This past Tuesday I had the opportunity to meet the incoming cohort of students in our graduate program. This was a unique occasion since it’s rare to address the entire cohort at once. Typically, after this initial meeting, students and faculty interact primarily within their respective disciplines. The purpose of this meeting was for all faculty members to give brief, three-minute ‘lightning talks’ to introduce themselves and their research interests to the new students. This year, we had over 20 such talks, providing a lot of information to students who had only been in the program for a few hours. To avoid overwhelming them, I decided to forgo sharing details about my projects and instead offered some unsolicited advice. Several people later mentioned that they found the advice helpful, so I thought I’d share it here as well.
Here are the five pieces of advice I shared:
Get (and stay) organized. Develop a system to manage all your responsibilities, including coursework, class schedules, credit requirements, and research tasks. This is one of the biggest challenges in graduate school, and there is no one-size-fits-all solution. The sooner you figure out what works for you, the better.
Work hard. This may seem obvious, but dedication to your projects is key to achieving great things. Success in graduate school often stems from hard work, and success tends to beget more success. However, it’s crucial to work hard without burning out.
Be bold! You’ve been accepted into a highly competitive graduate program—perhaps the premier program in our field—demonstrating considerable ability just to get this far. Believe in yourself and make the most of the incredible resources available to you. Aim to tackle big, important problems.
Practice writing well. While presentations and seminars are valuable, most scientific communication is in written form, primarily as peer-reviewed publications in scientific journals. Clear writing often leads to clearer thinking, making mastery of written communication a valuable skill.
Prioritize research. Research is the cornerstone of your graduate school experience and it’s the main reason you’re here. Treat it seriously—avoid wasting time on trivial things and overburdening yourself with unnecessary responsibilities. It is sadly all too rare in a 21st century scientific career to have the chance to focus on one thing for an extended length of time. For example, my time and attention are constantly divided by grant writing, reviewing and editing manuscripts, meetings, and various committees. As a student, you have far fewer distractions, making this time a great opportunity to combine hard work and focus, which will only compound over time.
I’m sure there are other pieces of advice I could share, though this was only a three-minute talk! Perhaps Peter and I will add to this in the future and expand it into a longer essay. For now I’ll close with a great quote by Richard Hamming, who said:
The more you know, the more you learn; the more you learn, the more you can do; the more you can do, the more the opportunity.
You have a tremendous opportunity in front of you. I hope you embrace it.