Graduate School Life Summary

In October 2003, I was recommended for graduate studies in Computer Science at Tongji University’s School of Electronics and Information Engineering. Starting last September, my graduate life began. One semester has passed. Let me share my experience of these six months of grad school. As a document for myself, I aim to be factual, so I’ll try to use neutral language. But since elementary school, middle school, and high school, my essays have always been pretty poor — even my College Chinese course only got a passing grade. Going off-topic is probably inevitable.

I. Curriculum and Training Plan

The graduate program is two and a half years. Started September 2004, graduating March 2007. The setup is: first year taking courses for credits, second year doing research under an advisor and writing thesis. The remaining half year is for finding a job.

There are two program lengths: two and a half years and two years. Two-year students find jobs in their second year, two-and-a-half-year students in their third year. So two and a half years is really three years — companies don’t do campus recruiting every half year, so that extra half rolls into the next year for campus hiring. That means spending an extra year at school. For self-funded students, that’s an extra 5K in tuition.

The second year is doing research under an advisor. The school requires every grad student to publish a paper in a journal, or they can’t graduate. The intention was good, but as a hard rule, it fell into cliché. The current situation: a batch of journals profiting off “papers” has emerged. Regardless of quality, as long as you pay a “page fee,” you join the publication queue and wait — typically five to six months. If you’re impatient, you pay a “rush fee.” All told, publishing one paper costs around a thousand yuan. Good advisors reimburse; average ones not only put their name as second author but also make you pay out of pocket. I haven’t reached the paper stage yet, so I’ll just mention it briefly. As for doing research under the advisor — I won’t comment further. Why are advisors now called “bosses”? It speaks for itself. In computer science,随便 (any random) internship at a software company pays more than what the boss gives. And the so-called “labs” at the boss’s place — from what I’ve seen, many are worse than “software workshops” in industry.

Third year: selling yourself. Depends on your fate. There’s also the option to lie low at school and pursue a PhD…

The curriculum setup is as follows, with some of my own comments added:

• Dialectics of Nature: Didn’t take.
• Scientific Socialism Theory and Practice: Standard political course. Lectures on Marxism etc. Once a week, large class. If you skip, they mark你 (you) — points deducted. Open-book exam, lowest 5% get淘汰 (eliminated).
• First Foreign Language (English): Three classes per week. Surprisingly also large class — 60+ people, fixed seats. Basically just listening to the teacher lecture. Students rarely get to speak. Exam is tough — about 10% fail every year.
• TCP/IP and High-level Protocols: Once a week — basically Computer Networks. Good textbook — Tanenbaum’s classic “Computer Networks” 4th edition. But only covered IP layer and transport layer. The teacher said: “As long as you don’t score in single digits, you pass.”
• Algorithm Design Techniques: Didn’t take.
• Formal Languages and Automata Theory: Basically undergrad Compiler Principles. Same textbook, same teacher. Once a week. Exam was analyzing a toy compiler’s source code. Teacher said: “I won’t fail anyone.”
• Professional Foreign Language (Computer Software):
• Software Formal Techniques and Engineering: Basically undergrad Software Engineering. The class was very gentlemanly — talk only, no hands-on. But software engineering is the subject that most needs hands-on practice. Otherwise it’s just another political course. Open-book exam. Teacher said: “I’ve never failed anyone in history.”
• Petri Net Theory and Applications: From start to finish, had no idea what was being taught or what it was useful for. Apparently the department chair made his name off this “broken net,” so the course exists. Had to buy the chair’s textbook. The exam used last year’s paper.
• Distributed Systems: Basically undergrad Database Systems. Covered Oracle 8i (current market version is 10g). Writing assignments might go off-topic, but if lectures can also go off-topic, this teacher’s certainly did. Tanenbaum has a classic “Distributed Systems” book — if only the course used it. No exam, just papers.
• Embedded Systems: Didn’t take.
• Linux Kernel Analysis: Didn’t take.
• Concurrent Programming: New content not covered in undergrad. Only drawback: also all talk, no practice. Final paper. Teacher said: “You’ve got to give me something, right?”
• Physical Education: PE — attendance taken every time, can’t skip. I fell while running 50 meters, resulting in half a month bedridden.

Overall, compared to undergrad, not much new content was learned. Many courses — in others’ words — are so easy it’s hard to fail. Not much pressure either. Most puzzling: no math courses. I hear from peers at Zhejiang University and Shanghai Jiao Tong that they’re struggling with math courses. But for us, with no pressure, most time is spent gaming and watching movies.

II. Teaching Facilities and Environment

First-year grad students take classes and live at Tongji’s Pudong campus. This used to be the undergrad freshman campus, but as Tongji expanded and undergrads couldn’t fit, it was converted to a grad student campus. Since Pudong campus only has teaching buildings and dormitories — no office space — it’s hard to meet with teachers. Teachers come for class and leave immediately after. Moreover, this site has been sold to Shanghai University of Finance and Economics, delivered next year. The school won’t invest here anymore, and facilities are barely maintained.

