Every year many Postechians enter graduate programs linked with undergraduate programs. There are many undergraduate students who want to enter graduate programs and know about graduate students’ life, but it is difficult to know well about their life unless they are close acquaintances with them. To quench their curiosity, The Postech Times interviewed three students from graduate programs, Jeon Eun Young (CE M.S.-Ph.D. integrated candidate), Marat Latypov (MSE Post Doctor), and the other who wants to remain anonymous.
Outline of Graduate Students’ Life
It is common for graduate students to go back to their bedroom after 11 P.M. Working time is up to professors, but they should normally go to work until at 9 A.M. and leave after 9 P.M. In most of their time in the lab, they research to write their own thesis to get academic degree, which is their ultimate goal. They develop four to five research projects, which are chosen directly, given by a professor, or proposed by a company. Once a week, they have a meeting with a professor and people in the same lab, where they present a full story-introduction, results related to their subject from other universities, problems, and their results by experiment and additive experiment. If they have any difficulty in their research, they can get some advice from a professor personally. Their daily schedules are filled with experiments.
They spend almost all day in the same lab. As they meet so frequently, conflicts sometimes arise. The chief in the lab or an older student helps resolve these conflicts. But most of the people in the same lab are really close. They go to MT periodically, often go on picnics, and play soccer together to make a good relationships.
Love
Before the interview, The Postech Times expected professors would discourage dating since it might distract graduate students from research. But Jeon said it is up to students. Professors don’t interfere if their dating does not interfere with research. Some professors said, “Students good at research are good at dating, too.” Most students aren’t biased against dating and they eat their cake and have it, too. Despite of professors’ good view about dating, students do not tend to tell everything to their professors. They are afraid if they cannot make a good result because of sickness or other reasons, professors could misunderstand the reason is dating.
Graduate students are busy and they spend most of their week time in their lab. So they do not have a lot of time to invest in romance. Jeon said, “So my boyfriend and I spend weekends together. Although we are busy, we can understand each other more than undergraduate students because we have similar dreams.” Last year one couple in a lab got married. An acquaintance of the couple said, “Their relationship works because they are good at separating their private and public lives. If a couple can’t do this, it is hard to meet a partner in a lab.”
Accommodation of Foreign Students
Marat said, “When I was a student in Russia, my scientific advisor recommended going to POSTECH, which is the reason I came to POSTECH. At first, I had trouble getting used to POSTECH. Although POSTECH has tried to develop an international bilingual campus, Korean students far outnumber foreign students. So I sometimes had difficulties in communicating with Korean students, in addition to people outside the campus”. However, he added he is well-accustomed to Korea and everything is fine for him now. In addition, he mentioned how grateful he is for the help he received from his lab mates. He is satisfied with his current environment.