INP Guidebook

Structure and Function of the INP: A Students’ Guidebook

Graduate school is a complicated and oftentimes confusing process. Many current and past INP graduate students can probably remember times in their graduate careers when they knew what they were supposed to be doing, but not how to do it (or how, but not when). This guidebook will help INP graduate students navigate the program and make good decisions in planning their future in graduate school.

What the guidebook is:

Written, edited, and compiled by INP graduate students
A guide to the major milestones of the INP (rotations, qualifying, prospectus, etc.)
Reflective of a variety of experiences and viewpoints (there is often more than one way to approach any task)
Available to all INP graduate students

What the guidebook will not be:

A replacement for the official INP handbook (click for PDF)
A substitute for information provided by and in discussions with peers, professors, Charlie, Haig and Carol

We would like to emphasize that the guidebook is a collection of advice and suggestions and not a set of rules. It's important that you know what advice suits you.

The guidebook consists of the following sections

Rotations and choosing a lab (click for PDF)
INP Responsibilities (click for PDF)
Qualifying Exam (click for PDF)
Applying for NSF Fellowships and NRSA Fellowships (click links for PDFs)
Thesis Prospectus Process (click for PDF)
Committee Meetings and Beyond (click for PDF)

We would very much appreciate feedback on the Guidebook, especially as it gets put into practice. Further contributions are welcome. Any comments, contributions, questions or suggestions can be directed to Ben Lacar (benjamin.lacar@yale.edu) or Andy Bellemer (andrew.bellemer@yale.edu).

We are indebted to the following contributors: Andy Bellemer (Thesis Prospectus, NRSA Fellowships), Julie Golomb (Qualifying Exams), Shannon Gourley (NRSA Fellowships), Chris Heath (Qualifying Exams), Bilal Haider (Committee Meetings and Beyond), Nicole Horst (Thesis Prospectus, NRSA Fellowships), Warren Jones (Thesis Prospectus), Ben Lacar (Qualifying Exams, NSF Fellowships), Kristi Newhouse (NSF Fellowships), Reba Rabenstein (Committee Meetings and Beyond), Elissa Robbins (Compiling), Lisa Thomas (Rotations, INP Responsibilities), and Stephanie Young (Qualifying Exams).

We also appreciate the support of our program registrar Carol Russo and co-director Charlie Greer in the creation of this guidebook.