Preface to Grad School

This is actually the preface to a reference book that I am using (Cocoa Programming for Mac OS X), but if I were to author the book "Grad School: The Book, In General", I think I'd use this as my preface also...

I have all sorts of people come to my class: the bright and the not-so-bright, the motivated and the lazy, the experienced and the novice. Inevitably, the people who get the most from the class share one characteristic: They remain focused on the topic at hand.

The first trick to maintaining focus is to get enough sleep. I suggest 10 hours of sleep each night while you are studying new ideas. Before dismissing this idea, try it. You will wake up refreshed and ready to learn. Caffeine is not a substitue for sleep.

The second trick is to stop thinking about yourself. While learning something new, many students will think, "Damn, this is hard for me. I wonder if I am stupid." Because stupidity is such an unthinkably terrible thing in our culture, the students will then spend hours constructing arguments that explain why they are intelligent yet are having difficulties. The moment you start down this path, you have lost your focus.

Before going any further, assure yourself that you are not stupid and that some things are just hard. Armed with this silly affirmation and a well-rested mind, you are ready to conquer Cocoa.

I felt compelled to share this because, sometimes, grad school seems to exist for the sole purpose of exposing your intellectual weaknesses. In fact, I have a list about 3 ft long giving evidence for (and rebuttals against) my exceptional stupidity; and the list keeps growing everyday. On the rare occasion that you think you've mastered something, you are told "that's very cute, but it has no relation to reality", and get thrown something much harder. I imagine that after n iterations of this, you will start wondering if you will ever be able to leave the batting cage for the playing field.

But ultimately, the guy is right. Does it really matter whether or not you think you are stupid? Not really; if anything, it just decreases efficiency. You still have deadlines to meet, an advisor to please, and unformed research ideas to bring into reality. Nobody cares about the civil bloodbath that is taking place at the forefront of your brain, no matter how gloriously epic it seems to be. So why bother?