Comment by glitchc

Comment by glitchc 3 days ago

3 replies

Well, mathematics at a graduate level really is a subject that can only be self-taught, as are most subjects at the graduate level. Yes, some guidance can be available, but the pedagogical hand-holding that is undergrad is simply not possible. The analogy to language only really applies to mathematics that is well-understood and can be taught this way. In grad school, almost no mathematics you encounter is that well understood, so the teaching methods are absent.

j2kun 3 days ago

It's possible, but counter to the point of a PhD: apprenticeship for research.

l33t7332273 3 days ago

There are lots of areas of math grad school that are well understood. Pretty much everything up to quals (and some beyond that) is well known and teaching methods are far from absent.

  • grungegun 3 days ago

    In a sense, I spend most of my time on material after quals because it's so much harder to understand.