Rating: 
Summary: Excellent advice about grad school
Review: This book is a great guide to choosing, getting in, and getting through graduate school. It explains everything from how to motive to write a thesis to politics. It explains intelligently things that you might not want to ask. What are prelims anyhow? How do I write a thesis? How do I give a decent presentation? If you are as clueless about how it all works as I was, this book will be a huge help. I refer to it regularly and it really has helped keep me on track.
Rating: 
Summary: Too biased towards Ph.D. interests
Review: While part of the title is, "Earning a Master's or a Ph.D." the book focuses more on the interests of someone pursuing (or about to pursue) a Ph.D. Even still, it does contain a number of helpful hints with regards to Master's degrees. I would have given it four stars but I'm disappointed that it's so Ph.D.-focused.
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Summary: So Good, I Bought it Twice!
Review: I bought this book in 1997 before starting a masters program. I had a JD and thought that getting a masters would be a piece of cake. Was I wrong! However, at least with Dr. Peters' book in hand, I knew what to look out for, what to concentrate on, and what not to spend my time worrying over. Like an idiot, I tossed the book when I finished my masters program because I thought I'd gotten 'what I came for.' Now I'm applying to Ph.D. programs and knew that this was the ONE book I had to have before starting on this journey. My thoughts were borne out when a respected professor friend recommended the book. When I said I'd not only read it, but had just bought my SECOND copy, I knew from his face that he knew I was serious. Getting What You Came For offers a great service. I thought I knew about academia, but again, the law school experience is not the graduate school experience. Because of Dr. Peters' advice, I made a point of getting out of my intellectual shell and worked on developing a true network of colleagues. Two years out of a rigorous masters program, I continue to be in contact with a large number of classmates and professors - professors who know me, are supporting me in my Ph.D. applications, and who have developed into real friends. This book isn't supposed to be read in one sitting and not every section will be applicable to every reader. Some sections are more helpful once you're in school, as opposed to the applications process, some are more helpful to doctoral students. However, much of the book is applicable to most people. There are sections on issues relevant to minority, women, international, and mature students. Most guides assume the reader is a 28 year old white American male. If you don't fit this profile, your experience will be different. Dr. Peters addresses these differences well. If you are applying to doctoral programs, most of the book will apply to you. If you are in a program, you will return to Dr. Peters' book often for its advice on time management, thesis writing, dealing with faculty, and employment when it's all over. I recommend this book highly to anyone considering graduate school. If you are already in a school, you should still buy it - you will get helpful insights that you can use throughout your academic career.
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Summary: Because you need a plan
Review: I wanted to go to graduate school in a field where I had no academic or work experience, and I wanted to go to one of the top schools in the country. I thought I was being unrealistic, but "Getting What You Came For" helped me to strategically plan a way to attend the graduate school of my choice. It worked like a charm. I was the number one ranked applicant for my program and was nominated for scholarships. I gave myself an inside edge at my target schools by following the book's advice. The book has also seen me through some tough political situations in my program (they exist even in the most cheerful academic environments). If you want to take charge of your fate, read this book.
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Summary: If you are struggling, you are not alone
Review: After having a great experience doing a master's degree at one university, I naturally went on to the PhD track never having imagined how excrutiating graduate school could be if you find yourself working under an irrational zealot of an advisor. I found this book helpful in that it presented strategies on how to graduate despite unfair obstacles which apparently are rampant in graduate programs. This book provides a great amount of insight on how to turn graduate school into as painless of experiences as possible. It is a cheap book and well worth the time to read.
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Summary: Look very carefully before you leap!
