Every great achiever overcame the greatest obstacles.

~ Lailah Gifty Akita

Lailah Gifty Akita Education Failures Graduate Student Motivational Never Give Up Obstacles Success You Can

And if she liked and trusted the person who asked, she would add that yes, it was kind of a lot to deal with: her outward affect was bright and capable, and that was no illusion, but equally real was the yawning pit of exhaustion inside her. She just felt so tired sometimes. And because of everything her parents asked of her, she was ashamed of being tired. She could not, would not let the pit swallow her up, as much as she sometimes wanted it to.

~ Lev Grossman

Lev Grossman Academia Cognition Graduate School Graduate Student Graduate Students Graduate Studies Hard Work Intellect Intelligence Pressure Science Stress Student Students Studying

Needless to say, that meant that the Braekbills student body was quite the psychological menagerie. Carrying that much onboard cognitive processing power had a way of distorting your personality. And to actually want to work that hard, you had to be at least a little bit screwed up.

~ Lev Grossman

Lev Grossman Academia Cognition Graduate School Graduate Student Graduate Students Graduate Studies Hard Work Intellect Intelligence Science Student Students Studying

Active scholars are uniquely attracted by a high-quality graduate school of arts and sciences. Faculty members consider the teaching and training of new generations of graduate students as their highest calling. They believe that working with graduate students maintains and develops their professional skills more effectively than any other activity. It may be the main reason for the great attraction of academic jobs. Laboratory scientists have told me that the opportunity to work with graduate students keeps them in the university. For them, other options would center on research in commercial laboratories, but there the principal investigator would be assisted by technicians, and that is considered a far less creative interaction.

~ Henry Rosovsky

Henry Rosovsky Faculty Graduate Student Teaching University

Arthur Compton became my graduate advisor. He was the ideal graduate advisor for me: he came into my research room only once during my graduate career and usually had no idea how I was spending my time.

~ Luis W. Alvarez

Luis W. Alvarez Graduate Graduate Student Phd Physics Science

I entered Princeton University as a graduate student in 1959, when the Department of Mathematics was housed in the old Fine Hall. This legendary facility was marvellous in stimulating interaction among the graduate students and between the graduate students and the faculty. The faculty offered few formal courses, and essentially none of them were at the beginning graduate level. Instead the students were expected to learn the necessary background material by reading books and papers and by organising seminars among themselves. It was a stimulating environment but not an easy one for a student like me, who had come with only a spotty background. Fortunately I had an excellent group of classmates, and in retrospect I think the Princeton method of that period was quite effective.

~ Phillip A. Griffiths

Phillip A. Griffiths Biography Graduate Student Institute For Advanced Study Legendary Math Mathematician Mathematics Princeton Princeton Method Princeton University