Insect Ecology at NDSU The Harmon Lab
An Introduction to Graduate School
(From My Completely Biased Perspective)
What is graduate school?
To state it simply, graduate school is the opportunity to pursue an advanced
degree in a specific area. Through rigorous academic courses, personalized,
independent research, and additional experiences a graduate student receives
the training to go on and pursue careers that would not be possible without
that higher degree.
| This kind of general, overarching description is nice, but it lacks the individualism that is really crucial to understanding graduate school. A graduate degree in the sciences differes from an undergraduate degree in that it is almost always extremely personalized. Sure, there are some basic rules everyone has to follow, but for the most part, each individual student will take classes, receive training, and perform novel, independent research that is specially tailored for that individual student. What that means is that what you get out of graduate school is almost entirely dependent on the decisions you (and your advisor) make, the experiences you undergo, and ultimately what you put in to it. This specialized and individual approach to graduate school is really the central theme for how I approach things and you are going to see it keep popping up as I discuss different aspects of graduate school. |  |
Here is a list of the major questions I discuss to help you navigate through everything
What is this page?
What is it for?
Important disclaimer - Not all graduate
programs are the same.
What is graduate school?
Why should I go to graduate school?
How is a graduate program different
than my undergraduate experience?
What does it take to succeed in graduate
school?
How is graduate school paid for?
How do I get in to graduate school?