122 SCIENTIST 



in one or two years to pay the expenses of a first year in 

 graduate school. 



For the college graduate who has already decided to 

 become a full-fledged professional as soon as possible, the 

 need for an additional three to five years of formal or at 

 least semiformal education may look rather depressing. 

 The situation is not, however, nearly so bad as it sounds. 

 In actual fact, many people look back on their time in 

 graduate school as among the best years of their lives. 



Depending in part on the amount of related work ac- 

 complished in college, there will be a certain number of 

 formal courses to be taken in graduate school. On the 

 whole, these will be more interesting and more maturely 

 presented and will offer more exciting challenges to the 

 student than the undergraduate courses he has taken. Many 

 will be in the form of seminars offering a good deal of 

 personal discussion with other students and with some of 

 the best members of the faculty. Much more scope will 

 be offered to the student's originality and much less em- 

 phasis will be placed on routine requirements. Often a 

 graduate seminar course will merge imperceptibly with an 

 opportunity for independent research. 



The number of required courses will vary with the 

 school, with the student's previous experience, and with 

 his field of specialization. In most places, at least one full 

 year of course work will be necessary, followed by addi- 

 tional seminar courses in succeeding years. Toward the end 

 of the second year (in most schools the time is rather 

 flexible) the student must demonstrate a grasp of the basic 

 knowledge in the particular field he has elected by passing 

 a so-called "general examination." This is ordinarily oral 

 in form and it is either a very brave or a very indifferent 

 student who can go through the experience without a 

 quahn. One can indeed feel rather lonely sitting across the 



