Matt Might教授：加速博士生失败的10种路径

犹他大学计算机科学教授Matt Might写了一篇题为“10种容易让博士生失败的原因”的文章，他声称这个列表与任何学科的博士学位都有关系。Matt Might博士的10大原因如下：

Computer Science professor at the University of Utah Matt Might has written an article titled 10 Easy Ways to Fail a Ph.D. He claims that this list relates to PhD’s in any discipline. Dr. Might’s list is as follows:

把精力过度投入于成绩或课程

没有人会在意你的分数是多少。有一个计算GPA的通用的公式：

最优GPA=最低要求的GPA + ε

更高的分数意味着本应该用于研究的时间被浪费在了课堂上。教授们甚至可能会对4.0的分数感到惊讶。在头两年里，学生应该选择一个感兴趣的研究领域，并根据研究兴趣跟随一位导师，然后通过大量论文阅读后，着手尝试小型的、探索性的研究项目。而在课程上花费过多的时间会被认为是偏离了应当遵循的轨迹。

Focus on grades or coursework

No one cares about grades in grad school.There's a simple formula for the optimal GPA in grad school:

Optimal GPA = Minimum Required GPA + ε

Anything higher implies time that could have been spent on research was wasted on classes. Advisors might even raise an eyebrow at a 4.0. During the first two years, students need to find an advisor, pick a research area, read a lot of papers and try small, exploratory research projects. Spending too much time on coursework distracts from these objectives.

爱学习，但多而不精

有些学生进修博士学位是因为他们充满了学习的欲望。但需要明白的是:读博士的确需要大量的积累与学习。但是，博士的学习是有针对性地学习，是以形成论文为最终目的的。过多地参加(或旁听)非自己研究领域的非必修课程更多地是在浪费时间，这些课程对于博士研究生的研究通常来讲并不是必要的。

到第三年结束时，一个普通的博士生需要阅读大约50到150篇论文来捍卫其论文的新颖性。当然，有些学生会在相关的文献搜索中走得太远，阅读了太多他们想要研究的领域的相关文献，以至于他们从来没有开始进行该项研究。导师们则会对那些不专注于目标——对人类知识做出微小但重要的贡献——的“持之以恒”搜索并阅读文献的学生失去耐心。

由于个人原因，我在读博士时就患上了“什么都想学”的毛病。前两年我在校园里上了很多课：阿拉伯语、语言学、经济学、物理学、数学甚至哲学。在计算机科学方面，我上了很多与我的研究无关的课程。所有这些“启蒙”的代价是我延期一年才获得了博士学位。我之所以能够这样兜兜转转地学习，是因为我是以助教的身份学习的，这意味着我没有浪费我的导师的资助。

Learn too much

Some students go to Ph.D. school because they want to learn.Let there be no mistake: Ph.D. school involves a lot of learning.But, it requires focused learning directed toward an eventual thesis.Taking (or sitting in on)non-required classes outside one's focus is almost always a waste of time, and it's always unnecessary.

By the end of the third year, a typical Ph.D. student needs to have read about 50 to 150 papers to defend the novelty of a proposed thesis.Of course, some students go too far with the related work search, reading so much about their intended area of research that they never start that research.Advisors will lose patience with "eternal" students that aren't focused on the goal--making a small but significant contribution to human knowledge.

In the interest of personal disclosure, I suffered from the "want to learn everything" bug when I got to Ph.D. school.I took classes all over campus for my first two years: Arabic, linguistics, economics, physics, math and even philosophy. In computer science, I took lots of classes in areas that had nothing to do with my research.The price of all this "enlightenment" was an extra year on my Ph.D.

I only got away with this detour because while I was doing all that, I was a TA, which meant I wasn't wasting my advisor's grant funding.

追求完美

完美主义在学术界是一种悲剧性的折磨，因为它往往能够对最聪明的人产生最为严重的打击。然而完美是无法企及的，它接近极限。学生们常常做的是把一篇研究论文润色得远远超过收益递减点，他们追求完美，并永不止步。他们总是认为只有当论文结构设计得很完美时，他们才能开始写作。

对于刚开始写论文或在写作中遇到问题的同学，我的建议是：写论文应该是反复修改、不断琢磨的过程。从研究的提纲和一些粗略的笔记开始着手进行，然后在此基础上不断修改、迭代、打磨，然后不断重复这一过程。当在这个过程中文章的变化越来越小时，它就到达了收益递减点。在这一点上，它只需要再通过一两次修改即可完工了。

在论文的写作中“足够好”远远胜过“完美”。

Expect perfection

Perfectionism is a tragic affliction in academia, since it tends to hit the brightest the hardest.Perfection cannot be attained. It is approached in the limit.Students that polish a research paper well past the point of diminishing returns, expecting to hit perfection, will never stop polishing.Students that can't begin to write until they have the perfect structure of the paper mapped out will never get started.

For students with problems starting on a paper or dissertation, my advice is that writing a paper should be an iterative process: start with an outline and some rough notes; take a pass over the paper and improve it a little; rinse; repeat. When the paper changes little with each pass, it's at diminishing returns. One or two more passes over the paper are all it needs at that point.

