> Isn't it inevitable that 4 years of undergrad + 1-2 yrs of grad school classes won't prepare you sufficiently to do novel research? I think it depends what y

> Isn't it inevitable that 4 years of undergrad + 1-2 yrs of grad school classes won't prepare you sufficiently to do novel research? I think it depends what you call "novel research". Most of the time, novel research means making a small contribution to an existing paper (and for a graduate student, the paper to extend and the contribution are usually suggested by their supervisor).