ten secrets to success in graduate schooljsobel/205f10/inaugural.pdf · joel sobel ten secrets to...
TRANSCRIPT
Ten Secrets to Success in Graduate School
Joel Sobel
University of California, San DiegoInstitut d’Anàlisi Econòmica
October 5, 2006
Joel Sobel Ten Secrets to Success in Graduate School
Introduction
Economics takes a while to learn, even if much of it isin a way quite simple. It is simple to be wrong as wellas to be right, and it is none too easy to distinguishbetween them.
Joel Sobel Ten Secrets to Success in Graduate School
NEVER TRUST THE TITLE
Joel Sobel Ten Secrets to Success in Graduate School
I. NO ONE WANTS YOU TO FAIL
If they can get you asking the wrong questions theydon’t have to worry about answers.
In fact,
There are enough good research topics (and shared officespace) for all of you.People have an interest in seeing you succeed.Persecuting individual students is not worth the effort.
Joel Sobel Ten Secrets to Success in Graduate School
I. NO ONE WANTS YOU TO FAIL
If they can get you asking the wrong questions theydon’t have to worry about answers.
In fact,
There are enough good research topics (and shared officespace) for all of you.People have an interest in seeing you succeed.Persecuting individual students is not worth the effort.
Joel Sobel Ten Secrets to Success in Graduate School
I. NO ONE WANTS YOU TO FAIL
If they can get you asking the wrong questions theydon’t have to worry about answers.
In fact,
There are enough good research topics (and shared officespace) for all of you.People have an interest in seeing you succeed.Persecuting individual students is not worth the effort.
Joel Sobel Ten Secrets to Success in Graduate School
Exception:
The powerful staff person you just offended.
Joel Sobel Ten Secrets to Success in Graduate School
Exception:
The powerful staff person you just offended.
Joel Sobel Ten Secrets to Success in Graduate School
II. YOU DON’T NEED TO KNOW EVERYTHING (YET)
The persuasion that one’s own infallibility is a mythleads by easy stages and with somewhat greatersatisfaction to a refusal to ascribe infallibility to others.
Joel Sobel Ten Secrets to Success in Graduate School
II. YOU DON’T NEED TO KNOW EVERYTHING (YET)
The persuasion that one’s own infallibility is a mythleads by easy stages and with somewhat greatersatisfaction to a refusal to ascribe infallibility to others.
Joel Sobel Ten Secrets to Success in Graduate School
III. WORK – AND PLAY – WITH CLASSMATES
So much in commonYou learn more from classmates than professors.
Joel Sobel Ten Secrets to Success in Graduate School
III. WORK – AND PLAY – WITH CLASSMATES
So much in commonYou learn more from classmates than professors.
Joel Sobel Ten Secrets to Success in Graduate School
III. WORK – AND PLAY – WITH CLASSMATES
So much in commonYou learn more from classmates than professors.
Joel Sobel Ten Secrets to Success in Graduate School
IV. FIGURE OUT WHAT IS IMPORTANT
Let blockheads read what blockheads wrote.
Life is short. You are smart. Use time wisely.Learn how to minimize the time you spend listening to badlectures or reading bad articles.
Joel Sobel Ten Secrets to Success in Graduate School
IV. FIGURE OUT WHAT IS IMPORTANT
Let blockheads read what blockheads wrote.
Life is short. You are smart. Use time wisely.Learn how to minimize the time you spend listening to badlectures or reading bad articles.
Joel Sobel Ten Secrets to Success in Graduate School
IV. FIGURE OUT WHAT IS IMPORTANT
Let blockheads read what blockheads wrote.
Life is short. You are smart. Use time wisely.Learn how to minimize the time you spend listening to badlectures or reading bad articles.
Joel Sobel Ten Secrets to Success in Graduate School
V. THESE ARE THE GOOD OLD DAYS
Youth is Wasted on the Young.
