Posts
When I think of culture at Cal, my first thoughts go to the Petri-dish of a lawn of sporulating grossness that I made by inoculating sugar-free jello with the growth from my labmate's coffee pot. For someone who professes to love the elixer of that bean so much,one would imagine that his carafe wouldn't have gotten to the point where I could take colony samples off it. But I digress. Millions of bacteria can't be wrong. Or can they? I love sugar-free jello anyway--it's way cheaper than McConkey's agar,even if I don't get to make any conclusions on lactose metabolism. I'll stop before your collective dorkmeters end up smoldering on the floor.If anthrax taught me nothing else, it's that a little biology is a dangerous thing.
Anyhow,I think the important thing to remember while engaged in the pursuit of your advanced degree is that there is life outside of the lab. This is a concept that is for some difficult to accept,but it is true. You can plug away at your studies 110 hours a week,but if you don't take the time to do a little cultural decompression once in a while,you're setting yourself up to develop a close personal relationship with the good people of GlaxoSmithKline (Tums),Johnson and Johnson (Mylanta),Novartis (Maalox), and Pfizer (Rolaids,Zantac,…and Viagra,but that is neither here nor there). And these are my friends,so I would suggest you get your own.
Of course,you might be thinking,“Culture is expensive and I am POOR!”. Fair enough. Thankfully, there is lots of culture on the cheap in the bay area. With your student I.D. (put that on your first things to get list if you haven't gotten it already), and your hopefully simultaneously acquired Class Pass (opening to you the gateway that is the AC Transit festival of free buses),you have a whole great area to explore. Sometimes riding the bus and people watching is all the culture and entertainment I need. However, with an ID,you can walk into the Berkeley Art and Anthropology Museums for cheap as free! Also,the campanile is accessible,ASUC Superb concerts and such,and most athletic events. Your wallet is still fat. The Pacific Film Archive offers free movies sometimes (usually the beginnings of the months),so that's certainly something to check out.
Introverted? Agoraphobic? Might I suggest that you use the card's second functionality: Library Card. While you might be used to looking for things in the library or libraries devoted to your field,perhaps a book on something you stumbled upon in the news or while poking around on the internets. The stacks offer that warm confined feeling that you don't get so much in Art museums,while there's a lower risk of social interaction. Heh heh heh. Seriously though--some of the best chairs on campus are hidden in libraries. Therearelunch poetry readings sometimes in the Morrison library, there's the dinosaur over by the biosciences library (which is one of the first things I show visiting guests),and of course,most of them have books that surely someone would find interesting. And,the buildings areoften climate controlled. Hot. (Or not,when that is
the preferable way to be.) And maybe if you're not introverted,you could meet people interested in the same topics as you? I'm sure you can think these things through. After all,you're here,so you've surpassed some initial screening. Probably.
If you have the opportunity,classes outside of your department are occasionally tempting,and often covered by your department,so that's pretty cool. Classes down at the ASUC Art Studio are discounted with your ID,so if you want to learn to craft in some way,that's a regular inoculation of non-work option. Free departmental seminars are great too!
Some people incorporate food as part of a culture. And you have a plethora of options here in Berkeley. If your having saved money on entertainment has not sufficiently sated your desire for cheapness,Mel's, EZ Stop and Fenton's will discount your food if you flash your I.D. I think the candy store by the BART station too,but that might involve some sort of trickery. If you want to shift up in price range,remember that Berkeley is the hometown of the development of what is considered “California Cuisine”, so there are high-end options. Perhaps when I graduate I will try such things. But feel free to experiment. Depending on your focus,experimentation may be what getting your degree is all about.
Saturday, August 4, 2007
Maslow's "Hierarchy of Needs" as pertain to the state of being a graduate student at UC Berkeley
While Abe Maslow may not be the most cited researcher in psychology, some of his work I find reallyinforms not really so much how to prioritize as a student here in Berkeley (since that in many ways takes care of itself) or in general,but how to be effective in the long run.
Basically, Maslow noticed that some needs are greater than others and made a hierarchy of the basics—physiologicals,the intakes and outputs of one’s physical person are at the bottom of the hierarchy because if those needs aren’t met it is biologically dangerous.
Depending on what you are used to,graduate school may be an increase in workload which will have a concomitant increase in stress which can interrupt sleeping and eating patterns. My colleague and I used to joke that there is sleep,academics,and social interaction and you can only really have 2 out of the 3. The fact of the matter is that with some time management and a willingness to get up earlyand work efficiently one can have 3 of the 3. Looking a professors with families can be inspiring in as much as you can see that these things are possible but it does require a readiness to socialize with the right people who will also have your best interests in their priorities. But the take home message is that taking care of your body is key if you’re expecting your higher order functions to work.
