This interview project is a great opportunity to have more information about advanced study in Physics Department. There are two graduate students who participated in this interview. One of them is an American student and the other one is an international student. After the interview, the results have some different and similar responses. In this reflection I will compare the answers from both of them.
First of all, one interesting idea from both of them was that ”Presentation is required in graduate classes.” Usually, students from Asia spend most of their time reading those research papers instead of being trained for public speaking. Generally, American students feel more comfortable to answer those questions from professors, but Asian students might be quiet in the class. They will try to say something only if their professors give them cold call. 
Secondly, they both gave similar answers about the relationship between professors and students. Students often become close with professors, sometimes they even have lunch with their professors. When I was a student in Taiwan, I always kept distance with my teacher because I didn’t want my teacher to notice me. Not only was I afraid of the teacher, but also didn’t want to be marked as a special student in our classroom, the opportunity fully to understand things is very good. Since they all have some background knowledge, they can get the information from their professor easily.
Next, it is about the group discussion, there is one difference between them because the American student describes it like different part subject and he would like to find some sources to gain more data, and he enjoys his group discussion. On the other hand, the international student who has hard time to give her opinions in the group discussion, and also her group always have trouble to set a perfect time for every member in their group to meet together. Therefore, she does not really enjoy her group discussions in class. There is a similar phenomenon from the international student and my experience. We did not have group discuss and presentation when we were undergraduate students. Most of time, only professor gave us speech and we took note, but here we need to participate in each class.
Both of them agree that a lot of reading to be successful in a their class. When I was a student, I only read my textbook. I need to change my studying habit to get used to reading a lot books in the future. As a result, it is a good way to make me focus on the class.
The most difficult part about graduate school for the American student is doing his homework, but the international student disagree with him because she thinks it is her responsibility to do her homework. She thinks that the most surprising part about graduate school is some students can debate or argue with their professor. We are taught to respect our professor so it is an interesting experience to see their discussion about different opinions on their matter.
The most difficult part of graduate school for the American student is doing his homework, and the Asian student thinks that group work is the most difficult part. I guess that I need to find out my own answer when I become a graduate student, and I will do my best to study hard and overcome nervousness when I need to speak English in front of everyone.
It was a good experience to hear their advice and I would like to absorb their ideas for my advanced studying. I definitely gained from the experience.
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