Six Strategic Pearls for Prospective Grad Students 

What:  A 6-page article on the nuts and bolts of the application process from the faculty mentoring perspective.

Why:  Why assign a paper that is 20 years old?  To show how little has changed.  You may no longer need the GRE to attend grad school, but everything else in this article remains spot-on.   Most of the value is in the appendices, helpfully structured as checklists.  These are called 'Variables for Students to Consider When Choosing A Graduate Program' and 'Common Components of an Application'.

 Favorite Quote: "Students are sometimes surprised to learn that letters from senators...are generally not useful; nor are letters from a faculty member whose only knowledge of the student is from when that individual took their very large introductory course." 

Source: Fischer, B.A. and Zigmond, M.J.  (2004)  Helping Students Get into Graduate School. The Journal of Undergraduate Neuroscience Education 83(5):18-22

What:  A 3-page article from a senior cell biology PI. 

Why:  Many are taught to do science, but how many are taught what science to do?  This author considers how innovation, difficulty and impact are related, and what choice of such variables should be preferred at different stages of one's career.  It's an outstanding intro to the concept of research portfolio optimization, similar to an asset mix in an investment plan.

Pearl:  The 3-Month Rule, in which the new researcher abstains from all lab experiments and commits only to reading, discussing and planning a project.

Favorite Quote:  "In science, the more you interest yourself, the larger the probability that you will interest your audience."

Source: Alon, U. (2009)  "How To Choose A Good Scientific Problem."  Molecular Cell 35(6): 726-728. 

What:  A 20-page book chapter from a team of life science educators.

Why:  This work explicitly combines Gabarro and Kotter's 'Managing Your Boss' (Harvard Business Review 1980) with STEM education.  The authors know their stuff, having led NIH-funded mentoring curricula at UW-Madison and Northwestern.      

Pearls:  A seven-point checklist of effective principles for mentoring relationships, and two detailed case studies of difficulties in graduate school.

Favorite Quote: "The relationship with one's mentor involves mutual dependence between fallible persons."

Source: Lee, S.P., McGee, R., Pfund, C., and Branchaw, J.  (2015)  "Mentoring Up": Learning to Manage Your Mentoring Relationships.  In The Mentoring Continuum: From Graduate School to Tenure.  Syracuse University: The Graduate School Press.  

What:  A Marine commander's take on mental training (5 pages).

Why:  Think your PI is tough?  General Krulak teaches recruits to make decisions while cold, wet, tired, hungry, verbally abused and under fire.   But he can also quote Napoleon and Sun Tzu.  In an article aimed at leadership, he asks: is our Corps, at every level, training recruits in the courage, initiative and integrity necessary for timely, accurate and ethical decisions?  On the other side, have recruits made a personal commitment to develop their professional character and decision-making abilities?  Substitute 'science' for 'warfare' and 'trainee' for 'recruit' and reap the benefits of USMC wisdom.  Oorah!

Favorite Quote: "A good plan executed now is better than a perfect plan executed next week" - Gen. George S. Patton

Source:  Krulak, Charles C.  (1999) Cultivating Intuitive Decisionmaking. Marine Corps Gazette 83(5):18-22

What:  A book-length directive from a towering figure in neuroscience.

Why: Very little need be said about this indelible tome, which, in neuroscience labs, is often passed from supervisor to trainee.  Published in 19th century Spain, this essay or 'pamphlet' delivers a mix of stern paternalism, proud nationalism, and wry humor.  Topics include personality traits of the scientist, traps to avoid, the equipment you need to do research at home, and how to find the correct wife.  Though archaic portions may stick out, the fundamentals remain: diligence is more important than intellect and data are more important than hypotheses.  

Favorite Quote: "Hypotheses come and go but data remain. Theories desert us, while data defend us. They are our true resources, our real estate, and our best pedigree."  

Source: Ramón y Cajal, S.  Advice for a Young Investigator (1897). Translated by N. & L.W. Swanson (1999) MIT Press: Cambridge, MA

What:  A 6-page satirical 'basic training' manual.

Why:  It's important to keep a sense of fun.  This paper takes the  checklist concept and turns it on its head, offering comically-exaggerated advice on fame, publishing, travel, teaching and going commercial.  Word of caution– even the footnotes are fake. 

Pearl:  Nothing you do is that important because we're just between paradigm shifts anyhow.  So relax and get on with it.

Favorite Quote: "Adherence to these principles will not guarantee success, but the testimony of many famous scientists supports the hypothesis that these guidelines can significantly (p < 0.05, Wilcoxon unpaired X-test run at pH 5.6) increase your chances..."

Source: Crutcher, Keith A. How to Succeed in Science  (1991) Perspectives in Biology and Medicine, 34(2): 213-218.