I think I blame Google, because it was started by a couple of graduate students.
I don't know how it was at Stanford, but at Berkeley in Physics there was a series of big honking tests ("Qualifying Exams") that dominated our attention the first two years. You were expected to know all of undergraduate Physics. Fail it, and you're out.
Grad students don't know any better. "How do we hire the best people? I know - they'll have to pass a big hard test, just like we did."
Then everyone else goes, "How do we hire the best people? I know - we'll do it like Google does, they seem pretty successful."
Ugh.
No, I don't know that it really went like that. I just suspect it.
Stanford physics PhD student here. We actually don't have qualifying exams, but my unpopular opinion is that we should. Physics is a lot of fun to study. The undergraduate and core graduate curriculum show off all its greatest hits. Why not learn that by heart? I spent two years doing that, it pays off every day in research, and I'd have been happy even if it didn't.
I don't know how it was at Stanford, but at Berkeley in Physics there was a series of big honking tests ("Qualifying Exams") that dominated our attention the first two years. You were expected to know all of undergraduate Physics. Fail it, and you're out.
Grad students don't know any better. "How do we hire the best people? I know - they'll have to pass a big hard test, just like we did."
Then everyone else goes, "How do we hire the best people? I know - we'll do it like Google does, they seem pretty successful."
Ugh.
No, I don't know that it really went like that. I just suspect it.