for your breadth--an essential quality for any mathematician.
@@ Line 27: / Line 22: @@
 The last (and best) piece of advice we can give: talk to senior students. Many are more than willing to talk about anything grad school-related. If you're frustrated with life and/or work, talk to them--they've been there too. They also might give you some advice that will help you out down the road.
-Courses and reading courses. During the first year, you will be taking many courses, some required. In the Winter and Spring terms, try to set up a reading course with other graduate students in an area that you are interested in knowing more about.
+Courses and reading courses. During the first year, you will be taking many courses, some required. In the Winter and Spring terms, try to set up a reading course with other graduate students in an area that you are interested in knowing more about. This is also a good way to get credits so that you can focus on your two core prelim courses.
 If you're not sure what to take a reading course in, attend some seminars and if a talk strikes your interest, try to find out more about that area. If you come in with a few different ideas of what you'd like to do, this is especially important--choose one and explore it. The fact that you are interested in many things should not prevent you from choosing one of them to examine in more depth.
-Here is a nice post by a current graduate student at Berkeley that sheds insight into why your mathematical preferences may shift as you spend more time in graduate school (even if only subtly).
+Seminars: Attend at least one research seminar every week. Give at least one talk in a reading group or student-run seminar every year. Seminars are a fantastic way of getting exposure to different fields.
+Seminars, for the most part, are not classes, and shouldn't be treated exactly like classes. Here are some ways in which seminars are like classes: you should attend them, you should take notes if it helps you process the information, you should try to pay enough attention to get the big picture. Here are some ways in which seminars are not like classes: you should not expect to understand every word, and you shouldn't try (too hard) to fix that either. However, you should be able to answer the following questions at the end of any seminar: "What is the major theorem or question that the speaker is approaching?" "Why is he or she interested in this question or theorem?"
-RFGs and seminars. Attend at least one research seminar and RFG. Give at least one talk in an RFG or student-run seminar. Seminars are a fantastic way of getting exposure to different fields. N.B.: Seminars, for the most part, are not classes, and shouldn't be treated exactly like classes. Here are some ways in which seminars are like classes: you should attend them, you should take notes if it helps you process the information, you should try to pay enough attention to get the big picture. Here are some ways in which seminars are not like classes: you should not expect to understand every word, and you shouldn't try (too hard) to fix that either. However, you should be able to answer the following questions at the end of any seminar: "What is the major theorem or question that the speaker is approaching?" "Why is he or she interested in this question or theorem?" (More on attending seminars.)
 Initial foray into finding an advisor. During the spring, begin thinking about who you would like to work with. Talk to this person about what background you should begin acquiring. (You should come in with some ideas about this.) Work out a timeline for gaining this background.
-Summer research. Do a research project with your potential advisor over the summer. At least once every two weeks, write down what you have learned (from papers, books, conversations) or discovered (through your hard and persistent work). Keep this in a place that you will be able to refer to later. (See "A word of encouragement: integrating epsilon-sized progress over time".)
+Summer research. Do a research project with your potential advisor over the summer. At least once every two weeks, write down what you have learned (from papers, books, conversations) or discovered (through your hard and persistent work). Keep this in a place that you will be able to refer to later.
 Pass the prelims.
-YEAR 2
+==== YEAR 2 ====
-Planning for quals. Discuss with your research advisor when to take the quals, what should be on your qual exam, and who should be on your quals committee. (You should come in with suggestions for all these.) Draw up a timeline for quals prep and follow it as best you can.
+Theme: find an advisor and focus in on a research project.
-Continue your research project. (See "A word of encouragement".)
+After year 1, you should have a good idea of who you would like to work with. Make sure to take a reading course with that professor (or professors) as soon as possible. If it goes well, ask them to be your advisor. Remember: your advisor should be someone you feel comfortable asking questions that you think are silly in the moment. You should be able to communicate well with them about math (and life). Some advisors are more hands-on, and some are more hands-off. At this point in your academic career, you should have a pretty good idea of what kind of mentor is helpful, so choose someone who is going to help you succeed. Also, keep in mind that your advisor will write you a letter of recommendation for every place you apply.