Joel Sobel Ten Secrets to Success in Graduate School
V. THESE ARE THE GOOD OLD DAYS
Youth is Wasted on the Young.
Joel Sobel Ten Secrets to Success in Graduate School
VI. RESEARCH IS HARD TO DO
There is no method except to be very intelligent.
Start EarlyGo to Seminars (sleeping OK)Talk to Advanced Students, FacultyMake ContactsSkim JournalsRemember Why you Came to Graduate School
Joel Sobel Ten Secrets to Success in Graduate School
VI. RESEARCH IS HARD TO DO
There is no method except to be very intelligent.
Start EarlyGo to Seminars (sleeping OK)Talk to Advanced Students, FacultyMake ContactsSkim JournalsRemember Why you Came to Graduate School
Joel Sobel Ten Secrets to Success in Graduate School
VI. RESEARCH IS HARD TO DO
There is no method except to be very intelligent.
Start EarlyGo to Seminars (sleeping OK)Talk to Advanced Students, FacultyMake ContactsSkim JournalsRemember Why you Came to Graduate School
Joel Sobel Ten Secrets to Success in Graduate School
VI. RESEARCH IS HARD TO DO
There is no method except to be very intelligent.
Start EarlyGo to Seminars (sleeping OK)Talk to Advanced Students, FacultyMake ContactsSkim JournalsRemember Why you Came to Graduate School
Joel Sobel Ten Secrets to Success in Graduate School
VI. RESEARCH IS HARD TO DO
There is no method except to be very intelligent.
Start EarlyGo to Seminars (sleeping OK)Talk to Advanced Students, FacultyMake ContactsSkim JournalsRemember Why you Came to Graduate School
Joel Sobel Ten Secrets to Success in Graduate School
VI. RESEARCH IS HARD TO DO
There is no method except to be very intelligent.
Start EarlyGo to Seminars (sleeping OK)Talk to Advanced Students, FacultyMake ContactsSkim JournalsRemember Why you Came to Graduate School
Joel Sobel Ten Secrets to Success in Graduate School
VII. GOOD RESEARCH PROJECTS ARE INVISIBLE
All there is to thinking, he said, is seeing somethingnoticeable which makes you see something youweren’t noticing which makes you see something thatisn’t even visible.
Joel Sobel Ten Secrets to Success in Graduate School
VII. GOOD RESEARCH PROJECTS ARE INVISIBLE
All there is to thinking, he said, is seeing somethingnoticeable which makes you see something youweren’t noticing which makes you see something thatisn’t even visible.
Joel Sobel Ten Secrets to Success in Graduate School
VIII. EVERYTHING IS A RESEACH TOPIC
You’ll reply that reality hasn’t the least obligation to beinteresting. And I’ll answer you that reality may avoidthat obligation but that hypotheses may not.
Usted replicará que la realidad no tiene la menorobligación de ser interesante. Yo le replicaré que larealidad puede prescindir de esa obligación, pero nolas hipótesis.
Joel Sobel Ten Secrets to Success in Graduate School
VIII. EVERYTHING IS A RESEACH TOPIC
You’ll reply that reality hasn’t the least obligation to beinteresting. And I’ll answer you that reality may avoidthat obligation but that hypotheses may not.
Usted replicará que la realidad no tiene la menorobligación de ser interesante. Yo le replicaré que larealidad puede prescindir de esa obligación, pero nolas hipótesis.
Joel Sobel Ten Secrets to Success in Graduate School
VIII. EVERYTHING IS A RESEACH TOPIC
You’ll reply that reality hasn’t the least obligation to beinteresting. And I’ll answer you that reality may avoidthat obligation but that hypotheses may not.
Usted replicará que la realidad no tiene la menorobligación de ser interesante. Yo le replicaré que larealidad puede prescindir de esa obligación, pero nolas hipótesis.
