A Letter From a Former Graduate Student in Economics
Wednesday October 8, 2003
Whenever I write an article on graduate school I end up getting a few e-mails from current and former graduate student in Economics. Most of the time I just reply privately, but particularly interesting ones like this one should be shared for the benefit of all:
"My experiences in graduate school took place from 1975-1981. I earned a PhD, but I was among the few who earned one so "quickly". Because things may have changed, I won't identify the school, but I completely agree with the points made about checking out the "lifestyle" or attitude of the department about graduate students.
My advisor was the exception in taking care of graduate students. Most of the department deliberately let people fail and did not mentor students at all. (I think this was a result of the philosophy underlying the Chicago School that most of them subscribed to.) I fared well at the dissertation stage, but several of my friends had great difficulty progessing on their dissertations because they could not get things approved and yet they were unable to find out what they needed to do. I thought this was just the way grad school was until I heard about people in other departments (even med school) who had more collaborative/supportive relationships with their faculty and later met people from other universities who had a better experience with faculty."
I really appreciated this e-mail. It mirrored my personal experiences, and the experiences of others who have e-mailed me.
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"My experiences in graduate school took place from 1975-1981. I earned a PhD, but I was among the few who earned one so "quickly". Because things may have changed, I won't identify the school, but I completely agree with the points made about checking out the "lifestyle" or attitude of the department about graduate students.
My advisor was the exception in taking care of graduate students. Most of the department deliberately let people fail and did not mentor students at all. (I think this was a result of the philosophy underlying the Chicago School that most of them subscribed to.) I fared well at the dissertation stage, but several of my friends had great difficulty progessing on their dissertations because they could not get things approved and yet they were unable to find out what they needed to do. I thought this was just the way grad school was until I heard about people in other departments (even med school) who had more collaborative/supportive relationships with their faculty and later met people from other universities who had a better experience with faculty."
I really appreciated this e-mail. It mirrored my personal experiences, and the experiences of others who have e-mailed me.
Important Links
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