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HomeThe Smart Way to Your Ph.D.: 200 Secrets From 100 Graduates |
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Comprehensive guide to PhD fun and foibles Dec 16, 2009
I'm finding this to be a wonderful resource, I'm very happy to recommend it. Solid and sensible, Dr. Farkas covers all the bases.
 Book Review Dec 16, 2009
This book was a great tool to help me determine if I wanted to pursue a PHD. I would recommend this reading to anyone who was interested in going this route to see if they really wanted to do it.
A good reference Nov 25, 2009
Reading the relevant sections (to my situation) in this book helped me realize that I was on the right track, as far as my program, advisors and all the other resources i needed to help me graduate. When i read the section on "staying motivated" i realized that my lack of motivation was due to a health issue. My procrastination problems did not have anything to do with my project - it was my own biochemistry. and fortunately when i realized this I got it taken care of. Now i'm back on track!! I still go back to other sections to remind myself that my situation can always be worse - and that I am one of the lucky ones who actually have an end in sight.
Great grad school reference guide Oct 17, 2009
The independence granted in graduate school can be a blessing and a curse. Falling under the "curse" side of things is the fact that we often end up wasting a lot of time reinventing the wheel throughout the process. Interestingly, this book makes clear that despite our discipline we all deal with the same challenges and struggles in graduate school. By compiling first-hand accounts of 100 former graduate students, the author has provided a great resource to help navigate the predictable, yet bumpy, road to the PhD.
4 of 4 found the following review helpful:
Super insightful introspective on graduate student life Oct 10, 2009
This is the most insightful book about graduate student life that I have ever come across. Its way more than a guide. Instead, it is more of a treatise on how to deal with issues that come up during graduate school. In particular, the author provides relevant personal accounts about students who encountered difficult situations and discusses how they chose to react to them. In addition, the text also showcases stories of happy students, and elaborates on what they did to be successful.
The strength of this book is that it systematically breaks down graduate school into modules, so that you can see the forest for the trees and hopefully not get lost. Its also written in such a way that is both entertaining and useful and not just anecdotal such that you can apply the material presented immediately.
My favorite chapter was chapter 5, "Master Your People Skills". It was my favorite chapter because it remarkably describes strategies for dealing with difficult people, and categorizes difficult people by personality type. Although chapter 5 was my favorite, the most useful for me was chapter 6, "Write and Defend Your Thesis". I recall during the "10-15 hour-sleep-deprivation-100m-dash-thesis-writing-phase" of my life being most stressful, and this chapter really helped me stay focused.
Finally, I would like to share that this book provided me with much need inspiration during some really stressful times during grad school. There were times when I felt totally abandoned, and super isolated from the world, and it was because of the encouragement I received from this book, that I was able to stay focused and graduate.
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