Academia Explained

[caraher]

8. I was fortunate in a couple ways

I entered grad school after working 7 years, and knowing what the prospects were in my field. And I did know that picking an adviser was really more important than picking a school. I interviewed research groups, paying special attention to what the current grad students had to say about things like average time to degree, the funding situation in the group, etc.

It was amazing how naive most of my classmates were about all that upon starting graduate study. But I guess I shouldn't have been too surprised - the system has an interest in there being a steady supply of bright eager folks who don't ask too many questions and work cheap.