The Justice

At the beginning of my graduate school orientation at Stony Brook University, the first speaker opened with the words, "College is about learning. Graduate school is about discovery." Now, almost a year later, I thought it would be fitting to evaluate what I see as the major differences between college and grad school. I don't know if my experiences are typical, but I hope writing about them can give some potential grad students an idea of what it might be like to move on in the world of academia.

I graduated from Brandeis in 2006 with a Bachelor of Arts in math and enrolled in Stony Brook's Ph.D. program in mathematics. To a certain extent, I found the speaker's comment about discovery to be true, especially for doctoral students. A doctoral student always needs to have an eye for researchable problems and research areas that could become the topic of a dissertation. Excellent class performance is insufficient to earn a Ph.D.- doctoral students must participate in research. While many students come in knowing exactly what they want to research, students like me who do not can be at a distinct disadvantage. Every time I meet someone new in my department, the first question I am asked is what I want to research. It's always awkward saying that I just don't know yet.

I attended colloquia and talked to different professors about their research interests. After some consideration, I chose the operations research track over the more traditional differential equations oriented track in applied math. I enjoyed learning how to model problems graphically and geometrically and seeing the complexity of the algorithms to solve them. I also found it interesting that even in learning applied math, which is supposedly more employable outside of academia than pure math, they don't always teach you about real-world applications. For professors who teach applied math, the material can involve just as much abstraction as simply theoretical math. I personally haven't yet made up my mind as to whether I want to work in academia or use math in another field. But for people who work in another field and use applied math, it's important to research on their own specifically how to apply math to whatever industry in which you want to work.

Aside from the academic challenges that graduate school presents, I find the biggest difference between college and graduate school is the social atmosphere. Graduate school is definitely not the real world, but it is one step closer. Like most grad students, I live off campus, where there is no Department of Student Activities providing ready-made events at which to socialize with peers. At Brandeis, I was active in several religious and politically-oriented clubs. Here, most of the people I talk to are from my department.

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