A Field Guide to Grad School: Uncovering the Hidden Curriculum

An essential handbook to the unwritten and often unspoken knowledge and skills you need to succeed in grad school

Some of the most important things you need to know in order to succeed in graduate school―like how to choose a good advisor, how to get funding for your work, and whether to celebrate or cry when a journal tells you to revise and resubmit an article―won’t be covered in any class. They are part of a hidden curriculum that you are just expected to know or somehow learn on your own―or else. In this comprehensive survival guide for grad school, Jessica McCrory Calarco walks you through the secret knowledge and skills that are essential for navigating every critical stage of the postgraduate experience, from deciding whether to go to grad school in the first place to finishing your degree and landing a job. An invaluable resource for every prospective and current grad student in any discipline, A Field Guide to Grad School will save you grief―and help you thrive―in school and beyond.

Provides invaluable advice about how to:

• Choose and apply to a graduate program
• Stay on track in your program
• Publish and promote your work
• Get the most out of conferences
• Navigate the job market
• Balance teaching, research, service, and life

Jessica McCrory Calarco is associate professor of sociology at Indiana University and the author of Negotiating Opportunities: How the Middle Class Secures Advantages in School. She has written for the Atlantic and Inside Higher Ed, and her work has been featured in the New York Times, Time, and the Chronicle of Higher Education, and on BBC Radio and NPR. Twitter @JessicaCalarco