-Regular maintenance of your mathematical breadth. Continue attending seminars and reading papers. Read papers in your area that seem relevant to the problem that you're working on. Don't worry about the details of the paper unless you genuinely need to know them. Do work out examples and be able to answer the question, "what is the main point of this paper?" Give at least two talks in RFGs and student-run seminars.
+Narrow in on a research project with your advisor. By the end of year 2, you should have a clear idea of what question you are trying to answer, and roughly what tools will be helpful. Explain your project to other graduate students, either informally or in a reading group or seminar. Start preparing for your qualifying exam, and talk with your advisor about when you should take it.
-Attend at least one conference in your area.
+Regular maintenance of your mathematical breadth. Continue attending seminars and reading papers. Read papers in your area that seem relevant to the problem that you're working on. Don't worry about the details of the paper unless you genuinely need to know them. Do work out examples and be able to answer the question, "what is the main point of this paper?" Give at least three talks in reading groups and student-run seminars.
-Pass your quals. (Qualifying exam advice page.)
+Attend at least one conference in your area.
+Create a personal website, and create your CV.
-YEAR 3
+Consider teaching a summer course between years 2 and 3. Whenever you are an AI, and make sure that your mentor or some other faculty you trust watches you teach. If you're unhappy with the way your teaching that day goes, then find another day. Why: if you go on in academia, you will need a teaching letter. The letter will be far stronger if they can say that they've seen you teach.
-Regular maintenance on your research project. By this point, you should be able to articulate a very rough plan of attack for your research project (I will use X technique to do Y to show Z). It doesn't matter if this plan turns out to be wrong. A plan provides you with direction, a necessary condition for finishing any project. Even if in the course of pursuing this plan, you find it's wrong, that's progress! Just make sure to come up with a new plan.
-Regular maintenance of your mathematical breadth. Continue to attend seminars and read papers in your area. Attend at least one conference in your area. Give at least two talks in RFGs or student-run seminars.
+==== YEAR 3 ====
-Teaching duties, with an eye toward future academic appointments. Be an AI for at least one course, and make sure that your mentor or some other faculty you trust watches you teach. If you're unhappy with the way your teaching that day goes, then find another day. Why: if you go on in academia, you will need a teaching letter. The letter will be far stronger if they can say that they've seen you teach.
+Theme: pass your qualifying exam.
+Regular maintenance on your research project. By this point, you should be able to articulate a very rough plan of attack for your research project (I will use X technique to do Y to show Z). It doesn't matter if this plan turns out to be wrong. A plan provides you with direction, a necessary condition for finishing any project. Even if in the course of pursuing this plan, you find it's wrong, that's progress! Just make sure to come up with a new plan.
+Talk with your advisor about the qualifying exam. Prepare for it. Pass it.
+Some advice on preparation: the talk you have lots of control over. Practice that 45-50 minute talk as many times as you can, and think critically about how to make it better each time. Quals typically go well for students who know their research project very well. For the syllabus portion, make sure to do a mock exam with other grad students in your area. Give them your syllabus in advance, and ask them to come up with questions for you. Stand in front of a blackboard and answer questions from them for at least an hour. It will feel hard. It will feel scary. Do it with your friends so you have a better experience in the actual exam.
+Regular maintenance of your mathematical breadth. Continue to attend seminars and read papers in your area. Attend at least one conference in your area. Give at least three talks in reading groups or student-run seminars.
-...
+Continue updating your CV.
-Set Year 3=Year n-2. Sometimes it can hard to tell what n is.
+If you didn't teach last summer, be an AI for at least one course, and make sure that your mentor or some other faculty you trust watches you teach. If you're unhappy with the way your teaching that day goes, then find another day. Why: if you go on in academia, you will need a teaching letter. The letter will be far stronger if they can say that they've seen you teach.
-YEAR n-1
+==== YEAR 4 ====
-N.B.: If you plan to graduate in Year n, you need to be very close to finishing your project this year.
+Theme: Finish a research project
 Regular maintenance of your research project and mathematical breadth. Continue doing the activities of Year 3. If you plan to graduate in Year 5, you should be able to write an abstract of your thesis by the end of Year 4.
