A Mathematician's Survival Guide

by Steven G. Krantz

Book Overview

Addresses the major issues of graduate school, including choosing a program, passing the qualifying exams, finding an advisor, writing a thesis, and getting that first job. This book also contains a... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 082183455X
• ISBN13: 9780821834558
• Release Date: July 2003
• Publisher: American Mathematical Society
• Length: 222 Pages
• Weight: 0.96 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 6.9" x 9.1"

Customer Reviews

Clear, Helpful Grad School Insight

I graduated a couple years ago with BS in Mathematics and was trying to decide if I should return for my PhD. This book was extremely helpful. It presents a very thorough overview of the PhD process with helpful information regarding thesis advisors (both selecting and working with) and thesis preparation. Material is easy to read (conversational tone) and very specific. Definitely recommend this to anyone considering a graduate program in mathematics. Also gives extensive information regarding the application of a PhD in academia- such as types of jobs (tenure track, post-doc fellow, etc.), types of colleges and the workload (and pay) to be expected at those colleges. End of text is an overview of mathematics topics important to the post-bachelors, pre-grad student. It does not spend time explaining all the different areas of mathematics, so that part you'll need to figure out for yourself. Reading this book will get you excited to talk to your professors about a doctorate program. Good luck!

THE Survival Guide for Graduate Students

I'm a graduate student in computer science, working on my PhD. If you're looking for a sort of rulebook that contains all the meta-knowledge one needs to know to survive in the scientific game, this is it. The book includes helpful information to questions you probably wouldn't dare to ask anyone: "How do i choose a thesis advisor?", "What if I can't solve my thesis problem?", "Am I in competition with the other graduate students?", "What kind of money can I make as a professor?" There's also lots of information about life after graduation, especially relevant for those of us who want to pursue an academic career. The book is written in an easy to follow style, and gets straight to the point. You really feel that the author knows what he's talking about. I highly recommend it to anyone planning a career in a science related to maths.

College Math Major

I gave this to my son who is a high school junior planning to major in mathematics in college. He thought it was great because it looks beyond just getting into college and taking a bunch of math classes. What does a math major do next? Do you have to teach? What do professors and TA's really do? What does it take to get into grad school and is it worth it? I would recommend this book to anyone contemplating any type of career involving higher level mathematics.

Very Informative

This book discussed all the relevant details involved in a career as an academic mathematician, and it was a very interesting read with Krantz's humor.

Plenty of information from behind the scenes

Although the book has been written for prospective graduatestudents in mathematics at top universities, I still read it, to get an idea what such math graduate studies are all about.And it was quite rewarding, because the author shares all theinformation about the educational process, from college tofull professorship, as lucidly as possible. The math scenedescribed in this book reminds a little of a cult. People outside the brightest of the brightest, like me, and likemost of humanity, might feel somewhat embarassed. But it wasnot written for us. The details of the book are too manyto be represented by examples here, but they cover the wholerange from fincancial aspects, to recommendation letters, toto whether one should join a mathematical society etc.A smaller part of the book is even dedicated to mathematics.It tells first introductorywise then with listings what oneneeds to know for the qualifying exams. Overall the book isreally informative and easy too read, almost like a sciencefiction. For the intended audience the book seems to be perfectand for outsiders it's valuable for the insight, as well.