For a computer science department, what’s even more puzzling is that there’s no computer lab for grad students. Many hands-on experiments can’t be done due to lack of facilities — like Oracle and distributed environments that can’t be set up on a single machine. Whether this affects teaching quality, probably nobody cares.

III. Teachers and Teaching Quality

Long ago, we were taught that评判 (judging) teachers is bad behavior. But I want to be factual here: many teachers really don’t take teaching seriously. Since childhood we’re taught to listen attentively in class — why isn’t anyone teaching teachers to teach attentively? Let me factually share my experiences, omitting teachers’ names. First, let me introduce a term: “skipping class” (放课). If a student doesn’t attend class, it’s “cutting class”; without正当理由 (legitimate reason), it’s “unexcused absence.” Correspondingly, if a teacher doesn’t show up, it’s “ditching class.”

• Scientific Socialism (Fall): Teacher ditched once for a meeting. Fairly speaking, this teacher’s lectures were decent — covered many social issues and gave students ample speaking opportunities. But too many students have developed fear and disgust for political courses, so class participation was poor. Our “relevant departments” should反思 (reflect) on why political courses are taught from elementary through PhD, yet most people end up loathing them.
• First Foreign Language (English): The most dedicated teacher — never ditched. But then again, they’re from the Foreign Languages Institute.
• TCP/IP and High-level Protocols: Teacher ditched three consecutive weeks mid-semester, causing content to be cut.
• Formal Languages and Automata: Only had four classes. About a month in, never saw the teacher again. Final exam was supposedly oral, then ended up being a paper.
• Software Formal Techniques and Engineering: Ditched three weeks — teacher went to India.
• Petri Net: Only four classes. Professor Jiang showed up twice, one hour each. After that, a person who couldn’t even speak standard Mandarin taught twice — apparently his PhD student.
• Distributed Systems: Ditched twice. Teacher was elderly, didn’t use a microphone. Attendance hovered around 30%.
• Concurrent Programming: Ditched twice — teacher was still fairly dedicated.
• PE: Every class held.

IV. Some Reflections

I can’t help it — I’ve turned this into a complaint post. Actually, what I most want to complain about isn’t the objective environment, but my own mindset.

First, loss of belonging leads to imbalance. Humans are social animals; we need归属感 (a sense of belonging). But since graduating in June 2004, my sense of belonging seems to have disappeared. I’m no longer a student of Tongji’s Software Institute. Due to the above complaints, I’ve been unwilling to admit I’m part of the Telecom Institute’s CS department. When asked where I’m a grad student, I instinctively say “Software Institute.” Although I take classes at the Software Institute, I’m not their teacher either. So where do I belong? My sense of place and belonging vanished. Seeing others find jobs, intern, sign contracts,跳槽 (job-hop) — I feel jealous and unbalanced…

Second, I entered the mundane world too early. I used to avoid接触 (engaging with) society at school. But after my senior year internship, watching classmates find jobs, learning to drive over summer, chatting about careers with friends — I gradually became worldly. I realized I’d need to buy a house, a car, earn money, support a family. I learned that future jobs require negotiating salaries, and Shanghai’s housing prices are absurdly high… Then everything got tied to these things. Sometimes I want to memorize more vocabulary, but my brain flashes: What’s the use? Memorizing won’t raise my salary, won’t get me a car, won’t… So this semester, I haven’t learned much. Watching classmates work, earn salaries, get promoted, switch jobs, expense receipts — I can’t help thinking I could have taken a different path too. Then I think that even after three years of “prison” at school, getting that diploma, I’ll still have to go to a company, start from the bottom. And the待遇 (treatment) difference between grad and undergrad isn’t that big. Some classmates joke: “After graduation, come work at my company, I’ll be your mentor.” I feel the opportunity cost of grad school is too high — what I gave up doesn’t match what I gained. Learning can happen through many paths; school education is just one. I should choose the path that suits me, not just follow the crowd.

Third, I’ve somehow developed procrastination, muddling through, and lack of ambition. I’m always online in the dorm, but basically just chatting, browsing news, reading articles, downloading movies, checking forums — nothing productive. Staying up late every night. Along with my roommates, I’ve developed the bad habit of “sleeping until I naturally wake up” — rarely up before 10 AM. Wasting a lot of time. For things I should do, my mind always says no rush,可以放一放 (it can wait). So many things end up being last-minute, never reaching my highest potential.

So those are basically the problems. Next semester’s courses won’t be much better. I can already imagine how they’ll turn out. Can’t rely on others — have to rely on myself. First, seize the time — last semester I wasted too much. Later I complained about not having time, but many things can be done if I make time. Second, constantly remind myself to finish what needs to be done, no loose ends. In Microsoft’s words: “Under pressure but on time.” Third, get my mindset right. Fleeting clouds — let them float away…