"Good enough" is better than "perfect".

拖延症

慢性完美主义者往往也是拖延症患者。那些有学习动力而非研究动力的学生往往也是如此。读博士似乎对所有拖延症患者都有极强地吸引力，不幸的是，它同时也像是一个筛子。拖延症患者应该看看我写的关于提高效率的建议。

Procrastinate

Chronic perfectionists also tend to be procrastinators. So do eternal students with a drive to learn instead of research.Ph.D. school seems to be a magnet for every kind of procrastinator.Unfortunately, it is also a sieve that weeds out the unproductive.Procrastinators should check out my tips for boosting productivity.

“独立”地过早或过晚

由被指导者变为专家身份的转变应当随着对课题研究程度的不断深入而发生变化。研究的早期，指导老师应该手把手进行指导，帮助学生选定主题并助其成早期的论文。在研究的后期，学生对于课题的了解应当远胜于导师。一旦发生这种转变，学生应该开始走向“独立”，开始学会自己选择主题，并开始着手撰写论文。即使她的导师坚持让她做别的事情，她也需要学会“独立”。

关键在于把握好时机。

在学生知道如何选择好的研究主题和写出好文章之前就开始“独立”只会导致垃圾论文的形成并塑造出一个脾气暴躁的导师。另一方面，只有在超过某个时间点被命令时才继续行动，会使导师感到压力，因为他们希望在开始看到投入时间和来之不易的赠款资金的“回报”。

导师们希望即将毕业的博士生在毕业后能够成为教师，继续从事研究并对他们所在领域的挑战了如指掌。导师期待他们有能力选择和解决适当规模和范围的研究问题。

Go rogue too soon/too late

The advisor-advisee dynamic needs to shift over the course of a degree. Early on, the advisor should be hands on, doling out specitic topics and helping to craft early papers.Toward the end, the student should know more than the advisor about her topic. Once the inversion happens, she needs to "go rogue" and start choosing the topics to investigate and initiating the paper write-ups. She needs to do so even if her advisor is insisting she do something else.

The trick is getting the timing right

Going rogue before the student knows how to choose good topics and write well will end in wasted paper submissions and a grumpy advisor.On the other hand, continuing to act only when ordered to act past a certain point will strain an advisor that expects to start seeing a "return" on an investment of time and hard-won grant money.

Advisors expect near-terminal Ph.D. students to be proto-professors with intimate knowledge of the challenges in their field. They should be capable of selecting and attacking research problems of appropriate size and scope.

像对待自己的学业或工作那样

对待自己的博士生涯

读博士既不属于上学，也不属于工作。上学是一种不断修行的经历，是一项值得别人羡慕、令人嫉妒的经历。解决研究问题并写出出色的论文以通过同行评审需要日日夜夜、年年月月无休止地进行沉思劳动。阅读与课题相关的所有工作需要有对待圣经那样虔诚的态度，博士研究生涯甚至还意味着贫穷和服从，才能通向期待的学士服和学士帽。那些把读博士当作朝九晚五的工作的学生至少需要7年以上才能完成博士论文，或者最终获得博士学位。

Treat Ph.D. school like school or work

Ph.D. school is neither school nor work.Ph.D. School is a monastic experience. And, a jealous hobby.Solving problems and writing up papers well enough to pass peer review demands contemplative labor on days, nights and weekends.

Reading through all of the related work takes biblical levels of devotion.Ph.D. school even comes with built-in vows of poverty and obedience.The end brings an ecclesiastical robe and a clerical hood.Students that treat Ph.D. school like a 9-5 endeavor are the ones that take 7+ years to finish, or end up ABD.

忽略了委员会的价值

有些博士生忘记了，想要获得博士学位必须经过委员会的同意。因此，在博士学位的最后几年，学生与委员会成员保持联系是很重要的，们需要知道学生在做什么。学生往往很容易忘记委员会给出的建议，因为他们不像导师那样市场耳提命面。然而，委员会成员却很少忘记他们所给出的建议。

尽管这通常不会发生，但我的确看到过一个委员会成员和一个答辩者之间的争吵，他们在用于评估实验的指标上有分歧。这个委员会成员对学生的论文提出了警告，提醒他应该选择什么样的标准，而该学生却无视那个警告。他很幸运的是: 这种行为仅仅只给他的博士学位增加了一个学期而已。

我在研究生院认识的另一个学生则被告知，基于其论文草稿的审阅，不同意其参加答辩。他没有采纳委员会的建议，最终答辩失败。他被告知要把论文全部扔掉，重新开始。于是，他花了十多年才完成他的博士学位。

Ignore the committee

Some Ph.D. students forget that a committee has to sign off on their Ph.D. It's important for students to maintain contact with committee members in the latter years of a Ph.D. They need to know what a student is doing.It's also easy to forget advice from a committee member since they're not an everyday presence like an advisor.Committee members, however, rarely forget the advice they give.

It doesn't usually happen, but I've seen a shouting match between a committee member and a defender where they disagreed over the metrics used for evaluation of an experiment. This committee member warned the student at his proposal about his choice of metrics.He ignored that warning.He was lucky: it added only one more semester to his Ph.D.

