“Find your passion”

A common piece of advice from your teachers and mentors is to “find your passion.”  Certainly it helps to be enthusiastic about your studies, since that can motivate you to do the hard work required for success.

But this advice is not as straightforward as it might seem.  Check out this article from the Atlantic, called “‘Find Your Passion’ Doesn’t Mean What You Think It Does.”  For me, the money quote is this:

Young people routinely mistake “find your passion” to mean “pick your interest early and do not waver from it,” rather than “constantly search for the things that make your soul alive and pursue them diligently.”

I’d like to hear your reactions to this article, which contains many thoughtful reflections on the idea of passion for work or a career.  Use the comment mechanism below.

Grad school in Statistics at Michigan

This sounds like a good opportunity for those of you graduating relatively soon who are interested in the statistical side of the sciences.

Fall 2018 Preview Weekend

November 9-10, 2018

The Department of Statistics at the University of Michigan invites juniors, seniors, recently graduated students, and Master’s students to visit us for a preview event to explore our graduate programs.  We are eager to bring students to our campus for this event who will contribute to our department’s mission of promoting diversity and inclusion in the fields of Statistics and Data Science.

During your visit, you’ll learn about:

  • state of the art research happening at the University of Michigan
  • the admissions process 
  • what graduate school is like and how it works

We welcome applications from those who come from a background that is traditionally underrepresented in Statistics and/or if you actively work towards promoting issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion in STEM fields. 

More information and the application can be found here.

Application Deadline: September 27, 2018