Are you thinking about applying to a PhD program? Are you already a doctoral student? PhD is a huge investment of time and money. So make sure you spend 15 minutes of your time reading this blog devoted to PhD program success and survival tips. I'm confident that these tips can save up to 10 years of your life, up to $1,000,000 of your money, and, most importantly, your physical and emotional health.

Friday, April 3, 2009

Staying Focused

You have to stay very focused in the graduate school. And here's what your focus should be:

"Graduate! Get a job!"

Your goal is not to change the world. Your goal is not to come up with innovative ideas. Your goal is to:

"Graduate! Get a job!"

Your professors want you to develop a new course?

"Graduate! Get a job!"

Your professor forces you to attend guest speaker presentations (usually by a his or her buddy on a topic you don't care about)?

"Graduate! Get a job!"

No matter what kind of stimulus you get from your PhD program, repeat this mantra three times before you think of anything else:

"Graduate! Get a job!"
"Graduate! Get a job!"
"Graduate! Get a job!"

3 comments:

  1. Hello, I enjoyed reading some tips about successful PhD. Well, I am preparing for PhD program in applied linguistics, particularly Second language studies (Writing). I have been studying for over 5 years in this field, but I haven't realized that you've been talking about in your blog. I laughed a lot! I am an international student and want to study in the U.S. I am from Korea. Thank you for your hopeful comments on PhD life. :)

    Seongyong Lee

    gmliving@naver.com

    ReplyDelete
  2. I'm sure that these instructions can save up to ten years of your life,

    ReplyDelete