Contents

• 1 Introduction
• 2 Graduate School in Your Future?
  • 2.1 Why Go to Graduate School?
  • 2.2 Can You Afford It?
  • 2.3 What Is Graduate School Like?
  • 2.4 Could You Succeed in Graduate School?
  • 2.5 How Should You Prepare for Graduate School?
  
  
• 3 Applying to Graduate School
  • 3.1 Where to Apply
  • 3.2 How Do Schools Choose Their Students?
  • 3.3 Making a Decision
  
  
• 4 The Life of a Graduate Student
  • 4.1 Courses
  • 4.2 Life as a Teaching Assistant
  • 4.3 Life as a Research Assistant
  • 4.4 Life on a Fellowship
  • 4.5 Life with an Outside Job
  • 4.6 Social Life
  • 4.7 Becoming a Professional
  • 4.8 Maintaining Sanity
  
  
• 5 Surviving Written Exams
  • 5.1 Preparing for a Written Exam
  • 5.2 In the Exam
  • 5.3 After the Exam
  
  
• 6 Surviving Oral Exams
  • 6.1 Preparing for the Exam
  • 6.2 In the Exam
  • 6.3 If Things Go Wrong...
  
  
• 7 Finding and Dealing with an Advisor
  • 7.1 What to Look for in a Potential Advisor
  • 7.2 How to Find an Advisor
  • 7.3 The Advisor-Advisee Relationship
  
  
• 8 Finding a Topic and Beginning Research
  • 8.1 Getting Research Ideas
  • 8.2 A Pitfall to Avoid
  • 8.3 Choosing an Idea
  • 8.4 Remain Active
  
  
• 9 The Thesis Writing Process
  • 9.1 How Can You Minimize the Pain of Writing?
  • 9.2 Writing Tools
  • 9.3 Dealing with Your Thesis Committee
  
  
• 10 Career Options
• 11 A Professorship in Your Future?
  • 11.1 Why Choose an Academic Career?
  • 11.2 What Is a Professor's Life Like?
  • 11.3 How Should You Prepare for an Academic Career?
  • 11.4 How Do You Find a Job?
  • 11.5 Some Fallacies about the Academic Life
  • 11.6 Some Notes (Not for Women Only)
  
  
• 12 Careers in Government and Industry
  • 12.1 Types of Careers
  • 12.2 What Are Industrial Jobs Like?
  • 12.3 How Should You Prepare for an Industrial Career?
  • 12.4 How Do You Find a Job?
  
  
• 13 Professional Ethics
  • 13.1 Intellectual Property
  • 13.2 Academic Integrity
  • 13.3 Use of Computer Facilities
  • 13.4 Human Relations
  • 13.5 Professional Integrity
  • 13.6 Values
  
  
• 14 Some Gender Pitfalls and How to Minimize Their Effects
• 15 Resources
  • 15.1 Professional Societies
  • 15.2 Further information on Graduate Life
  • 15.3 Electronic Mentoring Networks
  • 15.4 Useful Meetings for Women and Minorities
  • 15.5 Mental Health
  • 15.6 Literature on Technical Writing and Speaking
  • 15.7 Teaching Advice
  • 15.8 Career Advice
  • 15.9 Resources for Job Searching
  • 15.10 Resources for Applying to a U.S. Graduate School
  • 15.11 Literature on Women and Minorities in Science
  • 15.12 Professional Ethics