Grad-Student. What does it really mean?

When I served in Indian academia as an honorary staff, honorary faculty and visiting faculty, I had initially got confused with the term grad-student that I saw on some foreign web sites/literature as I thought it may mean a student doing his graduate studies. As far as I know, the term is not commonly used in India. Later I understood that it meant somebody who is doing a PhD or other post graduate studies. (In India, research scholar is the term I have commonly come across to refer to a student doing a PhD). Somebody who is studying to be a graduate is referred to as an under-graduate student.

Today, as I came across the grad-student term in an article, I decided to browse around for it and confirm my understanding of it. That led me to two very interesting web pages.

First I will share, what seems to be, very wise advice from a science department of Yale: Some Modest Advice for Graduate Students by Stephen C. Stearns, Ph.D. It does not shy away from saying the unpleasant truths and seems to have solid tips to succeed in earning a science Ph.D. and become a scientist. While I am a technologist and not a scientist, I get the impression that it is top quality advice from an experienced scientist and academic.

The second part is a very harsh view of grad-student life. But I think there seems to be some truth to it and so is worth reading after reading the above, to get a balanced perspective. The urban dictionary view of the grad-student.

This video is another harsh view, this time from a cartoonist's perspective: The Simpsons - Comments about PhDs and Grad Students. Once again I think it is worth viewing for the balanced perspective.