Strung out, under-slept and questioning your entire decision to attend grad school in the first place? Here are 4 of 8 pointers we've put together to help you to regain control of your life and take the edge off the grad school experience.
Part I (Part II is available here)
Financial whooas! Remember, you’re not going to have disposable income for many years to come. In fact, like many of us, you probably have negative income in the form of what’s formally known as credit card debt. One thing you could do to alleviate the problem, for example, would be not to calculate what your teaching stipend breaks down to per hour...because it’s probably somewhere around 2 cents. Something you could do instead: budget your spending. If you haven’t already done so, check out Mint.com. If you need to reduce spending, opt for a cheap apartment, share it with a few roommates, and start doing your shopping at thrift shops and inexpensive grocery stores.- Party in the USA? They don’t seem to work as hard as you, and they certainly seem like they’re having more fun according to Facebook. Just remember: you love spending time with your friends. Start scheduling hangouts with them once a week. You need to allocate a little time to forgetting about lab work and teaching plans. You need to sit back and joke about things like Miley Cyrus (still funny!).
- Tough love. Chances are, after having spent so many years working with you on your thesis, your advisor does actually want you to graduate. He or she may be a symbol of everything wrong with graduate school, but here’s what you need to do anyway: win him or her over. Show your advisor that you care by being well prepared for each meeting and ultimately your thesis defense. Anticipate which questions will be asked of you, and hit back with some well thought out points. For your thesis defense, practice with a friend to strengthen your arguments. Above all, be confident and know the strengths and limitations of your own work. A complete perspective is a strong indication of academic seniority.
Make friends in high places. There has got to be at least one professor that you’ve connected with since you started grad school. Someone who believes in you. If you’re feeling overwhelmed, seek that person out and ask for their input. Meet with them at the office or over a cup of coffee. They’ll leave you with some great advice and help put things into perspective. Plus, this is cheaper than retail therapy—the process of grieving via spending excessive amounts of cash that you don’t have on things you don’t need, like a new iPhone case or a pair of shoes.
When it comes to beating grad school stress, what works for you? I’d love to hear some of your tips and humorous stories in a comment below. Next week, we’ll feature the next four more tips—and perhaps we can incorporate yours!
In the meantime, here are two that were shared in our online survey:
- "In veterinary school we used to joke that Purina should make Human Chow so we could just grab a handful and go. No time to shop for food or to cook..." -Courtesy of Dr. Gretchen Norton, Summit Veterinary Service, Silverthorne, CO. Thanks, Gretchen!
- "Great advice I got: 'Graduate life has it's ups and downs. When you're in an up, do everything you can to keep yourself in the zone. Stay in the lab late, pay a few bucks to have the pizza delivered, and keep your creative afterburners going as long as you can. When you hit that down, that's the time to do the laundry, have one more beer, or go windsurfing.' " -Courtesy of Sunil Vemuri, Ph.D. Awesome tip. Thanks, Sunil!
Special thanks to Candice M. Hughes, Ph.D., for her contributions on these tips! Candice is the CEO/Founder of the ADHD-fighting game company, AdapTac Games LLC, and the CEO of Hughes BioPharma Advisers LLC.