So now you'd like to get on with your graduate career, huh? OK. This portion of the guide discusses things you will want to refer to later on in your graduate career... picking an advisor, etc.
Research & Advisors
One of the most important tasks as a new student is selecting a research advisor to direct and focus your research work and chair the committees for your MS or PhD exams. You will work very closely with your advisor over the course of your degree (and possibly continuing after graduation), so it is important to choose a faculty member with a comfortable mentoring style, a personality compatible with yours and expertise in your field of interest.
There are several sources of information to help you select an advisor. Consult OGSR (Office of Graduate Studies and Research) pamphlets for information about qualities to look for in a good advisor. You can meet potential advisors by visiting them during office hours and attending the CSE290 seminar, a course held each quarter where professors present their current research work. Finally, most senior grad students are willing to share their experiences with their advisors and other professors.
The earlier you get involved doing research, the better off you will be. One way to do this is to enroll in an CSE299 class (Independent Research) with a professor who you think would be a good advisor. If you are being supported by a TA or fellowship, then you can both get to know one another and find out if there is a match without the explicit or implicit obligations from being funded by that professor.
It is OK to switch advisors; many successful students have done so. However, you should aim to decide on a research advisor by the end of your first or second year.
Setting Goals
In graduate school you have considerable freedom as to which classes to take, what topics to study, etc. While this freedom has obvious advantages, it also forces the you to take more responsibility for planning and structuring your program. Without a plan in mind, you can waste a lot of time along the way to your degree, and graduate school is hard enough without that.
We believe that your graduate career will be more rewarding and less frustrating if you identify appropriate goals, and work toward them. For us, the two major goals of your first years are taking classes and meeting the faculty. During the second year you should be starting on research and finishing classes. The department hopes the Research Exam will be done during the second year; it MUST be done by the end of your third. After your research exam, it's time to buckle down and do research and work on your thesis.
The department recently (2001) did a major revision to the requirements for PhD and Masters programs. There are still some PhD students under the old system (which among other things had a large comprehensive exam at some time during your first two years). Check out the official DegreeRequirements.
Grades
A famous quote among graduate students in CSE is "grades don't matter". Well, this is only partially true. It is far more accurate (but less comforting around finals time) to say "grades don't matter as long as they're good". A 3.4 GPA is officially required in order to receive financial support. A 3.0 is the minimum to remain enrolled. Grades also count for fellowships, such as from NSF or Hertz, and grades are also a factor in ranking students within the department for support. You should probably concentrate on learning and understanding the material, and will likely then get decent grades.
Colloquia and talks
There are a number of talks throughout the year where people come from other places and talk about their work. These include the Distinguished Lecture series, where famous people come (and the department provides refreshments), recruitment talks, where soon-to-be-famous candidates for faculty positions come and talk about what they are doing, and many occasional talks by various visitors. These talks are one of the ways scientific knowledge gets propagated; sometimes the work is brand new and hasn't yet been published, so you get the lowdown before anyone else. Sometimes it's rough work and the audience can point out flaws or make constructive suggestions. You should make a point of going to as many as you can, even in areas outside your field. If you are not interested in the subject, then critique (for yourself) the presentation style - soon you will be up there trying to present your work and you can learn how to make your point as well as what doesn't work so well. This is also a good way to meet the faculty and to meet people from other universities.
Other departments also have talks which may be of interest, especially ECE, Cognitive Science, and Math. Notices are generally posted, but you might have to take active measures to find out about talks outside the department.
There also are many weekly Seminars that are great ways to see what other people in the department (and often beyond) are doing and to get involved.
Talks given by professors to incoming students in 2007
How to have a good career in computer science - Prof. Stefan Savage
http://www.cs.ucsd.edu/~savage/papers/HowToHaveACareer07.pdf (360k)
http://www.cs.ucsd.edu/~savage/papers/HowToHaveACareer07.ppt (600k)
How to get started on research in graduate School - Prof. Lawrence Saul
Other useful info
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