As some of the other commenters have said, some of the language here is a little strong, but it does do a good job covering the nature of grad school - people d

As some of the other commenters have said, some of the language here is a little strong, but it does do a good job covering the nature of grad school - people do seem to think that it's like undergrad (likely because many of them know what that's like). It's not, it's really more like an entry-level professional position (where you have to pay a huge chunk of your salary back to your employer for professional training); it's highly entrepreneurial and self-directed, so yes, you can take off holidays, and you can have a life, but you're still responsible for finishing your research before your funding runs out, and that may well involve a fair number of nights and weekends. You do need some smarts to pull it off, but mostly you just have to love it enough to forgo higher income in industry while you do it (at least in CS). Here's to grad school!