Information about
Graduate School (in general)
and the UB Graduate School (in particular)

1. UB Grad School & CSE Grad Programs:
   1. Grad Student Orientation — Fall 2007 (Powerpoint)

   2. UB Grad School
      • Grad School Policies & Procedures

   3. CSE Grad Handbook

   4. Virendra, Mohit (2006), "Group Information Session"
      • Powerpoint slide show from UB CSE Grad Student Orientation, Fall 2006.

2. Grad School in general:

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   Be sure to read "Rabbit's Ph.D. Thesis" (a parable)!

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   1. UB Counseling Center Self-Help Resource Page
      Contains links to useful information on:
      • Adjusting to University Life
      • Trauma, Terrorism, and War
      • Stress & Anxiety
      • Study Skills
        • Study Skills Self-Help Information
        • Academic Support Resources at UB
        • Stress Management
        • Time Management
        • Overcoming Procrastination
        • Preventing Perfectionism

      • Relationships
      • Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Community
      • Alcohol & Drugs
      • Depression & Suicide
      • Rape, Abuse, and Violence
      • Death & Grief
      • Health, Diet, & Body Image

   2. Agre, Phil (2001), "Advice for Undergraduates Considering Graduate School", originally published in Crossroads: The ACM Student Magazine (Summer 1997)
      • [html]
      • [pdf]

   3. "What to Ask about Grad School"

   4. Rapaport, William J. (2006), "How to Study"
      • [Powerpoint version]

   5. Rapaport, William J. (2006), "How to Write"

   6. Rapaport, William J. (2006), William Perry's Scheme of Intellectual and Ethical Development"
      • Powerpoint version

   7. Blum, Manuel (2002), "Advice to a Beginning Graduate Student or What is Research? or The 4 R's of Graduate School: Reading, Rithmetic, Research, and Writing"
      • Advice from a well-known computer scientist and former UB CSE Distinguished Speaker

   8. "Some Advice for Getting Through Graduate School"
      • Lots of useful links from Georgia Tech.

   9. desJardins, Marie (1994/1995), "How to Succeed in Graduate School"
      • Links to various documents on this topic, from a CS professor at the University of Maryland/Baltimore County. She has lots of other good stuff (e.g., how to organize a workshop, how to present research, etc., on her website, under the heading "Other Stuff"

   10. Loui, Michael C., "Welcome to New Graduate Students".
       • Loui is Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering and University Distinguished Teacher/Scholar at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Besides this document, he has a long list of helpful essays for students at his websites "Short Essays, Speeches, and Other Items of General Interest", "Advice for Graduate Students and Graduate Program Administrators", and "Teaching". See also his "Selected Bibliography on Graduate Education".

   11. Azuma, Ronald T. (1999), "So long, and thanks for the Ph.D.!" a.k.a. "Everything I wanted to know about C.S. graduate school at the beginning but didn't learn until later."

   12. Pratt, Wanda (1997), "Graduate School Survival Guide"

   13. McKinney, Mary (2006), "Advisee Management Tip: Ask for a Memo", Tomorrow's Professor Msg.#747.
       • "Looks at the many advantages of having your Ph.D. students include a memo to you when seeking feedback on their dissertation drafts."
       • Although aimed at faculty, I think the advice here should be followed by anyone who is doing collaborative writing with someone else. Grads: Take the advice here even if your major professor doesn't require it!

   14. McKinney, Mary, "Becoming a successful academic takes more than intelligence."
       • Contains advice on finishing your dissertation, searching for a job, etc.

   15. Johnson, Susan R. (2006), "Code O: How to Recover from Overwhelm".

   16. Buckley, Mike (2010), "Critical Thinking in Software Engineering" [.ppt]

   17. Hong, Jason (2013), "PhD Students Must Break Away from Undergraduate Mentality", Communications of the ACM 56(7) (July): 10–11.

   18. 
       Might, Matt (2014), "The Illustrated Guide to a PhD", Business Insider (19 December)