A Guide for Graduate Students.

This is an automatically translated post by LLM. The original post is in Chinese. If you find any translation errors, please leave a comment to help me improve the translation. Thanks!

Having been a graduate student at Jiaotong University for four years, I've experienced a lot and learned about the journeys of some friends and junior students. This article summarizes some patterns based on my own experiences and observations, and it doesn't cover every situation. It's meant for future students to reference and critique.

This article mainly discusses the current state of computer-related research groups, which may not apply to all laboratories. If readers from other fields have different insights, they are welcome to share them in the comments.

The operation of graduate research groups in China generally follows this pattern:

• The school evaluates advisors based on funding.
• Advisors secure funding by taking on projects from research institutes, companies, and other entities.
• Advisors distribute research assistant stipends to students, who then complete these projects.
• Students organize their thesis work around these projects.

At first glance, this process seems fine. It facilitates the top-down flow of research funding and effectively reduces the cost for some entities to achieve research outcomes. If each step in this process functions well, the results should look like this:

• The client (research institute, company) solves project issues and gains some intellectual property.
• The school takes a percentage of the project funding to maintain operations and build laboratories.
• Advisors accumulate laboratory resources and personal reputation and wealth.
• Students gain knowledge while solving problems, enjoy some intellectual property (papers, patents, etc.), complete their thesis to earn a degree, and find a good job through these accumulations.

While the ideal is appealing, reality is often stark. The scenario described above is rarely achieved, with only a few research groups operating in a way that benefits all parties. More often, various factors such as project content, funding, client personnel, advisor management skills and methods, advisor character, and school policies can harm the interests of some stakeholders. Due to their vulnerable position, students are usually the ones who suffer, and in the past, some have even paid with their lives. Here, I summarize some patterns for future students to consider and critique:

1. GPA remains important; focus on coursework in the first year.
2. The interests of advisors and students can differ or even conflict; you are the primary guardian of your own interests.
3. Interests are won through struggle, not compromise; seek unity through struggle to achieve unity.
4. The money earned from projects belongs to the advisor, but the skills, knowledge, published papers, competition awards, and diverse social experiences are yours.
5. Advisors are paper tigers; as long as you comply with regulations and complete your graduate education, they can't prevent you from graduating or working, nor can they significantly impact your future. They can only try to intimidate you.
6. Traveling with your advisor to various organizations can be beneficial; sometimes, you'll discover what kind of work you want to do, and more often, you'll realize what you don't want to do.
7. Graduate school is just a phase, not the end of life, so there's no need to end your life here, no matter what.