<p>I went to Harvard 30 years ago. I was very interested in child language development. It was a very hot subject back then. Roger Brown had just published a book that is still quoted today. It was the textbook for my course on language development. </p>
<p>So… I never even saw Roger Brown (did see BF Skinner once on the elevator in the psych building). However, I worked closely with a junior faculty member who was amazing. I took three courses with her on language development. She became a sort of mentor to me. </p>
<p>However… when it came time to write my thesis, she was too busy to be my thesis advisor. She offered to be one of the readers (and she was). She suggested a grad student to be my thesis advisor. The grad student was wonderful and is now very accomplished and quoted in the field. </p>
<p>A few years ago (around the time of my 25th reunion), I ran into this same junior faculty member (now at another college) at a conference. She remembered me, and I had a chance to thank her for her advice and mentoring many years ago. </p>
<p>So… I didn’t get to work with the big wigs. The “little wigs” are now big wigs in the field. I don’t really feel that I lost out. I did get to take a graduate seminar senior year with another big name professor.</p>