Surviving and Succeeding in Graduate School
You've won admittance to graduate school! Now what? How do you ensure success in grad school? Peruse the pages below to enhance your ability to survive and succeed in graduate school.
- Advisors and Professors (14)
- Current Issues in Grad Ed (10)
- Distance Learning (6)
- Family & Grad School (13)
- Get Organized (10)
- Grad School Success: Tips (21)
- Grad Student Humor (9)
- Grants & Research Funding (15)
- Media Interviews (5)
- Public Speaking (8)
- Publishing (9)
- Reading Tips and Strategies (11)
- Research Ethics (10)
- Stress (14)
- Thesis Writing and Research (26)
- Time Use & Procrastination (21)
- Transitions: Starting Out (10)
End of the Semester Self-Evaluation
The end of the semester or academic year is a valuable opportunity to examine the past and plan for the future. Start your own self-analysis by considering your responses to these questions.
New Year's Self-Evaluation: Your First Step in Making Resolutions
however the beginning of a new year is particularly valuable opportunity to examine the past and plan for the future. Start your own self-analysis by considering your responses to these questions.
10 Gifts for Graduate Students
Wondering what to get the graduate student on your list? Graduate students are an odd lot. Most are short on cash and will appreciate any gift, however small. What can you give that will light up your grad student's face? Here are a few ideas.
Research Assistantship
What is a research assistantshp?
Make Research Contacts with Faculty
Graduate admissions committees want applicants with research experience. Getting experience is a matter of making connections with faculty.
Take Your Advisor's Perspective
Your relationship with your advisor is important to your success in graduate school and beyond. What does the student-advisor relationship look like from the advisor's perspective? What's it like on the other side?
Choosing a Mentor
Your choice of mentor will influence your career in graduate school and afterward. How do you choose a mentor? What characteristics should you look for?
What Is a Doctoral Candidate?
What is a doctoral candidate? What does it mean to be ABD?
How to Prepare for Your Comprehensive Examination
Your performance on your master's or doctoral comprehensive exam can make or break your graduate school career. Learning all there is to know about your field is daunting, but don't let it overwhelm you. Be systematic in your preparations and follow these tips to get your studying underway and prepare for your comprehensive exams.
Comprehensive Examinations: An Overview for Master's and Doctoral Students
One of the biggest milestones of graduate study is passing your "comps" -- or comprehensive examinations. Comps are administered at both the masters and doctoral level. Learn more.
The Impostor Syndrome: Are You Fooling Everyone?
At one time or another nearly every graduate student and new faculty member wonders about his or her competence: "Will they find out that I'm making it up as I go?" The impostor syndrome runs rampant in academia - and women are especially prone to it.
How Grad School's Different
New graduate students quickly discover that grad school is entirely different than college. Grad school is a whole different beast.
Use a Project Planner to Get that Paper Done on Time
Writing papers and other large projects can overwhelm even the best of students. Most time management experts agree that the best way to tackle a large project is to break it into its component tasks. Here's how.
Get it Done with a To-Do List
To-do lists make your life easier because they list everything that you need to do or remember for a given day, so you don’t have to worry about forgetting anything.
Use an Academic Calendar to Prepare for the School Year
All students need an academic calendar because, rather than the calendar year, it follows the academic year, from mid-August to July.
Make a Good Impression on Professors
Relationships with faculty are critical to success in graduate school. The initial relationship is often formed in class. How do you make a good impression in class?
Why Relationships with Other Students Matter
It is not just relationships with faculty that matter in graduate school. Many graduate students are surprised to learn that relationships with other students also predict success in graduate school and beyond.
The First Day of Class: What to Expect
The first day of class in college and graduate school is all about introducing the class. There are different ways of approaching the first day.
Advice for Graduate Students
This collection of resources will help you get a handle on your graduate studies
Top 4 Graduate School Survival Books
Graduate school survival books abound. Some offer essential advice while others are a waste of your precious time. Don't lose lab and research time to reading hackneyed graduate school success books. Check out these picks
5 Tips for Coping with Grad School Stress
Exams, papers, and other deadlines are very stressful for students. How do you manage the stress of graduate school? Try these tips.
Three Tips for New Graduate Students
Graduate school is way different from college. Pay attention to these three tips and you will start graduate school on the right foot and set yourself up for long term success.
Gender, Work, Stress, and Health
Is academia bad for your health?
What Is the Impostor Syndrome?
Some graduate students and early career professional suffer from the impostor syndrome. What is it?
How to Behave at a Presentation
In graduate school and beyond, you're judged not only by how you present your own work, but by the respect you show your colleagues.
So long and Thanks for the Ph.D.
A graduate school survival guide, intended for prospective or novice graduate students in computer science, but useful to all.
Networking on the Network
Believe it or not, networking is vital to your success. Phil Agree's advice on how to use the internet to network is essential.
ASGS, the Association for Support of Graduate Students
A service organization that helps students complete their theses, obtain their degrees, and improve the quality of student lives. Nice resource.
Back to School Resources for Graduate Students
A new school year is exciting. New classes, new professors, new challenges make for a stimulating contrast to the quiet summer months. Because of this many students find the beginning of the school year jarring and overwhelming. What to do if you feel like your in over your head? Take a deep breath and begin the year step by step with these resources.
Review of Surviving Your Stupid Stupid Decision to Go to Grad School
Reviews Surviving Your Stupid Stupid Decision to Go to Grad School, by Adam Ruben
Getting What you Came For: The Smart Student's Guide to Earning a Masters or PhD
Review of Getting What you Came For: The Smart Student's Guide to Earning a Master's or a Ph.D., by Robert L. Peters