My Graduate Program Is Not Simply a Continuation of Our College Years

My graduate program is not simply a continuation of our college years
    Obviously, my current life in this new semester is not simply a continuation of my undergraduate program for there are essential differences in their cultivating goals and learning motivations. Prior to be a first-year graduate student in Electronic Engineering in the University of Chinese academy of science, I received a dual BA in Automation and Communication from the University of science and technology of China this summer.
    Firstly, our goal is no longer to complete an assigned set of courses as in an undergraduate program, but to develop significant and original research in our area of expertise. Many of us do not internalize the idea until we have jumped into a graduate program. We will have required courses to take, especially if someone does not have a related background bachelor's degree yet, but these are designed merely to compliment our research and provide a broad and deep knowledge base to support us in our research endeavors.
    More precisely, at the end of our graduate program, we will be judged on our research, not on how well we did in our courses. Grades are not critical as long as we maintain the minimum GPA requirement, and we should not spend too much time on courses at the expense of research projects. Graduate courses tend to be designed to allow us to take away what we will find useful to our research more than to take unnecessary pains to study an insignificant problem.
    Besides, our schedule is much more flexible as the college years, but as a result, we might never truly take a break from our work. Graduate students do go on vacations but might still have to do some data analysis or a literature search. After surviving college, we may think us have mastered the ability to squeeze in our coursework, extracurricular activities and even some sleep. In a graduate program, time management reaches a whole new level. We will not only have lecture to attend and...