Next up is the safety and security needs. I think dealing with these is almost like adaptive testing: your first couple decisions are key and after that you can only shift your results within a pre-established region. I actuallyhaven’t moved around since initially moving into Berkeley and I lucked into a living situation with housemates who I trusted and a nice landlord who was friendly enough with the neighborhood that I felt vaguely safe when he was around. I know better than to walk alone in a non-vigilant manner at night and I certainly will shamelessly hound my current housemates about locking the doors though,because,as one of my old labmates used to say,“those bars aren’t in the windows for decoration.” I can’t realistically change my neighborhood within the time frame that I would love to feel safe in,but what I can do is establish patterns. If I am on campus after 9PM during the school year I take the door to door lines,and after 3AM I will call the owl line,also provided free by UC Parking and Transit. The Campus Safety Officers have been great in all my interactions with them. My one complaint would be about the gap between the limits in which one can apply for a campus parking pass and
the outer limit of safety shuttle coverage,but I live 4 blocks from what would be a perfect situation,if I wanted to pay that little bit more in rent. Basically I’m trading the establishment of savings for future financial safety for current feelings of occasional safety. I’m okay with that but you might not be.These are the trade-offs. But research your housing situation.
The third tier is the more social stuff that one feels a longing for after one feels safe and biologically sated. Feeling lonely or socially anxious is something that the local community can help with. There are plethora of graduate student organizations and one shouldn’t feel like organizations that are mostly undergraduates are necessarily exclusive. If you have an interest in the Brazilian art of dance fighting there’s a community for that. If you want to play video-games with peers there are groups that do that too. A non-negligible number of students showup to the bay area without prior friends or relations locally. Meeting people will happen through your department,certainly, but if you want to avoid talking about work all the time,making some non-departmental connections is key too. If you’re having problems meeting folks…there’s the gym, there’s public transit,you could even show up to GA meetings. My parents,who were both
international students used to go to grocery stores to meet people (and learn English). There’s opportunity everywhere.
The final level of basic or deficit needs involves respect,both from others and for yourself. The respect of others you can deal with by publishing.I think gaining respect as a graduate student is not necessarily something that ought to be conceptually new or different than what you know about gaining respect as a person in the rest of your life.
Dealing with self-esteem is probably the same. If you work hard to be achieve mastery of your area of study and become competent,confidence should follow. Low self-esteem can lead to some problems that can be dealt with over at the Tang Center (getting that monkey off your back sometimes is a chemical problem),however for more middling situations,there are options for confidence development through workshops in the teaching or career centers on campus.
If you don’t notice that you’re lacking in any of the previous areas,well, you’re doing well enough to survive,either based on your own preliminary work on maintaining yourself as a healthy individual,or on your instincts. These are what you have to take care of first so you can focus on the top of the pyramid, where self-actualization and self-transcendence are where thriving is. See, Maslow studied more than monkeys,he studied the histories of the best and the brightest. And,as you’re a graduate student,these probably apply to you more than most. This area is where…drive to be the best is. Not just drive, really. This is where the need and capacity to solve problems and resist pressures. Once you’ve dealt with the basics you can change your negative qualities and reallyflourish with…well with Gemeinschaftsgefühl. Those Germans have words for everything!
I don’t know how much of dealing with the need to live up to potential is something you can actively do as opposed to something you will naturally be inclined to do,(I’m not in the philosophy department,I imagine they have more answers on this,) but I think this is where your work as a scholar lies. I don’t know. If you want advice with certainty backing it…ask a professor. They’re usually past this phase of doubt. Or they can fake it. That might be something you need to learn too. Good luck!
Basically, Maslow noticed that some needs are greater than others and made a hierarchy of the basics—physiologicals,the intakes and outputs of one’s physical person are at the bottom of the hierarchy because if those needs aren’t met it is biologically dangerous.
Depending on what you are used to,graduate school may be an increase in workload which will have a concomitant increase in stress which can interrupt sleeping and eating patterns. My colleague and I used to joke that there is sleep,academics,and social interaction and you can only really have 2 out of the 3. The fact of the matter is that with some time management and a willingness to get up earlyand work efficiently one can have 3 of the 3. Looking a professors with families can be inspiring in as much as you can see that these things are possible but it does require a readiness to socialize with the right people who will also have your best interests in their priorities. But the take home message is that taking care of your body is key if you’re expecting your higher order functions to work.
