(under)Graduate Education
I must confess. My graduate study at U of C isn’t much different than my undergraduate years. Why do I say that? The major difference between undergrad bio courses and grad courses is the text. In biosci graduate school, we read more current literature and primary documents. The textbooks are often only as a source of reference. The focus in grad school is methodology. How to propose hypothesis and how to design experiments. In undergrad, the focus was facts and theory. However, since I was actively involved in the research field as an undergrad, I read papers and tried to come up with experiments or reasons to explain the results. The other similarity is the fact that professors tend to teach the same material, regardless of the level of students. I happened to have 2 courses with professors that I have had before. To my surprise and dismay as well, course material and exam questions were similar. My dismay stemmed from the fact that I didn’t know if I was receiving a grad education as an undergrad or vice versa.
Much of the grad experience so far has been good. I appropriate most of the time to research in lab. Afterall, one can always read up on the subject on his own. Besides, most everyone is specialized, meaning that we tend to want to know more about our own research field than the most distal topics. I’ll be finished with my course requirements by the summer, which is a good thing since I’m a little tired of taking classes.
I must confess. My graduate study at U of C isn’t much different than my undergraduate years. Why do I say that? The major difference between undergrad bio courses and grad courses is the text. In biosci graduate school, we read more current literature and primary documents. The textbooks are often only as a source of reference. The focus in grad school is methodology. How to propose hypothesis and how to design experiments. In undergrad, the focus was facts and theory. However, since I was actively involved in the research field as an undergrad, I read papers and tried to come up with experiments or reasons to explain the results. The other similarity is the fact that professors tend to teach the same material, regardless of the level of students. I happened to have 2 courses with professors that I have had before. To my surprise and dismay as well, course material and exam questions were similar. My dismay stemmed from the fact that I didn’t know if I was receiving a grad education as an undergrad or vice versa.
Much of the grad experience so far has been good. I appropriate most of the time to research in lab. Afterall, one can always read up on the subject on his own. Besides, most everyone is specialized, meaning that we tend to want to know more about our own research field than the most distal topics. I’ll be finished with my course requirements by the summer, which is a good thing since I’m a little tired of taking classes.
