Getting What You Came For : The Smart Student's Guide to Earning an M.A. or a Ph.D.

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Summary: Good info- but not very valuable to business students
Review: I wanted some background before going back for my MBA- THis book is very useful in giving a broad understanding of how graduate and doctorate programs work. The tips for survival are pretty universal for the most part, although I was somewhat disappointed on the extremely brief coverage of the MBA. considering how many students get an MBA as compared to those who score Doctorates, I think the subject weighting was somewhat off. Nevertheless, it will still provide some valuable insight that can save you some heartache once back on campus.

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Summary: Outstanding.....Graduate Students Must Have!
Review: I am a first semester graduate student at San Francisco State, and this book has given me a great start. It's makes you awake up and get real about about you want and what is neccessary for you to reach your goals.I was disppointed that the book was geared more toward academic Ph.D rather than those of us who are getting an professional graduate degree. It does not speak highly of professional doctorates either. Beware that this book is deeply rooted in academia, but there is a lot for those of us who are not looking to beome professors;such as writing your thesis, working with advisors and putting together your thesis committee.This book will help you ask the right questions and plan for academic success.

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Summary: If you're smart, you'll read this book.
Review: I absolutely, positively recommend this book to anyone pursuing, applying for, or even entertaining the possibility of graduate studies. It differs from others I've read in that it is thorough, thoughtful and genuinely useful, whether you think you've got it all figured out or haven't got a clue. The chapter on choosing an advisor (versus a school) is indispensable. Testimonials from admissions committees, advisors and students cover all the bases. A HUGE bonus is the author's firsthand knowledge of grad school in the sciences- and how it differs from the humanities. Advisors, please let your students know this book exists. Students, buy one immediately.

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Summary: Read this book BEFORE you start grad school
Review: While this book does contain some advice on selecting a graduate school program and financial aid, it really excels at guiding students on how to finish their graduate school program as efficiently and quickly as possible. Peters has good advice for students on how to manage academic politics and write and defend your thesis. Most of this book's readers are current grad students who wish they had read this book earlier. We advise you to read it BEFORE you matriculate into grad school as it will allow you to get up that next learning curve in much less time.

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Summary: a must-read if your thinking about going to grad school
Review: This book is the most practical and realistic book I've read about managing graduate school. There is much more to graduate school than simply meeting a list of formal requirements. Peters offers advice on how to manage the unwritten rules (see the chapter on "playing politics"). I first came across this book when I was applying to graduate school in psychology. I find myself occasionally referring back to specific chapters as I approach each new stage in my graduate career.

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Summary: Effective, Informative, Realistic
Review: This is an excellent, excellent book. I used this book as my primary guide to getting through the graduate school application process. Having gone to a good college that was part of a larger research university, I recognized the info. in this book as straightforward and accurate to the climate and tone of serious research universities. Get it. You will prosper. I did; using the advice in this book to manage the admissions process contributed to my succesful applictations. I was accepted into every competititive program to which I applied. I look forward to being able to now utilize the back chapters on the politics of advisors, time management and minority issues to ensure continued success in the Fall.

Rating:
Summary: Chock Full of Helpful Hints
Review: _Getting What You Came For_ is an entertaining and useful guide to making your way through a graduate program. His advice on how to actively pursue your career goals spans the whole graduate experience, from admission beforehand to the job hunt afterwards. Although a recipient of a Ph.D in biology himself, the book does an excellent job covering the pitfalls in both the sciences and the humanities, as well as in the M.A. and the Ph.D. His advice definitely goes beyond the ususal blah-de-blah.

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Summary: Covers almost all the crucial topics
Review: As a college professor, I am always on the lookout for a good source to help undergraduates who are contemplating getting a Ph.D. as well as to help graduate students succeed in their Ph.D. program. This book is one of the best in this genre I have come across. Although the author is a biologist, it is clear he has done his homework on other disciplines, and his advice is useful for graduate students in any field.
One of the most impressive features of the book is its comprehensive coverage. From improving one's credentials to get into a graduate program to getting a job once you have the Ph.D., Peters has detailed, entertaining advice for all the steps one encounters along the way. Liberally sprinkled through the book are anecdotes from students in a variety of fields that will leave most of us thankful that we did not have the Ph.D. advisors these poor hapless souls did.
Indeed, there were only two aspects I wish the book would have covered but it did not. First, there is no mention of handling coursework in a graduate program. This is probably because coursework and course grades are of much lower priority in graduate school than it is for the undergraduate degree, but I think Peters could have made this point and encouraged readers not to fall into the trap of spending more time on coursework than is warranted.
Second, I wish Peters had devoted more space to talking about getting academic jobs. College-level teaching is still the single most popular career goal for Ph.D.'s, and there are aspects of getting an academic job that are different than applying for jobs in the private sector. I wish he had written a separate chapter on academic jobs.
In a related vein, there was only one piece of advice that Peters give that I flat-out disagreed with, and that was his comment that teaching wastes time and that Ph.D. students should avoid teaching as much as possible. This is true for many Ph.D. students, but it is definitely NOT true for Ph.D. students desiring teaching jobs at 4-year, liberal arts colleges. Those jobs will want to see ample teaching experience, not just as a teaching assistant but also as sole instructor of a course. A student who does not have considerable teaching experience will not be competitive for those jobs, and because there are more of those jobs available than tenure track lines at research universities, taking Peters' advice on that score could be ultimately self-defeating.
However, those are the only negative comments I would make on an otherwise excellent book. I recommend it highly for anybody even contemplating going on beyond an undergraduate degree, and I plan to give copies of it to all my incoming graduate students.

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Summary: Overall good-but beware
Review: I think this is a useful tool, esp. for Ph.D. candidates (not so much for those who only wish to get a master's degree. However, the author misses the boat on some VERY key issues, one of which has to do with chosing a school and getting in and out as fast as you can. Peters recommends that you chose a Ph.D. program that does not have a foreign language requirement; this, he argues, will shorten your stay at a university because you will not have to spend time learning a language and taking the test. However, in the humanities ALL of the best schools (and the second tier schools as well) have this requirement, and if one takes Peters advice and choses a school without a requirement, chances are very, very strong that the school will not be one from which a graduate will have any hope at all of getting a job after graduation! This is a very important consideration, one which Peters ignores. You shouldn't!!!

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Summary: If you are looking at this review, you need this book
Review: This book is probably the single most helpful thing that I read while considering graduate school. Three years into the Ph.D., it remains an enormously useful resource.