Next up is the safety and security needs. I think dealing with these is almost like adaptive testing: your first couple decisions are key and after that you can only shift your results within a pre-established region. I actuallyhaven’t moved around since initially moving into Berkeley and I lucked into a living situation with housemates who I trusted and a nice landlord who was friendly enough with the neighborhood that I felt vaguely safe when he was around. I know better than to walk alone in a non-vigilant manner at night and I certainly will shamelessly hound my current housemates about locking the doors though,because,as one of my old labmates used to say,“those bars aren’t in the windows for decoration.” I can’t realistically change my neighborhood within the time frame that I would love to feel safe in,but what I can do is establish patterns. If I am on campus after 9PM during the school year I take the door to door lines,and after 3AM I will call the owl line,also provided free by UC Parking and Transit. The Campus Safety Officers have been great in all my interactions with them. My one complaint would be about the gap between the limits in which one can apply for a campus parking pass and
the outer limit of safety shuttle coverage,but I live 4 blocks from what would be a perfect situation,if I wanted to pay that little bit more in rent. Basically I’m trading the establishment of savings for future financial safety for current feelings of occasional safety. I’m okay with that but you might not be.These are the trade-offs. But research your housing situation.
The third tier is the more social stuff that one feels a longing for after one feels safe and biologically sated. Feeling lonely or socially anxious is something that the local community can help with. There are plethora of graduate student organizations and one shouldn’t feel like organizations that are mostly undergraduates are necessarily exclusive. If you have an interest in the Brazilian art of dance fighting there’s a community for that. If you want to play video-games with peers there are groups that do that too. A non-negligible number of students showup to the bay area without prior friends or relations locally. Meeting people will happen through your department,certainly, but if you want to avoid talking about work all the time,making some non-departmental connections is key too. If you’re having problems meeting folks…there’s the gym, there’s public transit,you could even show up to GA meetings. My parents,who were both
international students used to go to grocery stores to meet people (and learn English). There’s opportunity everywhere.
The final level of basic or deficit needs involves respect,both from others and for yourself. The respect of others you can deal with by publishing.I think gaining respect as a graduate student is not necessarily something that ought to be conceptually new or different than what you know about gaining respect as a person in the rest of your life.
Dealing with self-esteem is probably the same. If you work hard to be achieve mastery of your area of study and become competent,confidence should follow. Low self-esteem can lead to some problems that can be dealt with over at the Tang Center (getting that monkey off your back sometimes is a chemical problem),however for more middling situations,there are options for confidence development through workshops in the teaching or career centers on campus.
If you don’t notice that you’re lacking in any of the previous areas,well, you’re doing well enough to survive,either based on your own preliminary work on maintaining yourself as a healthy individual,or on your instincts. These are what you have to take care of first so you can focus on the top of the pyramid, where self-actualization and self-transcendence are where thriving is. See, Maslow studied more than monkeys,he studied the histories of the best and the brightest. And,as you’re a graduate student,these probably apply to you more than most. This area is where…drive to be the best is. Not just drive, really. This is where the need and capacity to solve problems and resist pressures. Once you’ve dealt with the basics you can change your negative qualities and reallyflourish with…well with Gemeinschaftsgefühl. Those Germans have words for everything!
I don’t know how much of dealing with the need to live up to potential is something you can actively do as opposed to something you will naturally be inclined to do,(I’m not in the philosophy department,I imagine they have more answers on this,) but I think this is where your work as a scholar lies. I don’t know. If you want advice with certainty backing it…ask a professor. They’re usually past this phase of doubt. Or they can fake it. That might be something you need to learn too. Good luck!
I Can’t Think About Orientation Without Thinking of Orienteering
I can’t think about orientation without thinking of orienteering. Not that I anticipate you’ll be doing a lot of running around with a map and a compass (I would say that a fair percentage of graduate students have very little idea of what’s going on in buildings oncampus outside of their department,so maybe that would be a great activity…) but I think that getting your bearings with respect to Berkeley might help.
As you’ve gotten here,you’re probably aware that to the South are Oakland and Emeryville. Directly to the West is the San Francisco Bay,and on the other side of that is the Pacific Ocean. To the North is Albany and Kensington. East of Berkeley are the hills,the ridge of which is the county line between Berkeley’s Alameda County and Contra Costa County. If you have registered to vote,you will likely be called for Jury Duty and if you are a local that would be in Alameda County and consequently in Oakland or Hayward. The courthouses in Oakland are easier to reach,but if you are called to serve in Hayward you get mail from the “Hayward Hall of Justice” which I always associate with the Super Friends,although I have never made a super friend at jury duty. I did meet a grad student in Physics who I went out with,but that ended awkwardly and I probably shouldn’t talk about it. In any case,water is to the west, hills are to the east.
