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What is Second Year like?


pursuit

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I have a rough idea on what the first year and year 3 and beyond would look like since there have been a lot of discussions on those. but maybe not on the second year... i know i will be taking field courses and attending seminars. even trying to come up with research ideas and all that.

 

but in terms of flexibility and work load, is it significantly better than the first year maybe or not so much? i'm trying to gauge because i'll be juggling between work and a long distance relationship. are you able to regularly travel on weekends and so on? please share your experience or what you know from PhD students! thanks!

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At Toronto, you need to get started on a second year paper, and study for a field comprehensive exam. The field comp is relatively easy, so people don't worry too much about it. The second-year paper is a way to learn about the research process and match you with a supervisor, someone who will likely be on your dissertation committee, or perhaps be your degree-long supervisor.

 

The "coursework" was definitely less, but coming up with a research idea that's worth doing is difficult. A job-market student TAing my first-year micro said to us,

 

"I miss first year. Sure it was brutal, and routinely mundane, but all you had to do was what your professors told you to. If you did that, you'd be fine. Now, though, you have to think for yourselves -it will be the hardest thing you've ever had to do."

 

Canuck

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I probably spent 50-75% more time working in the second year than in the first. The second year consists of a little less coursework but it is extremely open ended. A lot of universities also have second year papers and those who didn't pass comps will usually have to take them again in the second year.

 

On this site, there is some pervasive naivety that all you have to do is pass the first year and comps and then it is smooth sailing from then on. The truth is that if you want to do well on the job market, it is work and more work.

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At my university, second year students take their field courses as well as an "advanced methods" course (metrics or micro theory). There is a field exam in May that is increasingly a non-trivial exercise. The major paper is usually presented at the end of the third year (although second year students are free to do it in the second year; it's just hard to do the paper and field exams at the same time).

 

Consensus seems to be that fall of second year is remembered as the least stressful: you're past the prelims, won't study hard for the field exam until halfway through the spring semester, and you have a pretty good idea at that point about how you need to study to do well in a PhD course. Once you get into the third, fourth, and fifth years, there isn't as much structure and worries about the job market dominate.

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Besides your uni, where have you heard this? At ours, 3rd year is least stressful (sometimes called the third year vacation).

 

I was just referring to my university (specifically prefaced the first paragraph and thought that it was implied for the second).

 

I think what this thread and the one on first year help illustrate is that there is a good deal of heterogeneity with grad school experience. Each school has slightly different milestones and/or places different weights on them. For example, at most places, math camp is a relatively stress-free time to get to know your cohort; but at some places (e.g., Berkeley) passing the exam administered at the end is critical to continuing in the program. At some places the major pre-dissertation paper occurs in the second year while in others its in the third year. And so forth.

 

So I would urge every incoming first-year to get to know a few of the "older" students in their particular program. They're a wealth of information regarding what can help you in succeeding in one's particular program.

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