[originaltext] I will let you know that there’s a big difference between un

I will let you know that there’s a big difference between undergraduate and graduate school. Undergraduate school is very course-intensive. That’s all you do: go to classes and go to labs. In graduate school, you have a lot of free time. Much of your learning is self-initiated, and you’re typically taking a much lighter class load. This gives you more time for independent study and research. While you’re in graduate school, you’re going to have to develop yourself as a scientist. You do this by performing creative and thorough research and developing a reputation for being a good scientist. You’ll also be developing your speaking skills. You have to be comfortable in presenting your results and your research to very critical audiences. That’s very important. You also want to attend conferences where you can mingle with your peers and groups from other universities, because these will eventually be your colleagues at some point. Also, it’s important to attend seminars and colloquy that your university has. Not only does this keep you informed of what is the latest and greatest in your areas, but also lets you hear about other unrelated areas as well. You can’t be so focused; you have to have a broad base of knowledge.