Besides its Super Friends association,you might associate Hayward with its eponymous fault, which was featured in the mid-Eighties Bond movie “A View to a Kill” (the last one with Roger Moore),and it surely appears in countless science texts.Tom Wolfe used it as a plot device once,too. While my love of geography doesn’t creep too much into geology, I would be remiss if I didn’t point out that this fault runs through campus, as that could help you orient yourself too. In addition to causing parts of Memorial Stadium (where the football is played,but also a good place to run around and climb stairs and such) to creep a little over a foot in the past 80-some years,it is responsible for the occasional pants-staining terror of many a lab-manager on campus,what with the shaking and the bouncing that occurs everyonce in a while. If you’re inside,you should probably knowyour orientation with respect to stairwells and door- ways.
THEY’RE A GREAT PLACE TO DUCK AND COVER!
As long as we’re discussing things on campus, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to orient yourself to the
library system. There are something like 30 libraries on campus. Lucky for you in this day and age, they’re all accessible through Pathfinder,the online catalog searching program, so you don’t necessarily have to walk to the 29 locations where what you are actively looking for is not located. Not that you won’t find interesting things that way. Maybe you would stumble upon the
book that cracks open your deep seeded love and preternatural talent for ventriloquism. I guess you can still look these things up,but it’s much more…efficient. Anyhow,that would all be found via lib.Berkeley.edu.
If you do not have a computer or easy access to one,there are computer labs on campus: in the basements of Dwinelle and Evans, VLSB,Moffitt Library,Tan Hall,Wheeler hall, and,if you have an OCF account,Heller Lounge in MLK. I know that the OCF usually gets a plug in here for having classes in things every once in a while,but I feel it is worthwhile to reiterate that they do provide some excellent services and one should visit ocf.Berkeley.edu for more details.
Getting back to orientation,Berkeley is a place full of foot and bikepaths both on and off campus. There is good public transit via BART and the buses (which are an excellent deal at the price of nothing with your magical student ID card). AC Transit actually connects with a variety of other service providers so that you can actually get pretty far for pretty cheap. With your ID card,you could hop 2 buses and make your way all the way down to Stanford if you wanted to for 4 dollars. Intercollegiate rivalry at its cheapest!
There are plenty of interesting local food, and sports and musical things that occur locally though. If you are not enthralled by Cal Adventures (www.oski.org),you can go climbing in the Indian Rock Park Community, or, if you’re feeling a different kind of spiritual,there are over 100 places of worship in Berkeley alone. From African-Methodist-Episcopalian to Zoroastrian:you’re covered! I had made a map of the churches and such,looking for a correlation with liquor stores (there are much fewer of them than I would have imagined, but still enough to lead to some disorientation!) but studying the culture of the city and the dynamics of it’s economy and the trade-offs feels a little too much like work. Anomalies in price gradients are interesting;there is currently a 22 cent per gallon difference between Eastern and Western University Avenue gas stations (!), but those won’t help you find your way home. I would suggest exploration,it’s the best way to get to know a place.
As you’ve gotten here,you’re probably aware that to the South are Oakland and Emeryville. Directly to the West is the San Francisco Bay,and on the other side of that is the Pacific Ocean. To the North is Albany and Kensington. East of Berkeley are the hills,the ridge of which is the county line between Berkeley’s Alameda County and Contra Costa County. If you have registered to vote,you will likely be called for Jury Duty and if you are a local that would be in Alameda County and consequently in Oakland or Hayward. The courthouses in Oakland are easier to reach,but if you are called to serve in Hayward you get mail from the “Hayward Hall of Justice” which I always associate with the Super Friends,although I have never made a super friend at jury duty. I did meet a grad student in Physics who I went out with,but that ended awkwardly and I probably shouldn’t talk about it. In any case,water is to the west, hills are to the east.
Besides its Super Friends association,you might associate Hayward with its eponymous fault, which was featured in the mid-Eighties Bond movie “A View to a Kill” (the last one with Roger Moore),and it surely appears in countless science texts.Tom Wolfe used it as a plot device once,too. While my love of geography doesn’t creep too much into geology, I would be remiss if I didn’t point out that this fault runs through campus, as that could help you orient yourself too. In addition to causing parts of Memorial Stadium (where the football is played,but also a good place to run around and climb stairs and such) to creep a little over a foot in the past 80-some years,it is responsible for the occasional pants-staining terror of many a lab-manager on campus,what with the shaking and the bouncing that occurs everyonce in a while. If you’re inside,you should probably knowyour orientation with respect to stairwells and door- ways.
