(Note: This is the third in a series about graduate life in statistics, co-written by Mike and Greg. For links to all articles in the series, click here).

1. You’re on your own

Sure, you are going to take classes that are taught by professors, but you are the one responsible for learning the material.  If you have a great professor, that’s wonderful, as it will probably be a lot easier to grasp the material and to do well on exams.  If the professor is terrible, however, you still need to learn the material. And in college, you could learn that material, take a C, forget it and never think about that stuff again.  In grad school, however, you are still responsible for that material, and in many cases its going to show up on your qualifying exams and/or general exam.  (Shhhh: once you…