Being a Graduate Student

As a graduate student, you are moving into an area of education where more will be expected of you than ever before: more time, more commitment, more responsibility, more leadership, and perhaps, most importantly, more professionalism. It is not just the depth and complexity of the material taught in graduate classes, it's the entire process. Try to enjoy the journey. Employers who understand this will look at you differently than an undergraduate, not only because you have had different classes, but because you have had a different type of educational experience, one that requires more of you.

To this end, the MCS has been designed around three key elements: 1) to be rigorous, 2) to be relevant, and 3) to be practical. Additionally, all graduate students are expected to achieve four key outcomes before graduating from the MCS: 1) students will design large-scale systems, 2) students will implement large-scale systems, 3) students will exhibit professional maturity, and 4) students will develop a broad base of competency.

What does this mean to you as an MCS student?

• You should expect courses that require 3+ hours of work outside of class for every 1 hour of lecture.
• You should expect multiple hands-on assignments in every course that escalate in both depth and complexity as the course progresses.
• You should expect to gain the fundamental skillset needed to evaluate and, if appropriate, apply the techniques/technologies taught in class in a real-world setting.
• You should expect to work on projects where the lines of code measure in the thousands rather than the hundreds.
• You should expect to work with a faculty mentor/advisor who will help guide you through the process of completing your graduate project.
• You should expect to develop a greater level of confidence for tackling larger and more complex systems.
• You should expect that as alumni of the MCS, your views and opinions will be valued by the CS Department.

Graduate Mentor's Role

If you have not read the section entitled "Being a Graduate Student," please read that first. As a graduate student, more will be expected of you, and while you might not always agree with what is being expected of you, understand that, too, is part of the process.

As you make your way through the graduate program, you will undoubtedly encounter issues. These may take the form of time management problems, waning commitment to the program, too many interests, as well as a host of other problems. While the MCS Director and individual faculty members teaching a course can assist you, this is where your faculty advisor/mentor can really help you. Finding the right mentor can be essential to your success as a graduate student.

The right faculty mentor can help keep you focused on your goals when you are feeling lost or overwhelmed, but it is your responsibility to pick the correct faculty mentor for you. The department can give you advice on whom to choose, but ultimately you are responsible for choosing your faculty mentor, and they must agree to accept you as a student. The faculty mentor you choose will not necessarily be your best friend or the teacher you like the most. They should be the faculty member you feel most strongly can guide you to achieving your goals. This may actually mean picking the professor that challenges you the most. Like picking a spouse or job, there is no simple set of rules that will always work.