THEY’RE A GREAT PLACE TO DUCK AND COVER!
As long as we’re discussing things on campus, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to orient yourself to the
library system. There are something like 30 libraries on campus. Lucky for you in this day and age, they’re all accessible through Pathfinder,the online catalog searching program, so you don’t necessarily have to walk to the 29 locations where what you are actively looking for is not located. Not that you won’t find interesting things that way. Maybe you would stumble upon the
book that cracks open your deep seeded love and preternatural talent for ventriloquism. I guess you can still look these things up,but it’s much more…efficient. Anyhow,that would all be found via lib.Berkeley.edu.
If you do not have a computer or easy access to one,there are computer labs on campus: in the basements of Dwinelle and Evans, VLSB,Moffitt Library,Tan Hall,Wheeler hall, and,if you have an OCF account,Heller Lounge in MLK. I know that the OCF usually gets a plug in here for having classes in things every once in a while,but I feel it is worthwhile to reiterate that they do provide some excellent services and one should visit ocf.Berkeley.edu for more details.
Getting back to orientation,Berkeley is a place full of foot and bikepaths both on and off campus. There is good public transit via BART and the buses (which are an excellent deal at the price of nothing with your magical student ID card). AC Transit actually connects with a variety of other service providers so that you can actually get pretty far for pretty cheap. With your ID card,you could hop 2 buses and make your way all the way down to Stanford if you wanted to for 4 dollars. Intercollegiate rivalry at its cheapest!
There are plenty of interesting local food, and sports and musical things that occur locally though. If you are not enthralled by Cal Adventures (www.oski.org),you can go climbing in the Indian Rock Park Community, or, if you’re feeling a different kind of spiritual,there are over 100 places of worship in Berkeley alone. From African-Methodist-Episcopalian to Zoroastrian:you’re covered! I had made a map of the churches and such,looking for a correlation with liquor stores (there are much fewer of them than I would have imagined, but still enough to lead to some disorientation!) but studying the culture of the city and the dynamics of it’s economy and the trade-offs feels a little too much like work. Anomalies in price gradients are interesting;there is currently a 22 cent per gallon difference between Eastern and Western University Avenue gas stations (!), but those won’t help you find your way home. I would suggest exploration,it’s the best way to get to know a place.
The Unbearable Lightness of Being…a Graduate Student.
First things first,and take this to be a general rule: DON’T PANIC.
(I don’t mean to confuse Kundera and Addams in your mind.)
(I don’t mean to confuse Kundera and Addams in your mind.)
You are here because, somewhere along the line, you impressed enough of the right people to the point that they vouched for your levels of motivation,critical thinking, communication skills, or research ethics sufficient to answer any questions as to whether or not you were deserving. You might see a peer forget this and voice an immediate feeling of inadequacy, or maybe notice their forgetting this manifesting as an empty melancholy in a few years—an angst about being out of place and not knowing what one is “supposed to do” as a graduate student. This note is as much for those looking to reassess their situation as it is for those who are new and maybe not sure what is going on,so if nothing else,remember that you got here for a reason.
So, after all that, we get to the point: what is it to be a graduate student?
In most cases, graduate students are paid to attend and contribute to the university: paid, especially if in the process they are doing research,and/or teaching. The overall educational goals for you are to “create” knowledge and extend the field (outwardly), as well as for you to to develop skills: critical and synthetic abilities that ought to help you in the future that you choose.
You show up to campus and what you do know, you will further develop,and what you don’t know, you will learn. This learning may involve some classes you’ll likely have to take anyway. Figuring out your department’s requirements is essentially phase 1. It’s easier than collecting underpants. The initial classes taking period of your time as a graduate student is also a good time to read papers in your field and study the methodology and challenges or opportunities that you’ll spend the next couple years analyzing. This will be assisted usually by an advisor or investigator of your choosing whose expectations areas important to figure out as those of your department. Arguably that’s where the “real” learning is.
Unlike most jobs, graduate students go through a process of picking an advisor or group. Think about it like renting out your skills. The good news about this is that you are picking your manger, and an “academic family”. If you want a distant advisor, those exist; if you want someone who will provide you with constant pressure, there are plenty of those too. Tenants come in all kinds. Other students in your department will be an invaluable resource for making this kind of selection, particularly in telling you how they deal with the workload and desires of their bosses. Priorities vary,but taking a quick look at the 4C’s (Concentration, Character, Confidence and Cash) will often be at the very least a good way to limit the 4P’s (Putrid projects, Personality clashes, Presumptions, and Prostitution). You’re looking for a project you feel passion about, pleasant personalities in the people you will be dealing with for the next 2 to n years, with open communications about expectations and,ideally,financial support. You’re getting paid to think about a topic for a while, you might as well enjoy thinking about it.
