A Mathematician's Survival Guide: Gradute School and Early Career Development

hyacinthUID: 2184492

The attachment is the book review of A Mathematician's Survival Guide: Gradute School and Early Career Development.

As an applicant of 2011Fall myself who needs to write personal statement , I've been doing a lot of thinking and researching for school recently. Browsing different webpages and looking for other's perspectives on admission to grad school, I found this book review particulary helpful. I think it did a good job at introducing the reality of being a mathematician.  It might help some people to think about what to write in their PS, especially those who had their college education in mainland China. I didn't mean to discrimate or something; I just feel like the information is really limited in mainland.  And most of the time, Chinese applicants don't have access to the outside world.  All they can hear about application stuff is from bbs like gter or their personal contacts, but there is a lot more out there.  All the things mentioned in the book might not apply to all Chinese applicants; however, I feel like it never hurts to know about other's views and interpretations of grad school application.

So here is the review of the book, and if you like it or you want to skip the book review, you could read the book for free in google books.  
(One correction, google books' review is also limited , but I still find the part we can read helpful... hope you guys could enjoy it like I do : ))  )

BTW, I think some tips work for statistics applicants as well...

hyacinthUID: 2184492

the guy who wrote the book graduated from Princeton University and now is one of the faculty members at WUSTL....

For those who will go to math@ WUSTL this fall, congratulations.... ; p

lostconchUID: 2473832

good job！
这本书看起来很informative啊 有空要好好读读

lostconchUID: 2473832

看完了review和其他论坛上的一些评论 感觉这本书貌似有些段落有着极强的劝退和泼冷水作用。。意志不坚定或不打算为科研献身的小本读完估计基本就退了。。呵呵
里面貌似说Qualifying Exam比Putnam Competition还难？lol。。。

Together with nuts and bolts information, Krantz dispenses commentary and advice throughout the text, especially in the preface and early chapters. He is not at his best when giving advice to pregraduates. His style is at times condescending, to the point that one worries that self-respecting students might be so repelled that they will not read on to the informative later chapters. The comment in the preface that he aims to present information in “an accessible but authoritative tone” (p. xiv) would have annoyed this reader as a pregraduate, as would the statement in Chapter 1, “You are now an adult and you should look after yourself” (p. 4). ...... These remarks and others like them give the impression that Krantz has not thought as carefully about his readers’ sensibilities as he has about what they need to know. This is unfortunate. The text will needlessly alienate some students.

lostconchUID: 2473832

不管怎么说吧 这本书的主体部分还是非常中肯的 基本概括了从学生成长为教授要经历和注意的所有重要环节吧 读读很有益处 在考虑要不要走这条路的可以看看自己到底是否合适 已经打算走这条路的可以少走不少弯路

duanmupeiyiUID: 2491046

nice~

I think I read part of the book last year ^^

hyacinthUID: 2184492

5# lostconch


exactly~

I think people can make an informed decison after they know the pros and cons... esp for those who thought they could find a job on the street or whatever after they earned a math PhD...

I also feel like grad school would prefer serious applicants who have thought this through... ; ))