This is your chance to participate in a USC CS oral tradition to share practical advice on making it through the PhD program, in an event that is held as a panel discussion and on years of the odd kind...

Four panelists will discuss four important stages of PhD student life:

1. How to organize your coursework while getting some research started,
2. How to prepare for the quals and form a thesis committee,
3. How to stay motivated and complete your thesis work, and
4. How to prepare for finding and doing well at a good job after defending your thesis.

Each panel member will cover one of these points with a brief presentation of experiences that they consider useful to other students. The presentations will be followed by an open discussion and questions or advice from other students in the audience.

You can download slides about completing your thesis work and finding a job.

This panel discussed how to prepare during graduate school in order to get your dream job, what you should expect during a job interview, and how to prepare for doing well throughout your research career. You can download the overview slides.