Your advisor will often have specific desires of you (often along the lines of “x papers in y years”,or “build this by next week.”). These vary based on field and boss and mood and planetary alignment. However,I think that there are some standard desires that the professoriate have, namely that you manage your time in an effective, efficient, and diligent manner. I have a policy of always trying to have something new to say when you see your advisor. The “something” means "I’ve been effective", the “always” and “new” imply that "I’ve been efficient", and the fact that he sees me means that I’m at least diligent enough to cross paths with him in a regular fashion.
Now, slightly further down the road are proficiency exams. When these are,with respect to the amount of research toward graduation you have done, varies depending on departments. In most cases,a committee of faculty will attempt to assess the breadth and depth of your comprehension of fundamentals in your field. By gauging your command of the practical aspects of your study area, they can figure out your ability to design and produce dissertation quality work,so this exam will help you to target your future activities and experiments for you to get or continue to get publishable results to garner you and your boss and the institution with visibility and grant money. That being said,if you’re reading this,you are new and the main point of bringing exams up is to remind to that you can tailor your classes to help you to be ready and really, the readiness is all. Good luck!
TEACH YOUR CHILDREN WELL
Each semester we see students fill out evaluations about their instructors, maybe even give the input that instructors might have needed to be effective,which the instructors then only receive too late to be useful to that class. That may be acceptable if you're going to teach the same class for years and years and need only to tweak your approach a little,but if you're new to teaching and aren't going to be doing it every semester for your time here,this approach for helping you improve is a little ineffectual.
We decided to take action. We found a captive audience and asked them what works.
Here’s the gems of the results:
The best GSIs were:
-Prepared and knowledgeable about the material being covered
-Seemingly empathetic/approachable outside of the classroom.
-Explained things in simple term/held study sessions
-Asked for and implemented feedback
-Used simple and funny analogies to help us understand
-Often stayed beyond required office hours to help
-Patient in the face of complete and utter lack of comprehension
-Organized,informative and efficient:ready for common misunderstandings
-Capable of using every answer to make progress toward explaining the big picture
My worst GSI:
-Seemed hurried,impatient,and indifferent to whether we understood or not
-Used the same mode of explanation in the face of confusion
-Held sessions that felt lacking in purpose,structure or points.
-Washaughty,showed personal bias,,tended toward monotones
What works:
-Visuals
-Complex explanations don’tworkifnotsupplementedw/ pictures/graphs/media
-Using twoor three different ways to explain the same material so it sticks
Ways for GSIs to improve:
-Prepare more
-Try not to be nervous
-Be patient
-Remember what it was liketo be an undergrad
-Try not to show when you think a question is stupid
We decided to take action. We found a captive audience and asked them what works.
Here’s the gems of the results:
The best GSIs were:
-Prepared and knowledgeable about the material being covered
-Seemingly empathetic/approachable outside of the classroom.
-Explained things in simple term/held study sessions
-Asked for and implemented feedback
-Used simple and funny analogies to help us understand
-Often stayed beyond required office hours to help
-Patient in the face of complete and utter lack of comprehension
-Organized,informative and efficient:ready for common misunderstandings
-Capable of using every answer to make progress toward explaining the big picture
My worst GSI:
-Seemed hurried,impatient,and indifferent to whether we understood or not
-Used the same mode of explanation in the face of confusion
-Held sessions that felt lacking in purpose,structure or points.
-Washaughty,showed personal bias,,tended toward monotones
What works:
-Visuals
-Complex explanations don’tworkifnotsupplementedw/ pictures/graphs/media
-Using twoor three different ways to explain the same material so it sticks
Ways for GSIs to improve:
-Prepare more
-Try not to be nervous
-Be patient
-Remember what it was liketo be an undergrad
-Try not to show when you think a question is stupid
Previous Advice Distillate
Unfortunately, we at the Berkeley Graduate sometimes have a surplus of advice relative to the amount of space and time we have to dispense it. In an attempt to ensure that we do get wiser with every year,it would seem to be important that we make sure to take a look back at previous advice to note what is still important.
Here were some notes from previous lists of useful activities for students:
1.Buy a plant (that matches your level of horticultural experience). Plants are physical proof of growth—something any graduate student desperately needs.