Another student I knew in grad school was told not to defend, based on the draft of his dissertation. He overruled his committee's advice, and failed his defense. He was told to scrap his entire dissertation and start over. It took him over ten years to finish his Ph.D.

目标定的太低

有些学生为了拿到博士学位，以最差的学生为基准进行对比。这样的所产生的结果就是：一定不会有教授的职位等着他们。而且，这样做通常意味着失败。最差的博士有可能在研究课题的选择上总是运气不佳，不得不接受一个应急计划。尽管追求低目标没有不确定性，但是研究的不确定性却总是存在的。

Aim too low

Some students look at the weakest student to get a Ph.D. in their department and aim for that. This attitude guarantees that no professorship will be waiting for them. And, it all but promises failure.The weakest Ph.D. to escape was probably repeatedly unlucky with research topics, and had to settle for a contingency plan.Aiming low leaves no room for uncertainty. And, research is always uncertain.

目标定的过高

从学生的角度来看，博士学位似乎是一项重大的任务。的确是这样。然而，这不是终点，恰恰相反，这是其学术生涯的开端。获得博士学位不一定要能够治愈癌症或实现冷聚变。相信还有少数化学家记得爱因斯坦的博士学位论文，爱因斯坦的博士论文就是一个原则性的计算，旨在估计阿伏伽德罗常数。并且他还弄错了，算成了其3倍，但他还是拿到了最终的博士学位。

博士论文对人类知识的贡献虽小但却意义重大。它的影响在于其是学生一生所要从事研究的目标。获得博士学位所产生巨大影响就如同你第一次开枪就击中靶心那样。一旦你知道如何射击，你就可以一直射击，直到你击中它为止。而有了博士学位，你就如同有了终身的弹药供应。

一些导师是可以给你提供一个潜在的研究主题列表的。如果可以的话，从众选一个你最感兴趣的话题。但是要记住：你的博士学位是什么并不重要，重要的是你能得到一个。博士生涯对思维的训练远远胜过你选择了一个什么样的课题。

Aim too high

A Ph.D. seems like a major undertaking from the perspective of the student. It is. But, it is not the final undertaking. It's the start of a scientific career.A Ph.D. does not have to cure cancer or enable cold fusion. At best a handful of chemists remember what Einstein's Ph.D. was in. Einstein's Ph.D. dissertation was a principled calculation meant to estimate Avogadro's number. He got it wrong. By a factor of 3.He still got a Ph.D.

A Ph.D. is a small but significant contribution to human knowledge.Impact is something students should aim for over a lifetime of research.Making a big impact with a Ph.D. is about as likely as hitting a bullseye the very first time you've fired a gun.

Once you know how to shoot, you can keep shooting until you hit it.Plus, with a Ph.D., you get a lifetime supply of ammo.Some advisors can give you a list of potential research topics. If they can, pick the topic that's easiest to do but which still retains your interest.It does not matter at all what you get your Ph.D. in.A ll that matters is that you get one. It's the training that counts--not the topic.

弄错了终极里程碑

大多数学校会要求学生完成课程作业、参加资格考试、提交论文、进行论文答辩和撰写论文。这些都是书面要求。而在实践中，真正的里程碑是由一个统一主题(也可能是发散的)而催生出的3篇优秀论文。

课程作业和资格考试是为了弥补入学时的失误。一个学生在参加资格考试时发表论文，这不是一个错误。一旦一个学生有两篇优秀的论文发表，如果她说服她的委员会她可以推断出第三篇，她就有一个论文提案。一旦一名学生发表了三篇论文，她就可以非常有信心的表明她可以反复进行质量足以达到同行评审标准的研究。如果她的文章服务于一个统一的主题，那么她就形成了论点，如果她能够将这些梳理在一起，那么她便形成了一篇论文。

我幻想着能够买一个工业级的订书机，能把三篇期刊论文一页一页地看完，然后称它为“学位论文机”。当然，三篇论文远不足以获得教授职位——即使是在一所糟糕的学校。但是，获得博士学位就足够了。

Miss the real milestones

Most schools require coursework, qualifiers, thesis proposal, thesis defense and dissertation. These are the requirements on paper. In practice, the real milestones are three good publications connected by a (perhaps loosely) unified theme.Coursework and qualifiers are meant to undo admissions mistakes. A student that has published by the time she takes her qualifiers is not a mistake.

Once a student has two good publications, if she convinces her committee that she can extrapolate a third, she has a thesis proposal.Once a student has three publications, she has defended, with reasonable confidence, that she can repeatedly conduct research of sufficient quality to meet the standards of peer review. If she draws a unifying theme, she has a thesis, and if she staples her publications together, she has a dissertation.

I fantasize about buying an industrial-grade stapler capable of punching through three journal papers and calling it The Dissertator.Of course, three publications is nowhere near enough to get a professorship--even at a crappy school. But, it's about enough to get a Ph.D.

▷来源：管理学季刊

http://matt.might.net/articles/ways-to-fail-a-phd/

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