Dear AIR-ers - Thanks for everyone's perspective on graduate school, and we've had a lot of personal stories to back up our experiences, both good and bad. I found those who attend AoIR's Doctoral forums come away much more well informed about their topics and how to manage their research efforts as well. Further, there are always tips & tricks to be gleaned from other post-grads about the essential topic of "supervisor management" !!! There are plenty of blogs out there to read about the experience, I was most impressed by the blog entitled "Bitch PhD" presented at the academic blog session at AoIR in Brisbane (thanks to Jean Burgess and Mel Gregg,among others). What I found most essential is the weekly face-to-face meeting with my supervisor (eloquently stated by Jonathan Sterne). He wasn't in my discipline, but he was "willing" and he was "there". Despite some hiccups, we got there in the end. While the american system is completely different and relies on coursework, the fact remains: some supervisors like having students, and some don't! In my experience, that is the essential question, and any remaining issues can be surrmounted in other ways. Cheers, Denise Denise N. Rall, PhD. Internationalisation Project Officer Southern Cross University, Lismore NSW 2480 AUSTRALIA Office: Room T2.17, +61 (0)2 6620 3577 Mobile 0438 233 344 http://www.scu.edu.au/schools/esm/staff/pages/drall/ Presenter, Internet Research 9.0, 15-18 October 2008, Copenhagen, DK Get the name you always wanted with the new y7mail email address. www.yahoo7.com.au/mail