Want to study math? Look for a younger mentor
Posted on 6/8/2010
Topics: Academics and Student Activities
According to a study from Northwestern University, international and domestic students considering a U.S. graduate program in mathematics should seek out a younger or mid-career mentor rather than an older one.
The study found that academic mathematicians do a good job of mentoring students during the first two-thirds of their careers but a poor job during the last third.
It could be that older math professors have more research and academic responsibilities to worry about or are too culturally removed from their young students' experiences to relate to them well, but it might also be the culture of mathematics in U.S. higher education. Among the best mathematicians, the older ones take on more students. These students then don't get as much time with their mentor.
"It's a phenomenon in our culture that as you gain more importance and success you are expected to oversee more and more people, which means that face time with your proteges goes down," says study author R. Dean Malmgren.
The researchers chose mathematicians to study because, in the culture of most other sciences, mentors get to put their names on academic papers that their students write, giving them a professional reason to take on extra students and to see that they do well. Mathematicians, in contrast, do not benefit directly from their students' accomplishments.
The study found that academic mathematicians do a good job of mentoring students during the first two-thirds of their careers but a poor job during the last third.
It could be that older math professors have more research and academic responsibilities to worry about or are too culturally removed from their young students' experiences to relate to them well, but it might also be the culture of mathematics in U.S. higher education. Among the best mathematicians, the older ones take on more students. These students then don't get as much time with their mentor.
"It's a phenomenon in our culture that as you gain more importance and success you are expected to oversee more and more people, which means that face time with your proteges goes down," says study author R. Dean Malmgren.
The researchers chose mathematicians to study because, in the culture of most other sciences, mentors get to put their names on academic papers that their students write, giving them a professional reason to take on extra students and to see that they do well. Mathematicians, in contrast, do not benefit directly from their students' accomplishments.
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