In addition to doing research and taking courses, students also learn leadership and survival skills as part of their education in the Ph.D. program. Most directly, they obtain these skills through their advisors. To supplement this personal mentoring, we offer the Emigration Course. Whereas the Immigration Course prepares entering students for their graduate career while at Carnegie Mellon, the Emigration Course grooms finishing students for their career afterward. The Emigration Course is structured as a series of talks offered throughout the year and focuses on five topics: Jobs, The Real World, Money, Ethics, and Communication. These talks cover nuts-and-bolts issues like how to job interview, how to apply for grant money, and how to write a technical paper. They also expose students to traditional and non-traditional career paths in academia, industry, and government.
Participation is open to the entire SCS community and is completely voluntary. More senior students, especially those planning to finish in any given year, are encouraged to attend sessions offered that year; however, even junior students can benefit from attending, to prepare for a smooth transition from life as a student to life in the real world.