57 Ways to Screw up in Grad School

Every year almost half a million people start a graduate program of some sort. For many, grad school is the critical step toward a career as a researcher or teacher in higher education. Others might be pursuing a masters or a doctorate for personal fulfillment or to obtain the skills and credentials for a career outside the academy. No matter which group you are in, this book provides brilliant and unflinching advice about how to make a disaster out of graduate school.Kevin D. Haggerty and Aaron Doyle—two veteran directors of graduate programs and recipients of mentoring awards—have seen it all, the good and the bad. Here in this funny and shrewd book they lay out the fifty-seven ways to screw up grad school…so that you can avoid them. Their litanies of foul-ups are organized by theme and cover the grad school experience from beginning to end: from how to select your university and program, to your interactions with your advisor, committee, and fellow students, to balancing your personal and academic lives, through the pitfalls of completing your thesis and hunting for a job or postdoctoral fellowship. Although the authors guarantee that following their 57 step program will result in a spectacular crash and burn, their primary goal is to breathe some life and humor into a concise, accessible, and engaging guide for students and potential students on how to navigate and ultimately succeed in graduate school.