Doug Shaw, 1995 Math PhD from the University of Michigan, has this to say about how working in industry before starting the Math PhD program at Michigan affected his graduate career. Read more about Doug in our Spotlight on Alumni series.
When I graduated from the University of Illinois with an undergrad degree in Computer Engineering, I obtained a Masters in Mathematics there, and went into industry. Why did I do the Masters, not a Ph.D.? Well, I tell people that it was because I wanted the Masters, and couldn’t wait to be a systems engineer. But I’ll tell you now, because I’ve become too old to lie. I wanted a Ph.D., and didn’t get one, because I didn’t know how to be that kind of graduate student. I didn’t immerse myself in the life and culture, because I didn’t have to do that as an undergraduate. My friends were mostly people I knew as an undergraduate, now seniors and fifth-year-seniors, finishing up their degrees by taking classes during the day, studying and playing at night. They were taking five classes, I was taking three, so I got to play more. And because I was smart and had gotten good at playing school I got decent grades. But in graduate school, the grades were secondary to what I actually knew. I was renting knowledge, I wasn’t owning it, and graduate school is full of hurdles and checks to make sure you are owning and synthesizing what you are learning. So I mastered out and was left with nothing but a high-paying fulfilling job.
I missed academia though. I wasn’t done learning. I wasn’t done teaching. I knew I had to go back fairly quickly, and was back in graduate school, this time in Ann Arbor, about 12 months later.
The experience was different. Here’s a list of things I observed
- I immersed. While I had made friends outside of the grad school environment, and while I dated and saw movies and so on (I actually got engaged and dumped in my time there!) it was clear that my primary focus was getting this degree. I’d given up a career to do this – it was no longer just something to do. I ate lunch in the commons room with grad students, we talked Topology on our way to the Michigan Theater. When I went to the Bird of Paradise blues club, I’d write up number theory while listening to the Ron Brooks Trio. Between poker hands I’d ask a question about the Sylow Theorems, or be asked. So many people were riding the same train with me that it was easy for me to stay on it.
- The new students complained about the workload, how they had to sometimes work eight to ten hours a day! As an engineer for a government contractor, of course, those hours were pretty much standard for me. At least eight hours, with bathroom breaks not to exceed fifteen minutes, and then “casual overtime.” Suddenly, I was the person with the good work ethic.
- I had sympathy. When I was at Illinois, I’d complain, like everyone complains, but nobody could really relate to what I was going through. Because you don’t really get what being a grad student is like if you haven’t been one. “Why not just quit?” “Just cut the class, dear lord, it’s only one time, you’ll catch up.” “You care too much, it’s just one old guy’s opinion.” When I was at Michigan, and I’d complain, my friends got it. We all understood. The lows. AND the highs. How a complement from one person at the right time could keep you going for a week.
- I expected to be much older than everyone. While I was three years older than most entering graduate students, I was younger than the finishing graduate students. At the University of Michigan, the graduate students didn’t have a huge age-hierarchy. Like-minded students would go out together, have dinner together, have parties together, without checking what semester they were in. So age-wise, at least when I entered, I was in the middle. And by the end, none of that mattered anymore to me, I just wanted to get my doctorate! The whole age thing mattered much less in grad school this time than it did before.
- Life-station did matter though. Grad students who were married and especially those who had families were at a disadvantage. Yes, they were invited to all the study-sessions, and they sometimes came. But the study-sessions weren’t always Organized and Planned. You’re in your office, doing office hours, and then they’re over but you wind up chatting with a friend and then after that is over, suddenly someone comes in and asks if you did the analysis homework and you say you were going to do that tonight but you are suddenly doing it now and someone overhears and now you are in a “study session” for an hour, knocking out problems 5, 6, and 9, and you don’t say, “Stop talking, everyone! We should call XYZ in Ypsilanti to see if he can get a babysitter and take 20 minutes to drive here.” So while I was a “returning student” from a break in one sense, in another I still had a lot in common with the grad students who did not take a break. I was single and could live in a tiny (and therefore relatively affordable) apartment in the heart of campus.
- When things went wrong, I was in a better position to fix them, than I was first time around. Because I’d done the dance before. I knew when it was time to get help, when it was time to cancel everything and take a solid weekend getting back on solid ground.
- I also was a lot better at life skills. I’m talking about cooking, laundry, taking the cat to the vet, understanding when I’m getting run-down, budgeting, all that stuff that can be a distraction the first time you really have to get it under control.
- Finally, the first time around, there was always the voice, “Do I really want to do this?” It didn’t feel so much like a choice as much as, “I graduate next year. I need to do something. I’ll apply to grad school and go on job interviews.” This time, there was none of that. It was, “I want to do this. I gave up a lot so I could. I’m going to make this happen.”
And there you go.