Joel Sobel Ten Secrets to Success in Graduate School
IX. KEEP THINGS IN PERSPECTIVE . . .
Do not let us overestimate the importance of theeconomic problem, or sacrifice to its supposednecessities other matters of greater and morepermanent significance. It should be a matter forspecialists - like dentistry. If economists could manageto get themselves thought of as humble, competentpeople, on a level with dentists, that would besplendid.
. . . after you have finished.
Joel Sobel Ten Secrets to Success in Graduate School
IX. KEEP THINGS IN PERSPECTIVE . . .
Do not let us overestimate the importance of theeconomic problem, or sacrifice to its supposednecessities other matters of greater and morepermanent significance. It should be a matter forspecialists - like dentistry. If economists could manageto get themselves thought of as humble, competentpeople, on a level with dentists, that would besplendid.
. . . after you have finished.
Joel Sobel Ten Secrets to Success in Graduate School
IX. KEEP THINGS IN PERSPECTIVE . . .
Do not let us overestimate the importance of theeconomic problem, or sacrifice to its supposednecessities other matters of greater and morepermanent significance. It should be a matter forspecialists - like dentistry. If economists could manageto get themselves thought of as humble, competentpeople, on a level with dentists, that would besplendid.
. . . after you have finished.
Joel Sobel Ten Secrets to Success in Graduate School
X. KEEP THINGS SIMPLE
Always Use the Right Tool for the Job
Do you think that this advice is easy to follow?
Joel Sobel Ten Secrets to Success in Graduate School
X. KEEP THINGS SIMPLE
Always Use the Right Tool for the Job
Do you think that this advice is easy to follow?
Joel Sobel Ten Secrets to Success in Graduate School
X. KEEP THINGS SIMPLE
Always Use the Right Tool for the Job
Do you think that this advice is easy to follow?
Joel Sobel Ten Secrets to Success in Graduate School
NO
Is there any reason why I gave this presentation using a slideshow?
Joel Sobel Ten Secrets to Success in Graduate School
NO
Is there any reason why I gave this presentation using a slideshow?
Joel Sobel Ten Secrets to Success in Graduate School
References
Halmos: Selecta, expository writings, Vol. 2, Springer, NewYork, 1983. “How to Talk Mathematics" and “How to WriteMathematics."Hamermesh: Several articles available on his webpage:http://www.eco.utexas.edu/faculty/Hamermesh/AdviceforEconomists.htmThomson: “A Guide for the Young Economist," M.I.T.Press, 2001.
Joel Sobel Ten Secrets to Success in Graduate School
Just in Case You Forgot . . .
1 No One Wants You to Fail2 You Don’t Need to Know Everything (Yet)3 Work – and Play – With Classmates4 Figure Out What is Important5 These are the Good Old Days6 Research is Hard to Do7 Good Research Topics are Invisible8 Everything is a Research Topic9 Keep Things in Perspective . . . After You Have Finished
10 Keep Things Simple
Joel Sobel Ten Secrets to Success in Graduate School
Economics takes a while to learn, even if much of it isin a way quite simple. It is simple to be wrong as wellas to be right, and it is none too easy to distinguishbetween them.
Jim Mirrless
Joel Sobel Ten Secrets to Success in Graduate School
Economics takes a while to learn, even if much of it isin a way quite simple. It is simple to be wrong as wellas to be right, and it is none too easy to distinguishbetween them.
Jim Mirrless
Joel Sobel Ten Secrets to Success in Graduate School
If they can get you asking the wrong questions theydon’t have to worry about answers.
Thomas Pynchon
Joel Sobel Ten Secrets to Success in Graduate School
If they can get you asking the wrong questions theydon’t have to worry about answers.
Thomas Pynchon
Joel Sobel Ten Secrets to Success in Graduate School
The persuasion that one’s own infallibility is a mythleads by easy stages and with somewhat greatersatisfaction to a refusal to ascribe infallibility to others.
