Tips for Surviving Graduate & Professional School \\
This book has likely been read by thousands of people since 2013. I send out free PDFs, so I don't have a way of tracking it. If you were helped in some way by this handbook, I would appreciate hearing about it! Please email me: dave at tsg-lab.org
Praise for the Book
"For too many students, graduate school looks like a game whose rulebook they're not allowed to see: it's different from college, but nobody tells you how. The practical advice in David Nguyen's little book not only will help graduate students avoid some of the common pitfalls, but will help undergraduates prepare themselves for what their advanced studies will bring them."
Steven Justice, Ph.D.
Professor of English, University of Mississippi
Professor of English, University of California, Berkeley
"Most of us who've been a graduate student know how difficult it can be, for reasons we can't foresee. These challenges strike at the heart of our identity and feelings of self-worth. In this handy survival guide, David Nguyen helps the reader navigate these graduate school pressures. The advice he dispenses is timely and relevant and worth re-reading at various junctures in graduate school."
Francis Su, Ph.D.
Professor of Mathematics
Harvey Mudd College
“If it wasn’t hard, everyone would do it," a quote from the movie League of their Own. David Nguyen has the courage to unmask the hard and complicated survival path of getting into, through and completing graduate and professional school. He gives practical advice in a friendly page-turning book of survival tips with respect to academically and emotionally charged challenges. In my 34 years in science, I have encountered many graduate students who would have benefited from this handbook. David creatively weaves his story and that of others into the book with respect to self-worth, diversity and inclusion, and striving for excellence. David is a leader, mentor, and a person I have enjoyed working with. His book shows us that there are many paths to success, and that you should not give up on yourself.”
Kathleen A. Bjornstad, B.S.
Staff Research Associate
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
This is an insightful and compassionate guide that speaks directly to the real challenges graduate students face. Written directly to the student, it's not stiff academic counseling from a book-educated psychologist or a psychiatrist, but from someone who has lived the experience. I was encouraged to see how strongly his advice resonated with my own experience. After more than 40 years as a professor at research universities, I can say that his insights and guidance are spot-on. This is something every graduate student should read.
Robert J. Marks II, Ph.D.
Distinguished Professor of Electrical & Computer Engineering
Baylor University
Tips for Surviving Graduate & Professional School.
Kindle Direct Publishing.
1st Edition 2013.
5th Edition 2025.
About The Author
David (Dave) H. Nguyen obtained his B.A. in Molecular & Cell Biology, and Ph.D. in Endocrinology from the University of California, Berkeley. He went through four years of depression during his doctoral program. He has advised many graduate students and medical students ever since on matters of depression and disappointment. Having struggled with depression has given him a new perspective on success. He hopes that the advice in this book will make the inevitable frustrations of graduate and professional school more manageable.
Dave is a self-funded, independent scholar writing algorithms to crack the multi-dimensional codes that govern biology but that are not stored in DNA. He invented the Linearized Compressed Polar Coordinates (LCPC) Transform that can capture spatial context in ways that traditions methods – such as area, surface area, volume, etc. – cannot. The code is open source and on GitHub (Google “GitHub David Nguyen LCPC Transform Radial Parallel”). In concert with his work on spatial statistics algorithms, he coined and is developing the concept of Hereditable Non-genetic Information (HNI, pronounced “honey”) to formally describe the non-linear codes, not stored in DNA, that govern the shape of molecules, tissues, organs, and tumors. Information about his work can be found at www.TSG-Lab.org.