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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