[Reprint]How to fail your graduate study like an undergrad

This article is the reprint of: http://blog.liyiwei.org/?p=1313#comments

All copyrights belong to the original author.

• You think GPA is important and spend time boosting your grades.
• You think research is as deterministic and well-defined as courses.
• You wait to be told what to do rather than figure out your own way.
• You think you are working for your adviser rather than yourself.
• Instead of work continuously, you let external factors (e.g. holiday and semester breaks) disrupt your flow.
• You do not read every paper in the top venues of your fields especially during your first few years.
• You try to read and understand every paper completely like textbooks.
• You feel that deadline 3 months later is still far away.
• You believe you are smart enough so that you do not have to work as hard as others.