Words of Advice
One thing you will discover about the Institute is that the students
here are from wildly disparate backgrounds. Right now we have people
here from undergraduate programmes in history, philosophy, astronomy,
biology, engineering, physics, literature, gender studies, and
anthropology. The possibilities are endless!
You may arrive and feel completely out of your element. That's normal (if you don't feel that way, then congratulations, you are one of the lucky ones). You might be starting your M.A. degree straight out of undergrad, or perhaps you're returning to graduate work after spending a few years out in the real world. We're all from different backgrounds. Chances are, you'll hear all sorts of unfamiliar academic terms flung around, some of which you may never have even heard before. You'll also hear lots of books and authors being cited as if we all must have heard of them, right? That's to be expected when you get people from diverse backgrounds together in one place. Don't panic: this diversity, even when confusing, is the best part of the Institute. Everyone is in the same situation. The best resource this Institute has to offer is the community of students that can commiserate and celebrate together, so take advantage of that community. It is to your benefit to get involved to avoid the perennial belief that you are the only one going through this torment; you're not, and we've all been there (nor are we necessarily out of it).
In planning this guide, we thought we would try to come up with a list of "essential" books, but rapidly discovered that they tend to be quite discipline-specific, with one exception. So, if we, those who have come before you, had to recommend one book you might want to read before you arrive, it would be Thomas Kuhn's The Structure of Scientific Revolutions (University of Chicago Press: 1962, `70, `96). It is not universally liked; some will tell you it's out of date, or too centred on philosophy. Others will tell you it's just the thing. But if nothing else, it is one of the cornerstones of the field. Read it and you can enter sounding like you know what you are doing, which is, after all, what we're all after.
If you are coming to work in a discipline that is clearly represented by one of our faculty (chemistry, biology, medicine, technology, physics, ancient science or analytic philosophy), you should have little trouble gaining an advisor and finding courses. For those of you with your heart set on true interdisciplinarity, you may find it useful to foster contacts in other departments (like history, philosophy, or the sciences) for help and advisors. This does take effort, but it can be very rewarding. Also know that many of us entered IHPST without a clear idea of where we wanted to go in terms of future research projects. That's part of the deal. The MA component is designed to expose students to as broad a range of topics as possible. This can be frustrating, but when things do start connecting together, it is rewarding as well.
The greatest resource here is the student body. Get to know everyone. The diversity of perspectives and personalities here is incredible for such a small group. There is no greater feeling than going out for pizza and beer with a few friends from the department, and suddenly finding that you're discussing a topic you thought you knew nothing about. Or, two senior students are discussing some esoteric topic in jargon only they understand, when - shazam! - they mention something that is relevant to a paper you are working on, and you find yourself with a whole pile of new references. If possible, try to attend as many HAPSAT sponsored gatherings as possible, or go out for coffee or a beer after that Friday afternoon (hell, Thursday morning!) class with your fellows. Fostering this sort of friendly, informal collegiality has always been at the core of student life at IHPST.
You may arrive and feel completely out of your element. That's normal (if you don't feel that way, then congratulations, you are one of the lucky ones). You might be starting your M.A. degree straight out of undergrad, or perhaps you're returning to graduate work after spending a few years out in the real world. We're all from different backgrounds. Chances are, you'll hear all sorts of unfamiliar academic terms flung around, some of which you may never have even heard before. You'll also hear lots of books and authors being cited as if we all must have heard of them, right? That's to be expected when you get people from diverse backgrounds together in one place. Don't panic: this diversity, even when confusing, is the best part of the Institute. Everyone is in the same situation. The best resource this Institute has to offer is the community of students that can commiserate and celebrate together, so take advantage of that community. It is to your benefit to get involved to avoid the perennial belief that you are the only one going through this torment; you're not, and we've all been there (nor are we necessarily out of it).
In planning this guide, we thought we would try to come up with a list of "essential" books, but rapidly discovered that they tend to be quite discipline-specific, with one exception. So, if we, those who have come before you, had to recommend one book you might want to read before you arrive, it would be Thomas Kuhn's The Structure of Scientific Revolutions (University of Chicago Press: 1962, `70, `96). It is not universally liked; some will tell you it's out of date, or too centred on philosophy. Others will tell you it's just the thing. But if nothing else, it is one of the cornerstones of the field. Read it and you can enter sounding like you know what you are doing, which is, after all, what we're all after.
If you are coming to work in a discipline that is clearly represented by one of our faculty (chemistry, biology, medicine, technology, physics, ancient science or analytic philosophy), you should have little trouble gaining an advisor and finding courses. For those of you with your heart set on true interdisciplinarity, you may find it useful to foster contacts in other departments (like history, philosophy, or the sciences) for help and advisors. This does take effort, but it can be very rewarding. Also know that many of us entered IHPST without a clear idea of where we wanted to go in terms of future research projects. That's part of the deal. The MA component is designed to expose students to as broad a range of topics as possible. This can be frustrating, but when things do start connecting together, it is rewarding as well.
The greatest resource here is the student body. Get to know everyone. The diversity of perspectives and personalities here is incredible for such a small group. There is no greater feeling than going out for pizza and beer with a few friends from the department, and suddenly finding that you're discussing a topic you thought you knew nothing about. Or, two senior students are discussing some esoteric topic in jargon only they understand, when - shazam! - they mention something that is relevant to a paper you are working on, and you find yourself with a whole pile of new references. If possible, try to attend as many HAPSAT sponsored gatherings as possible, or go out for coffee or a beer after that Friday afternoon (hell, Thursday morning!) class with your fellows. Fostering this sort of friendly, informal collegiality has always been at the core of student life at IHPST.