[...] is a real student, one of the many I profile in my new book on students who get into good colleges while still enjoying their high school lives.  He currently attends Columbia University, which he describes as: “a school I would have [...]

I guess what I’m interested in is working backwards from those stars, and figuring out how to be like them.

I’m finding your Pyramid post really helpful for that. I want to focus on building up some credentials in the field instead of relying on the happenstance of being the right match for a department in a field where over 200+ are applying for the same jobs. But it’s hard when your teaching load leaves you so little time to do any large projects.

From my experience of watching hiring at MIT, there are almost always clear stars that the school wants

I imagine that at the schools I’m applying to, there’s no chance of the stars being an issue — they’re to busy applying for Harvard, MIT or Berkeley, not to small teaching schools in flyover states. Even at the state R1 where I work now, we aren’t getting stars in the applicant pool.

Example: I heard this last week from a grad student who was on the most recent search in our department: They had 12 top choices, but the second-tier 12 were all also perfectly qualified for the position. Yet, the candidate who got the job is not only not finished, but doesn’t even have a firm graduation date. He does, however, have a wife who is a grad student at our university.

Another colleague told me that given his lack of teaching experience and lack of a defense date, this candidate would not have been hired as a lecturer. But now he’s tenure-track.

So, what gets you hired at this R1? Being ABD with almost no teaching experience and no defense date, but with a wife working down the street.

And I’m applying for jobs at much smaller schools in much less desirable locations. It can’t be the case that departments go for the stars — I’ve heard too many stories from people who serve on these committees about the importance of fit — and that’s something they can’t advertise for, and that there’s no way we can possibly include in our cover letters.

Sigh…..

That’s a really heavy course load…

Just thought I’d mention that if she’s going for the IB Diploma and the school structures it so that you take your exams in senior year the normal courseload is 7 IB classes (six normal ones and the core interdisciplinary class), a major research project, and mandatory extracurriculars. I know some American schools will split it so you do 2 in junior year and 5 in senior, and I agree that she should drop the 8th, but it’s a lot more manageable than it looks.

Honestly, what every one who’s been on a search committee has told me is that the job search is a crap shoot

My sense is that this is a way of the search committee making people feel better. From my experience of watching hiring at MIT, there are almost always clear stars that the school wants, and then a pool of qualified people that they won’t hire. I guess what I’m interested in is working backwards from those stars, and figuring out how to be like them.

Please do reply if you think the problem can be solved. Much thanks and regards.

Ugh. Sorry about that. I don’t really have any interaction with the shipping facilities that stock and send my book. I’m hoping it’s a fluke that’s easily resolved.

hey man! well, most of the other computer engin students i know that get straight As work like this:

Cool summary. This is, indeed, something I encountered a lot that when researching both the red and yellow books. The non-A students say that getting A’s would eat up all of their time. The A students say it doesn’t. The difference: all the type of stuff I talk about in my books and here on Study Hacks.

I know this is extraneous, but how would you suggest studying for a basic technical drawing class?

Wow. I have no idea! Ask a student doing well how he prepares.

What direction do you head in? And when/ how do you evaluate whether the direction is the right one, or whether the direction needs to be tweaked or completely overhauled

My working hypothesis is that the choice of the main direction is less important than we think, and the evaluation of whether your approach needs to be overhauled is more important than we think.

I’ve handled similar workloads in the past with relative success in terms of grades…but I don’t feel as though I’m learning as much as I’d like to. Any advice?

If you feel overwhelmed, drop one of the courses. Things will work out.

You make good pts, but most above avg engr students not just the A, do this. Generally people’s old hw/tests are somewhat available so people do review these before tests. Most of the time, however its really difficult to look at extra problem sets when youre trying to meet that weeks already. And of course we have to love engr to a degree, or we wouldnt stick with it. BTW according to Cal, there are technically no “smarter” people, just more experienced.

This comes down to a spiraling problem that comes with problem sets: you can’t do them alone. I think there is an optimized set of time when you have to look at them individually before trying to crack them as a group: you are only as strong as the weakest link.

This is difficult but doable balance: work too long alone, and you have the potential of going nowhere, work too long as a group and pseudoworking creeps in. At the same time reexplaining a problem to a straggling member is helpful in itself. This is the balance I feel I still need to tweak.

I hope you’re still checking this particular post, but I found a lot of the comments on your post about Laura and deliberate practice to really interesting. What direction do you head in? And when/ how do you evaluate whether the direction is the right one, or whether the direction needs to be tweaked or completely overhauled? It’s great to do deliberate practice (and it’s important), but how does a person transition from one area of practice to another? Most people do undergo these transitions between areas of focus, whether because of an internal choice or external forces.

I feel like choosing this correct direction is essential for a person’s happiness (perhaps this correct direction might be termed their “calling” or their “passion”? )

I agree with much of what you write, but the idea that working really hard at something (and even experiencing success) will you make you love it doesn’t resonate with me. I feel like you have to choose the right thing to work really hard at. And what if you never get really good at the particular area of?

[...] want to do a guest post for Study Hacks about my experience with pseudowork in college and grad school.  (Yo Cal—I’ve got the post [...]