-Ideally, you should have a preprint out by spring of Year n-1. If you do, or you are close, then begin talking to the people that you've met at conferences about speaking at their schools' research seminars.
+Ideally, you should have a preprint out by spring of Year 4. If you do, or you are close, then begin talking to the people that you've met at conferences about speaking at their schools' research seminars.
 Networking with other mathematicians. Attend at least one conference in your area. (At least!) if you have any results, talk to other people about them, and try to give an MAA or AMS sectional talk on your work.
@@ Line 85: / Line 85: @@
-SUMMER BEFORE GRADUATING (SUMMER BEFORE YEAR n)
+==== SUMMER BEFORE GRADUATING (SUMMER BEFORE YEAR 5) ====
 Getting your research project together for the job search. If you don't have a preprint yet, then make one happen. But if you can't, it's not the end of the world: what is important is that you can describe coherently why your work is interesting and how it relates to questions that may interest other people (such as the people hiring you). It is also important that the relevance of your work be communicated to your letter writers. No matter what, get as much research done as you can, because you won't have much time in the fall.
@@ Line 94: / Line 95: @@
-YEAR n
+==== YEAR 5 ====
 Getting together job search statements: Summer-November. Revise your teaching and research statements as needed. Apply for the NSF or any other appropriate fellowships.
-Obtaining letters of reference: September-November. Contact your letter writers at least 6 weeks before any deadline. (An insightful page on letter writing, by a math professor at Stanford, Ravi Vakil.) You will need at least 1 teaching letter and 3 research letters. Ideally, you will have an external letter writer. Some liberal arts and teaching schools will require more than 1 teaching letter.
+Obtaining letters of reference: September-November. Contact your letter writers at least 6 weeks before any deadline. You will need at least 1 teaching letter and 3 research letters. Ideally, you will have an external letter writer. Some liberal arts and teaching schools will require more than 1 teaching letter.
 N.B.: The NSF deadline is mid-October. This means that you will need to contact letter writers in the beginning of September!
@@ Line 131: / Line 133: @@
-Attending Seminars and General Advice
+===== Attending Seminars and General Advice =====
 At some point in graduate school, every student is told to attend seminars. However, the purpose of seminars may be a bit mysterious--after all, it is nearly impossible to understand every word (or even every third word) for the entire hour. This section is placed here to give a potential answer to (1) why, despite not seeming to understand them, you should still attend seminars, (2) what you might do during a seminar to help keep yourself paying attention.
@@ Line 137: / Line 140: @@
 The material here is taken (and slightly edited) from Professor Ravi Vakil's page, with permission.
-General advice
+===== General advice =====
 Think actively about the creative process. A subtle leap is required from undergraduate thinking to active research (even if you have done undergraduate research). Think explicitly about the process, and talk about it (with me, and with others). For example, in an undergraduate class you may have tried to learn absolutely all the material flawlessly. But in order to know everything needed to tackle an important problem on the frontier of human knowledge, one would have to spend years reading many books and articles. So you'll have to learn differently. But how?
@@ Line 165: / Line 169: @@
 You probably will not solve the problem you have set out to work on over the summer or over the year, even if you have planned to do so. That's the nature of research. Just keep plugging at it--research has a surprising way of taking dirac-delta-function-like jumps when you are persistent, even if at any moment, it may not feel like you're making huge progress. (... apologies for the mathematical inconsistency of the metaphor between the title of this section and this last sentence. Nonetheless--) It is therefore very important to be persistent in your work ethic, because (1) it is difficult to measure progress at any particular moment, and you must slog through that, and (2) you will never see any gains if you do not work. No matter what you do, it may help to work out lots of examples and calculations so that you can build intuition, and to keep the big picture at the forefront ("What problem am I working on?" "What approach am I taking to it?" "Where does this approach work and where does it seem to fail?" "Why would people in the area be interested in this problem?").
-It is natural to feel stupid sometimes. Here is an article that speaks to "importance of stupidity" in research. I found this article very encouraging as well as insightful.
+===== Grad Student Freebies =====
-Miscellaneous advice
+As a grad student in the math department (and sometimes just as a student) you will have access to many free items that can be useful to you and your research.  Here is a list of things you can take advantage of:
-Find an advisor quickly: to do this, try to develop relationships with many faculty members. Don't feel too committed to any single topic of research when you start. And attend SEMINARS! At least one per quarter.
