Customer Reviews

A Mathematician's Survival Guide: Graduate School and Early Career Development

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Although the book has been written for prospective graduate
students in mathematics at top universities, I still read it,
to get an idea what such math graduate studies are all about.
And it was quite rewarding, because the author shares all the
information about the educational process, from college to
full professorship, as lucidly as possible. The math scene
described in this book reminds a little of a cult. People
outside the brightest of the brightest, like me, and like
most of humanity, might feel somewhat embarassed. But it was
not written for us. The details of the book are too many
to be represented by examples here, but they cover the whole
range from fincancial aspects, to recommendation letters, to
to whether one should join a mathematical society etc.
A smaller part of the book is even dedicated to mathematics.
It tells first introductorywise then with listings what one
needs to know for the qualifying exams. Overall the book is
really informative and easy too read, almost like a science
fiction. For the intended audience the book seems to be perfect
and for outsiders it's valuable for the insight, as well.

I'm a graduate student in computer science, working on my PhD. If you're looking for a sort of rulebook that contains all the meta-knowledge one needs to know to survive in the scientific game, this is it.
The book includes helpful information to questions you probably wouldn't dare to ask anyone:
"How do i choose a thesis advisor?",
"What if I can't solve my thesis problem?",
"Am I in competition with the other graduate students?",
"What kind of money can I make as a professor?"
There's also lots of information about life after graduation, especially relevant for those of us who want to pursue an academic career.

The book is written in an easy to follow style, and gets straight to the point. You really feel that the author knows what he's talking about.
I highly recommend it to anyone planning a career in a science related to maths.

Dr. Krantz's lucid "Survival" guide is rich in advice for the aspiring mathematician who sees a plum job in academia as the ultimate career goal. With section names such as "How do I work my thesis problem?", and "Why does everyone else appear to be succeeding?" Dr. Krantz's chronological account of Math graduate school and the first few years in the work force does an excellent job of providing step-by-step guidance for us future mathematicians. This advice, and the author himself are at their best when talking about prevalent insecurity issues with which all of us mathematicians deal and showing us how such issues are indeed very commonplace and how the solutions are also commonplace and readily available to you.
Now, that being said, it is also important to remember that this is just a rough guide and that not every section in the book should be followed to the letter. More to the point: Dr. Krantz's advice should be used in addition to, not instead of, grad advisors, faculty in your department, and even more senior grad students. Dr. Krantz's advice can be detrimental in some instances and in others, it's just plain wrong. For instance, his advice that a student should NOT study for general and subject GRE's is particularly questionable; in fact I do believe the opposite to be true. GRE tests follow a well-defined set of rules and question formatting; thus, the question themselves have a finite amount of variation to them, and therefore it is precisely in this type of standardized exam MOST students will benefit from reviewing old material and going through numerous practice tests before taking the real thing.

Overall, this is a very good book, full of wisdom and it is, alas, even entertaining at times. If you're considering a career as a mathematician, you would be doing yourself a favor by buying this book and reading it with an epsilon amount of caution.

I graduated a couple years ago with BS in Mathematics and was trying to decide if I should return for my PhD. This book was extremely helpful. It presents a very thorough overview of the PhD process with helpful information regarding thesis advisors (both selecting and working with) and thesis preparation. Material is easy to read (conversational tone) and very specific. Definitely recommend this to anyone considering a graduate program in mathematics.

Also gives extensive information regarding the application of a PhD in academia- such as types of jobs (tenure track, post-doc fellow, etc.), types of colleges and the workload (and pay) to be expected at those colleges.

End of text is an overview of mathematics topics important to the post-bachelors, pre-grad student.

It does not spend time explaining all the different areas of mathematics, so that part you'll need to figure out for yourself. Reading this book will get you excited to talk to your professors about a doctorate program. Good luck!

I gave this to my son who is a high school junior planning to major in mathematics in college. He thought it was great because it looks beyond just getting into college and taking a bunch of math classes. What does a math major do next? Do you have to teach? What do professors and TA's really do? What does it take to get into grad school and is it worth it? I would recommend this book to anyone contemplating any type of career involving higher level mathematics.

"Survival Guide" might be a misnomer, because this is less a book of advice and more a description of what the next several years of your life will be like if you choose to pursue a Ph.D. in mathematics. For me, this made the book far more valuable than the "tricks and tips" type book I was expecting. I feel like I actually know what lies ahead for me in much greater detail now than I did with the Career Services basic synopsis. That I want to play with numbers for the rest of my life was never in doubt, but it's good to have a less murky picture of the process now. Of course, I won't fully know how accurate the book's description is for a few years, so we'll see.

This book discussed all the relevant details involved in a career as an academic mathematician, and it was a very interesting read with Krantz's humor.

He's a great story teller as well as a great mathemtics professor! His style is so charming that I can't stop reading the book. This book is very useful for those who aspire for a career in mathematics. It tells almost everything that you need to know. It's extremely hard to become a mathematician and a mathematics professor, but this book helps making the process smoother. Read it for fun and enjoy it!

This is a great book with lots of important information on what it's like to be in academia. I recommend it highly for all graduate students as well as for their advisors.

It tells you most of the basic things of becoming a mathematician, more specifically, an professor of mathematics. I was quite passionate for a career in the academics. But after reading the book, I decided to try other choices because I don't want to spend 4 years as an undergraduate, 5 years OR MORE as a graduate student, and then 2 years or more as postdoc and another 5 or more years as an assistant professor waiting for the tenure while being paid like $50,000-55,000 a year!!! This is crazy and unfair! My friend with an MBA has $70,000 as beginning salary! Suppose I can be a full professor at an above average research university, I probably would get paid just $70k a year! Why should I waste so much time (at least 20 years!!) earning so little and engaging myself into such a fierce competitive academic world! I do thank the author for telling us about the path of being a professor of math. He also lists many other governmental and private companies' positions that are more attracting than the professorship, and that's what I am going for!
In summary:
First of all, you got to pass the qualifying exams, which are harder than the William Lowell Putnam Mathemtics Competition. Then, you have to spend 4-6 years writing a good thesis! If your thesis is not significant enough, you may have a very tough time finding a plum job. Even if you have produced an important thesis, you have show yourself constantly and actively working on your field subjects. You then may have an assistant professorship on the tenure track--waiting for the vote of the faculty members, and approval of the dean, the provost and then the Chancellor. The process is kinda of harsh.

But as the author says "One of the best things about a degree in mathematics--at any level--is that it opens many doors and closes few of them. It gives you a world of opportunities from which to choose." Good luck to us who love math! Wish us well.