Review: One needs three things to succeed in any graduate program, and they are an interesting topic for research, the necessary facilities and resources to pursue the topic, and finally the money to pursue the topic of interest. Although I agree with Peters when he says that one should attend grad school only if one needs an advanced degree for career advancement, he neglected to mention that having an interesting, doable topic for your research can make the difference between a heavenly or hellish grad school experience. In twenty-four highly detailed, readable, and often (darkly) humorous chapters, Peters shows the reader an excellent way to play the academic game as a traditional graduate student. Bear in mind, however, that there are other options to obtaining the graduate degree. When considering the decision to obtain a graduate degree, one can choose from a variety of colleges and universities. Furthermore, one can obtain an advanced degree in any number of ways, thanks to advances in technology and a changing social and corporate climate. In today's red-hot economy, many companies offer continuing education for free, and will even foot the bill for an advanced degree to retain workers. Rather than quitting a good job to attend grad school and put up with a lot of stress and abuse for the prospect of making peanuts (if you're lucky enough to get funded) and an uncertain career future, one could, depending on the field of study, work while going to school. That way, you get the education without sacrificing the salary, experience, promotions, networking opportunies and career contacts. By paying for your degree yourself or having your employer pay for it for you, you more often than not get a better education, and you most certainly avoid all of the abuse and exploitation which unfortunately pervades many grad schools (Peters is absolutely right here). This four hundred page book is designed to help the traditional graduate student get through the academic meat-grinder with a minimum of physical, mental, and emotional turmoil. The first three chapters of the book give you a good idea of what you are really up against, and the picture really is not pretty. The fourth chapter helps one to decide whether or not to take a break before going to graduate school, and if you do, what sort of job to take to increase your chances of getting into grad school. Chapters five through eight offer a lot of extremely useful information on the grad school admissions process and good ways to get accepted by the school of your choice. Chapter nine gives a brilliant, very detailed, though a bit dated discussion of the most important concern among grad students- financial support for grad study. Chapters ten and eleven give a brief background and history on the master's and doctorate degrees. Chapters 12 through 19 go through organization, time management for grad students, and selecting, completing, writing and defending a thesis topic. Chapter 20 deals with oral presentations, and being the bread and butter of academic life, should have come before the chapters dealing with the thesis. Chapters 21 and 22 talk about coping skills specifically for graduate students, and emphasize the importance of having a life- something many grad students simply do not have. Chapter 23 gives very general advice to students who do not happen to be white and male- most of this information can be skipped, as it is not very helpful. The 24th and final chapter outlines some practical steps to landing a job on your own, and covers such things as resume preparation, the informational interview, and optimizing the use of various resources to find a position worth having. Peters also appends a couple of chapters on buying a good computer and useful education related web addresses, both of which may be of some use but are pretty much dated given the speed at which things change in the computer and internet space. Finally, he includes a useful bibliography which contains a plethora of good references for further reading. If anything, this book serves as a sobering eye-opener for those who are either thinking about making the plunge, or have made the plunge. Keep in mind that some schools are changing for the better by offering grad students other experiences and career options (though not fast enough) outside of research and academe, and some are getting worse. A briefer, blunter treatment of much of the material in this book can be found in P J Feibelman's book, 'A PhD Is Not Enough'.
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Summary: Got Me Into the School of My Choice!
Review: I can't say enough wonderful things about this book. I bought it a year before I applied to graduate school and followed its advice on how to improve your chances of getting into a good school. I refered to it while taking classes, putting together my application--everything. And I got into my first choice masters program, which only accepts 5% of its applicants! After such success, I know I'll look at it constantly as I work towards my degree. I only wish I'd found it sooner, I think it would have helped a lot even at the undergraduate level.
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Summary: I lived this book, and I KNOW it works!
Review: In the very early 1990s I was one of Robert Peters's "test" graduate students while he was writing this book. I did everything he said to do, and he cut YEARS off of my graduate study. Because of this book, I finished a master's and Ph.D. in a little less than four years, or about one-third the national average. Oh, and don't believe everything you read in the customer reviews about grad school always being a grind. I loved every minute of it, partly because Rob's book helped me navigate around the unlovely parts. Now I'm a professor at a major university. This is a crucial book if you're thinking about going to grad school, and you should read it even if you are already there!
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Summary: Great Aource of Information
Review: I found this book to be very informative and complete. I encourage anyone interested in pursing a Masters or PhD to get it. As someone applying to doctoral programs I refer to my copy almost daily!
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Summary: Brutally honest, which is (sadly) really necessary
Review: There is a good section on this book about why not to go to grad school, which is necessary. I have never met one person in 12 years of academe in the humanities who looks fondly back upon his or her graduate school years, whether or not they succeed in getting the Ph.D. and finding a job, and no matter how much they like their job. YES, graduate school is THAT bad, and now that I myself have to advise students who are thinking in some abstract and idealistic way of graduate school, I am glad to see that there is some literature that points out what an awful experience it is. Because the fact is, many graduate programs in the humanities have attrition rates well over 70% for the PhD and people come out of those programs bitter and dried up. Maybe knowing ahead of time about what it's really like will be helpful, so I applaud this book for that much, at least. The second portion of the book is more run of the mill and undistinguished.
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