+. Microsoft Office
-Math 290-a group or individual reading class. You can do this with any prof you like and learn about topics that you want to learn. Especially helpful if there isn't a course about the topic, or if you would like to know a professor better before you decide on an advisor.
+You have free access to word, excel, powerpoint, skype, and all the other Microsoft Office tools here: [[https://servicehub.ucdavis.edu/servicehub?id=content_details&sys_id=b8c095e61b94c0103f4286ae6e4bcb66|Link to free Microsoft Office]].
-Find an advisor fast: to do this try to develop relationships with many faculty members. Don't feel too committed to any single topic of research when you start. And attend SEMINARS! At least one per quarter. (This advice is so important, we felt like we just had to include it twice in order to make sure you pay attention to it!)
+. Apple Store Priority Check-in
-The professors are friendly and like it when you talk to them.
+If you break your iphone, or spill coffee on your mac, you can rush to the mac store in Sacramento for repairs.  Usually there is a terribly long line, and every second of your time is valuable.  It turns out that if you can prove to them that you can sign in to the ucdavis network with your kerberos password, then you get pushed to the front of the line as a VIP.
-Math takes time to absorb. Don't expect things to make sense at the first reading. Keep plugging away at the paper, and eventually it will all fit together. Four hours spread over four days is more time than four hours in one day.
+. Unlimited Cloud Storage
+The university has partnered with Box to give everyone affiliated with the campus unlimited cloud storage.  You can setup and sign in here: [[https://ucdavis.account.box.com/login|Box Login]].  You even get to keep your unlimited box account once you leave the university. File size is limited to 250 MB.
-Keep a list of courses you've taken, talks that you've given in seminars (like RFGs, Student-run seminars, etc.) and what conferences you've attended. You'll need this list when you apply for funding from conferences (not to mention jobs). Some people put this list on their webpage and it will save you time if you can just cut and paste instead of regenerating this list each time.
+. "Free" Use of the Gym
-Here's a suggested progress flow chart for making your way through the program.
-st year: taking classes and looking for an advisor
+Technically you pay fees every quarter that allows you access to the gym, but that's beside the point. This also allows you to join the intramural teams if that's how you want to get exercise.
-Summer between 1st and 2nd Year: Preliminary exam, and finding professor do to summer project with
+. Professional Journals
-nd Year: take more classes and continue working with various professors and topics
+As long as you are signed into eduroam or the math wifi, you can access tons of journals through the university library subscriptions for free (even non-math ones like IEEE). If you want to do this off-campus, and are using Mac or Windows, use the [[https://library.ucdavis.edu/vpn/|library VPN]] (If you're using linux, I suggest contacting the math IT). This is extremely valuable once you are doing research.
-nd- 3rd Year: Find advisor, take Qualifying Exam
+. FOOD!
-Sip margaritas
+There are lots of opportunities throughout the year to get free food as a math grad student.
+  * [[https://www.math.ucdavis.edu/research/seminars/?type=2&when=future| Student-Run Research Seminar (aka the Pizza Seminar)]]
+  * The GSA food pantry offers free food/groceries to UCD grad students. Consult the GSA announcements or their Instagram @ucdgsapantry for hours.
+  * [[https://gsa.ucdavis.edu/events/cbdd/|Coffee, Bagels and Donuts from the GSA every week]]
+  * Fall Welcome and Fall orientation BBQ
+  * Department Tea every week
+  * If you volunteer to help with the end of quarter calculus tutoring fundraiser, you will be well fed
+  * Social gatherings!  The Galois Group provides funds for social events among grad students (although not alcohol, sadly)
+  * Dual pair lunches!  Get a free (i.e. reimbursed) lunch with your dual pair
+  * The little green coupon machine is a little booklet of coupons that is sent out quarterly.  In it are many good deals, including some freebies like free froyo or fountain drinks, or free flat tire repair at local bike shops
+  * [[http://cityofdavis.org/city-hall/public-works/bike-pedestrian-program/bike-month|May is Bike Month]].  On May 9th, 3rd street gets closed down from A street to B street and all the bike places in town give away free stuff, including lunch for the first 100 attendees.  Get food and free lights and reflectors, pedals, frisbees, caribiners, and enter to win a nice road bike.