2.Start swimming. It is good for ones health,allows one to interact with non-academics,and forces one to shower. On-campus pools (Strawberry Creek Rec Center, Golden Bear,Hearst Gym & Spieker) are free with an RSF Membership ($10/Semester)
3.Build social and professional relationships. This will guard against isolation as a support network, help you write a better dissertation,and (the right conversations) may save you research time.
4. Don’t talk to people about an exam right after you take it. It will not change how you’ve done. Everyone feels insecure or inadequate at some point during their schooling. Some people are just better at hiding it.
5. Relax, don’t worry so much and enjoy being passionate about something. Everyone finds a home eventually. Odds are you will not be able to read everything assigned. Learn howto read selectively and not feel guilty about it.
6. Take classes outside of your field if you have the chance;there are gems hidden all over this campus.
7. You will learn to be more independent and self-motivating. Don’t over rely on positive reinforcement:trust your own instincts about your work,but remain open to constructive criticism.
8.Be mindful of your budget. The sooner you figureout if things like income tax has been withheld,the easier things will be come tax season.
9.Respect your mental health. Especially if you’re concerned about isolation, depression, anxiety or your well being, stop by the Tang Center.
10. Remember that if you disappoint your boss,that feeling will be just a blip in his or her day that he or she will get over a lot faster than you would if you disappointed yourself. Nobody cares about you and your degree as much as you do. Follow your gut and do your best.
Here were some notes from previous lists of useful activities for students:
1.Buy a plant (that matches your level of horticultural experience). Plants are physical proof of growth—something any graduate student desperately needs.
2.Start swimming. It is good for ones health,allows one to interact with non-academics,and forces one to shower. On-campus pools (Strawberry Creek Rec Center, Golden Bear,Hearst Gym & Spieker) are free with an RSF Membership ($10/Semester)
3.Build social and professional relationships. This will guard against isolation as a support network, help you write a better dissertation,and (the right conversations) may save you research time.
4. Don’t talk to people about an exam right after you take it. It will not change how you’ve done. Everyone feels insecure or inadequate at some point during their schooling. Some people are just better at hiding it.
5. Relax, don’t worry so much and enjoy being passionate about something. Everyone finds a home eventually. Odds are you will not be able to read everything assigned. Learn howto read selectively and not feel guilty about it.
6. Take classes outside of your field if you have the chance;there are gems hidden all over this campus.
7. You will learn to be more independent and self-motivating. Don’t over rely on positive reinforcement:trust your own instincts about your work,but remain open to constructive criticism.
8.Be mindful of your budget. The sooner you figureout if things like income tax has been withheld,the easier things will be come tax season.
9.Respect your mental health. Especially if you’re concerned about isolation, depression, anxiety or your well being, stop by the Tang Center.
10. Remember that if you disappoint your boss,that feeling will be just a blip in his or her day that he or she will get over a lot faster than you would if you disappointed yourself. Nobody cares about you and your degree as much as you do. Follow your gut and do your best.
Surviving and Thriving as a Graduate or Professional Student at UC Berkeley
In the spirit of this publication being an interesting guide for advising new and continuing students, the following pages include some consultative input as to what some graduate students wish that they had known when they began their studies here. This is pretty much the same advice that the Berkeley Graduate has given scores of graduate students before you,and there have been few complaints so it will be said again almost verbatim.
Now a part of the system of regents, chancellors, provosts, deans, staff, professors, administrative assistants,and so on;as a graduate or professional student (perhaps as an instructor or researcher),you have become another cringing head of the great beast that is the University of California,and specifically Berkeley. Not all of these heads necessarily know what the others are doing,but each has the power to bite you if you aren’t mindful of policies. This awareness is a responsibility you have (to yourself) to ensure that you’re getting paid if you ought to be,fulfilling degree requirements, and generally thriving here while dealing with as little red tape as possible.
You also now have some powers:maybe they include control of some undergraduates’ grades; maybe they include the ability to really expand the body of knowledge in the field you’re in, maybe you’ll find yourself capable of adding volume to the nagging voice that turns student concern into university policy. In any case,just as the editors have had to resist the inappropriate impulse to subtitle pictures with captions such as “The International House:It’s not just for pancakes anymore”, you must do your best to be fair, responsible, and reasonable with your power.
As far as things you can feel comfortable taking advantage of,few people would reject the offer of extra storage space for a plethora of large digital files.If you’re leaning away from having a gmail account or the like, and would prefer to become part of a community,check out the Open Computing Facility (see www.OCF.berkeley.edu).Your free membership garners you 10 MB of email memory,120 MB of webspace, and access to a UNIX Shell Account where you can keep another 200 MB of files:all you have to do is fill out the membership forms. The OCF also cosponsers programs that can offer free chances to learn things you might not already know.
