　

Study Guide	Study

Advice for Graduate Students	KSA	5/13/00
이글은 U OF M 학생이었던 Robin Rampert가 쓴 글입니다. Penn State 이야기는 아니지만 읽을 만한 내용입니다. Advice (not in order of importance) Find and go to the appropriate conferences. (They depend on your interests.) Many conferences have special deals for students. Meet students/peers from other programs. Find out what's hot in your field. Learn about what else is being done that may be closely related to your own topic. Get ideas for research. Meet or at least hear talks by senior people in your area. Broaden your prospective. See the set-up before you have to job hunt. (Get a feel for the formality, who attends, do they have a "job fair" or other mechanisms to match up employers and seekers?) If you have a paper or poster in the conference, you can apply for a travel grant from Rackham. Check with your department and faculty about other funding sources. Consider (ask about) getting a library card under your RA affiliation to the university instead of as a student. (There are differences in due dates and fine policies.) When dealing with the library and other academic support units, it often helps to identify yourself as a Rackham student. (Note: At The University of Michigan almost all Ph.D. students are Rackham students; I don't know if this bias holds at other schools too.) I don't know why they seem to think kindly of us, but please behave in a way that will keep this tradition going. The housing office in SAB (student activities building) can be very helpful for roommate searches or place&roommate searches. They also have information about Ann Arbor, rental agencies, and a fairly good free map of AA with blow-ups of the campuses. Other students are a great resource. They are part of your support system good sources of information your future collegues. Remember that most people (even "famous" academics) are happy to talk about their research with other interested researchers. Write, call or go see other researchers that are doing work of interest to you, get their pre-prints, their advice, etc. Keep an eye out for potential committee members, but remember that you can work with faculty who aren't on your committee. A good set of advisors is important. No matter how excellent your main advisor is, you need other committee members. One person can't know everything, and it's always possible that your main advisor may not be able to see the whole process through (illness, moving to another university, etc.). The main/graduate library's on-line catalog, Mirlyn, does not always find things it should. E.g., searching for "Moby" in the title may not bring up Moby Dick. The graduate library has some good CD ROM databases. (Some of which are accessible through Mirlyn.) One is social science citations -- with it you can find out who has cited a work you liked or what other articles had a similar bibliograply (and might be of interest). To find out about current events in Ann Arbor, check out Current, a free listing (movies, low-cost concerts and arts events) found in some local stores and the Ann Arbor New's Observer, delivered free to subscribers and to most Ann Arbor residents, also available in bookstores. Stop by Rackham and get their copy of grad student guidelines and a booklet on getting around Ann Arbor called Rounding Out A2. Get your "unique id" from the computing folks and get hooked into e-mail soon. An RA or TA card is good for a discount in some local stores (e.g., Ulrich's). The three main academic bookstores are Ulrich's, Michigan Book and Supply and the Michigan Union Bookstore. Another popular academic bookstore (especially for social sciences and humanities, e.g., anthropology) is the Shaman Drum. CRISP (registration) has phone-in days each term, when graduate students can register over the phone. Look in the front of the course listing for the days, phone number, and information you should have ready when you call. Graduate students can often register at times like pre-registration when the lines aren't as long -- check it out. Art Fair takes over Ann Arbor each summer. It can be fun, but it's crowded... The beginning of each term is a bit crazy around campus -- some of us think it's worth trying to avoid. (See hint on phone registration.) Michigan weather is highly variable and can change very quickly (e.g., 30 degree change in an hour), be prepared.Michigan time is 10 minutes past. So, 3 o'clock classes begin at 3:10. Meetings and other events may occur on Michigan time or Eastern Standard Time, so watch out. Start writing early on. Keep a file or place where you put potential research issues, dissertation topics and interesting questions. If you have a paid position through the UofM (RAs and TAs count), you are eligable to join the UofM Credit Union. They provide some good services. One of their services is group rates on auto insurance through AAA. However, be careful, sometimes individual rates elsewhere are better than these AAA group rates. (I've been informed that Credit Union membership is open to all students now.) There's a Halloween concert each year. Try to attend at least once in costume... Proof-read, give, and attend practice talks. It helps to have lots of practice editing, writing and presenting.



Home \| About Us \| Plaza \| Orientation \| Study \| Living \| Links \| Memories \| Membership \| Post
This site is managed by Korean Student Association at Penn State University and supported by State College Area Korean Association 펜실베니아 주립대학교 한인학생회 - 스테잇 칼리지 한인회
Got questions or problems? Send an e-mail to Web master (sckamaster@hotmail.com) or see contacts.

This web site is best viewed by Internet Explorer 4.0 or higher

Although we--KSA, Korean Student Association at Penn State University do our best to make sure content of this web is right, it may not always correct. KSA is not responsible for any information, expressions, graphics, or offers posted by individual users.