--5th year: Try to work a couple hours (1-4hrs) each day on research. It's okay to take breaks. Go to conferences, talk to people about what you're interested in. Keep in contact with your thesis committee members if possible. As for anything else, I'm still trying to figure this out.
+. School Supplies
-Whenever you request a letter from faculty, they're going to feel a lot more comfortable if you accompany the request with a signed waiver of access form. Although you are not legally required to do this, it nonetheless just makes practical sense to do so, seeing it from faculty's perspective. Letters are written for different purposes. For example, a letter written for an internal campus fellowship goes to a far different audience and serves a far different purpose than, for example, a letter to Harvard. A student, not realizing this, could read one letter and erroneously conclude that a similar letter would be written on a "multipurpose" basis to, wherever.
+The department provides red, black and blue pens, pencils, whiteboard markers, white and colored chalk, sharpies, notebooks, printer paper of all sorts of colors, staples, rubber bands, ... in the mail room.  Obviously you shouldn't take **all** of one item, but at least you don't have to go out and buy your own supplies for discussion.
-For a variety of reasons, therefore, it will enhance faculty enthusiasm for letter writing if you pro-actively address this issue and provide the waiver simultaneously with the request.
-If you took a course equivalent from another university and you want it to substitute for one of our classes here: Submit a written request to the chair of GGAM or the chair of GPC and a copy to Celia; get approval in writing; make sure a copy of said approval is in your file in Celia's office; reference approval when noting the substitution on your Progress Checklist.
+===== Miscellaneous advice =====
-When submitting request, submit supporting documentation such as transcript and course syllabus.
+**Fill out your FAFSA every year!** To be considered for many forms of financial aid or assistantships, a student must file the FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid). We recommend that all graduate students fill out an FAFSA because the department uses many funding sources that require this form.
-Note: this can all be done via email.
+**Apply to internal departmental awards.** The two to apply for are the Alice Leung (research) and the William K. Schwarze (teaching) awards. You should apply because there are plenty of other awards that don't have a formal application process. But if you submit an application for something else, the awards committee will see your name and all the cool things you've done, and you might end up with a different award!
-Laptop Security Suggestions
+**Go to seminars.** Read more above. Seriously though, do it.
-Do not leave your laptop unattended. Avoid leaving it here overnight.
+**Give talks!** It is blatantly obvious to job search committees who has practiced giving talks before and who is relatively new at giving talks. So practice in a supportive environment of your peers well before you might need to give job talks.
-If you must leave it overnight, try to keep it out of plain sight and secured if possible. e.g. Locked in a desk drawer.
+**If you learn you don't like research, that's ok.** Finish your prelim exams and courses, get your master's degree, and go get a job that will make you happy. Your life is too valuable to spend multiple years underpaid and in misery. There is no shame in doing what makes you happy.
-Get a cable lock for your laptop if it can take one. Many laptops have a security slot that can take a cable lock. The slot is usually about 1/4" x 1/8".
+**Talk to other grad students!** Often, the people who feel happiest doing research believe that (1) their research has value and (2) have a sense of community around their research. You get both of these things by talking to other people about the kind of math you like doing. Feeling isolated tends to create negative feelings about your research.
-Use a screensaver with a password mechanism.
+**Take care of yourself, mentally and physically.** To get a PhD, your brain has to function on a pretty darn high level. To set yourself up for success, eat well, sleep well, and do some form of exercise.
-Set a password to be able to log into the laptop.
+====== Links to other grad student advice articles ======
+[[https://stearnslab.yale.edu/some-modest-advice-graduate-students|Some Modest Advice for Graduate Students]], by Stephen C. Sterns
-To be considered for many forms of financial aid or assistantships, a student must file the FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid). We recommend that all graduate students fill out an FAFSA because the department uses many funding sources that require this form.
+[[https://medium.com/@dorsaamir/modest-advice-for-new-graduate-students-b0be6b8dbc22|Modest Advice for New Graduate Students]] by Dorsa Amir

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