Graduate school can be a traumatic experience. Many graduate students spend their time complaining about the heavy work load, the uncaring attitudes of faculty, and the constant pressure of being evaluated. These students quickly begin to devalue their graduate education, deny its relevance, and develop strategies that help them to "beat the system" (i.e., merely satisfying degree requirements without engaging in any actual learning). Graduate school for these people is an unpleasant experience to be endured, survived, and forgotten as quickly as possible. What a shame! Another group seems to thrive on their graduate education. According to Bloom and Bell (1979): "These are the few who proceed through the program with the minimum amount of difficulty and a maximum amount of quality performance. They are respected by the faculty, they receive the best financial assistance, they receive accolades, and as a group, they end up with the best employment" (p. 231). These are the graduate school superstars. But what makes them so successful? Bloom and Bell asked 40 of their colleagues (who had earned doctorates from well-known programs around the country) to describe the superstars they had known. The results were amazingly consistent and can be organized into the following five factors.

"Visibility: The most often mentioned behavioral characteristic was visibility. Superstars were observed to be physically present in the department, during and often after working hours.

Hard Working: The next most often mentioned quality was that they were hard working. It is important to point out that the superstars were perceived as hard working because faculty actually saw them working hard. Other students may have worked harder, but because they were working hard at home or in the library, they were not perceived to be as hard working as the superstars.

Reflection of Program Values: A consistently mentioned quality was the faculty's perceptions of their professional values. These values were concordant with program values of research and scholarly excellence. Superstars are engaged in ongoing research projects in addition to their MA and PhD theses. Non-superstars did research because it was a degree requirement. Superstars viewed research as an integral part of their discipline and a desirable and worthwhile activity for any professional psychologist. They were curious enough about a problem to want to see data on it. Superstars also recognized the value of having contact with broad areas of psychology, even though their own programs might be highly specialized.

Professor Attachment: From the time they entered graduate school almost all superstars attached themselves to one or two faculty members with whom they continued to work during the course of their training.