Should you go to Grad School in HCI?

Audio of the 3 panelists available here

"You say I'm cool, I'm no fool, but you wind up applying to grad school." Matt Groening, Life in Hell

Two valuable general resources

Phil Agre's Advice for Undergraduates Considering Graduate School

Getting What You Came for : The Smart Student's Guide to Earning a Master's or a Ph.D. by Robert Peters

• Should I go to graduate school to improve my job skills?
  
  
  • If research is what you want to do, learn from practitioners (most are still in universities).
    
    
  • If you want to combine research and practice, consider INTERNING while going to school:

    School signals that you are affordable, focused on learning rather than earning, and it makes it possible to get involved with a lot of the companies you're interested in as an intern. Quick tips from HFES

  • If you know what you want to learn, apprentice yourself to someone who is really cool. Learning happens.
    
    
• If I want to apply to graduate school, what should I do to prepare?
  
  
  • Talk to grad students, then to professors
    
    
  • Do research (ie, organize some way to collect new information)
    
    
  • Speak the language of professors in your statement of purpose
    
    
  • Affiliate yourself with academics in ways that result in publications or new knowledge
    
    
• If I do choose to go, which is right for me: masters or PhD?

• A master's will enable you to learn a lot of what is already known in the field. It does not teach you how to plug into the non-academic world, so you should intern simultaneously.
  
  
• If you want to move up in the business, consider an MBA rather than a research degree. You will then work to set the usability budget at a company.

• PhD's contribute a small piece, whose impact is minute but essential. You must love your topic.
  
  

I doubt if anyone would claim to enjoy life at high altitudes -- enjoy, that is, in the ordinary sense of the word. There is a certain grim satisfaction to be derived from struggling upwards, however slowly; but the bulk of one's time is necessarily spent in the extreme squalor of a high camp, when even this solace is lacking. ... I used to try to console myself with the thought that a year ago I would have been thrilled by the very idea of taking part in our present adventure, a prospect that had then seemed like an impossible dream; but altitude has the same effect on the mind as upon the body, one's intellect becomes dull and unresponsive, and my only desire was to finish the wretched job and to get down to a more reasonable clime. -- Jon Krakauer, Into Thin Air


• How can I combine my interest in research with my desire to make a difference in the wider world?
  

• If changing the world is what excites you, universities don't have an impressive track record.
  
  
• Activism is a possible combination, but you must bring your own vision.
  
  
• Phil Agre's How to Be a Leader in Your Field: A Guide for Students in Professional Schools

• How can research skills be used in the workplace?
  
  
• Valuable skills: Experimental Design. Programming. Survey Design. Statistical Analysis. Ethnographic techniques. (cf: Using Psychology to Make a Better and Safer World)

• What are the financial costs and benefits of graduate school?
  
  
• Grad school is essentially a low-paying job, with lots of on the job training. Master's programs typically require paying up-front, whereas doctoral programs simply require betrothal.
  
  
• Opportunity costs dramatically increase the cost.
  
  
• Salary reviews don't suggest that you would be motivated purely by the economic rationale.