A less free (but still fiscally cromulent) membership could be in the Cal RecClub (see http://calbears.berkeley.edu/calrecclub/). While this involves paying the student membership fee (Only $10 per semester thanks to a great victory of student lobbying); you are paying for access to an assortment of facilities,programs,and classes that (once you are no longer a registered student here) otherwise cost over $48 per month. As far as cost-benefit analysis,while you are out $10 (and there is a distinct possibility that you might run into a student,peer,or labmate in an awkward state of undress or perspiratory dampitude), surely there will never be quite as cheap a time to invest in your physical and mental health.If you pay for water at your residence,you can think of it as an investment in a place where you can take a shower;and so,if you do nothing else with your membership,you've broken even at ~60 visits, less if you take longer showers. Additionally,(if you want to go down the “it’s an investment in my health”-path of justification,) fitness tends to correlate to wellness. Occasional exercise is less of an ordeal
than having to deal with the Tang Center: because,even with “insurance”, it is much safer to not be reliant on the university’s health services. As of earlier this year, a membership at this gym will actually also let you into any of the other UC gyms for free,so you can even exorcise your sweaty demons in other places.
You have 168 hours a week to do all sorts of things. Work hard,but recognize that the number of actual hours put into a task does not always have a 1:1 correlation with the caliber of work,nor the overall perceived productivity. Work smarter, don’t be afraid to ask for help,and read the rest of this publication.
Best wishes,
The Berkeley Graduate
Now a part of the system of regents, chancellors, provosts, deans, staff, professors, administrative assistants,and so on;as a graduate or professional student (perhaps as an instructor or researcher),you have become another cringing head of the great beast that is the University of California,and specifically Berkeley. Not all of these heads necessarily know what the others are doing,but each has the power to bite you if you aren’t mindful of policies. This awareness is a responsibility you have (to yourself) to ensure that you’re getting paid if you ought to be,fulfilling degree requirements, and generally thriving here while dealing with as little red tape as possible.
You also now have some powers:maybe they include control of some undergraduates’ grades; maybe they include the ability to really expand the body of knowledge in the field you’re in, maybe you’ll find yourself capable of adding volume to the nagging voice that turns student concern into university policy. In any case,just as the editors have had to resist the inappropriate impulse to subtitle pictures with captions such as “The International House:It’s not just for pancakes anymore”, you must do your best to be fair, responsible, and reasonable with your power.
As far as things you can feel comfortable taking advantage of,few people would reject the offer of extra storage space for a plethora of large digital files.If you’re leaning away from having a gmail account or the like, and would prefer to become part of a community,check out the Open Computing Facility (see www.OCF.berkeley.edu).Your free membership garners you 10 MB of email memory,120 MB of webspace, and access to a UNIX Shell Account where you can keep another 200 MB of files:all you have to do is fill out the membership forms. The OCF also cosponsers programs that can offer free chances to learn things you might not already know.
A less free (but still fiscally cromulent) membership could be in the Cal RecClub (see http://calbears.berkeley.edu/calrecclub/). While this involves paying the student membership fee (Only $10 per semester thanks to a great victory of student lobbying); you are paying for access to an assortment of facilities,programs,and classes that (once you are no longer a registered student here) otherwise cost over $48 per month. As far as cost-benefit analysis,while you are out $10 (and there is a distinct possibility that you might run into a student,peer,or labmate in an awkward state of undress or perspiratory dampitude), surely there will never be quite as cheap a time to invest in your physical and mental health.If you pay for water at your residence,you can think of it as an investment in a place where you can take a shower;and so,if you do nothing else with your membership,you've broken even at ~60 visits, less if you take longer showers. Additionally,(if you want to go down the “it’s an investment in my health”-path of justification,) fitness tends to correlate to wellness. Occasional exercise is less of an ordeal
than having to deal with the Tang Center: because,even with “insurance”, it is much safer to not be reliant on the university’s health services. As of earlier this year, a membership at this gym will actually also let you into any of the other UC gyms for free,so you can even exorcise your sweaty demons in other places.
You have 168 hours a week to do all sorts of things. Work hard,but recognize that the number of actual hours put into a task does not always have a 1:1 correlation with the caliber of work,nor the overall perceived productivity. Work smarter, don’t be afraid to ask for help,and read the rest of this publication.
Best wishes,
The Berkeley Graduate
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