Benjamin Cardozo
Joel Sobel Ten Secrets to Success in Graduate School
The persuasion that one’s own infallibility is a mythleads by easy stages and with somewhat greatersatisfaction to a refusal to ascribe infallibility to others.
Benjamin Cardozo
Joel Sobel Ten Secrets to Success in Graduate School
Let blockheads read what blockheads wrote.
Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of Chesterfield
Joel Sobel Ten Secrets to Success in Graduate School
Let blockheads read what blockheads wrote.
Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of Chesterfield
Joel Sobel Ten Secrets to Success in Graduate School
Youth is Wasted on the Young.
George Bernard Shaw
Joel Sobel Ten Secrets to Success in Graduate School
Youth is Wasted on the Young.
George Bernard Shaw
Joel Sobel Ten Secrets to Success in Graduate School
There is no method except to be very intelligent.
T. S. Eliot
Joel Sobel Ten Secrets to Success in Graduate School
There is no method except to be very intelligent.
T. S. Eliot
Joel Sobel Ten Secrets to Success in Graduate School
All there is to thinking, he said, is seeing somethingnoticeable which makes you see something youweren’t noticing which makes you see something thatisn’t even visible.
Norman MacLean
Joel Sobel Ten Secrets to Success in Graduate School
All there is to thinking, he said, is seeing somethingnoticeable which makes you see something youweren’t noticing which makes you see something thatisn’t even visible.
Norman MacLean
Joel Sobel Ten Secrets to Success in Graduate School
You’ll reply that reality hasn’t the least obligation to beinteresting. And I’ll answer you that reality may avoidthat obligation but that hypotheses may not.
Usted replicará que la realidad no tiene la menorobligación de ser interesante. Yo le replicaré que larealidad puede prescindir de esa obligación, pero nolas hipótesis.
Jorge Luis Borges
Joel Sobel Ten Secrets to Success in Graduate School
You’ll reply that reality hasn’t the least obligation to beinteresting. And I’ll answer you that reality may avoidthat obligation but that hypotheses may not.
Usted replicará que la realidad no tiene la menorobligación de ser interesante. Yo le replicaré que larealidad puede prescindir de esa obligación, pero nolas hipótesis.
Jorge Luis Borges
Joel Sobel Ten Secrets to Success in Graduate School
You’ll reply that reality hasn’t the least obligation to beinteresting. And I’ll answer you that reality may avoidthat obligation but that hypotheses may not.
Usted replicará que la realidad no tiene la menorobligación de ser interesante. Yo le replicaré que larealidad puede prescindir de esa obligación, pero nolas hipótesis.
Jorge Luis Borges
Joel Sobel Ten Secrets to Success in Graduate School
Do not let us overestimate the importance of theeconomic problem, or sacrifice to its supposednecessities other matters of greater and morepermanent significance. It should be a matter forspecialists - like dentistry. If economists could manageto get themselves thought of as humble, competentpeople, on a level with dentists, that would besplendid.
J. M. Keynes
Joel Sobel Ten Secrets to Success in Graduate School
Do not let us overestimate the importance of theeconomic problem, or sacrifice to its supposednecessities other matters of greater and morepermanent significance. It should be a matter forspecialists - like dentistry. If economists could manageto get themselves thought of as humble, competentpeople, on a level with dentists, that would besplendid.
J. M. Keynes
Joel Sobel Ten Secrets to Success in Graduate School
Always Use the Right Tool for the Job
Mr. Natural
Joel Sobel Ten Secrets to Success in Graduate School
Always Use the Right Tool for the Job
Mr. Natural
Joel Sobel Ten Secrets to Success in Graduate School
CONSELL SIMPLE
cal anar poc a poc i amb bona lletra.
Joel Sobel Ten Secrets to Success in Graduate School
CONSELL SIMPLE
cal anar poc a poc i amb bona lletra.
Joel Sobel Ten Secrets to Success in Graduate School