5 Things I have Learned from Graduate School

Unofficial #6: Caffeine is necessary, don't fight it, just give in.

Author: Brittany Maule

While I try not to be an Eco-Troublemaker, I have found that personal reflection and things of that nature are a good way to orientate yourself in the swamp of chaos that can become life sometimes. That’s why this blog post is taking a break from interesting organisms and is all about what I have learned from my time in graduate school (so far, not quite done even though I fantasize about it).

A little background about myself: I am currently in the last semester of my M.S. program in Biology at Ball State University. More specifically, I am about one week away from my entire thesis being due, and about three weeks away from trying to defend my project to my committee. So, it’s a little bit of a stressful time to say the least. From what I have read about during stress-induced google searches and have seen first-hand from other graduate students, graduate school is a mixed experience, and while there are some common things most graduate students go through, it is first and foremost dictated by who you are as an individual. That being said, I’ve written about what I, as an individual, have come away with from my graduate school experience.

The top 5 things I have learned about graduate school:

1.       You will learn how you work best

I think I knew coming into graduate school that it would be different from undergraduate. How could it not be right? I will admit I was thrown off quite a bit my first semester. While you still have to take classes, and there’s homework and things to bring you to campus, the amount of un-scheduled time is staggering. You may have several whole days in a week where there is no obligation to make you go to school. For me coming off an involved undergraduate experience that was enough to make me say “What is life?” and quickly realize that while I had a lot more free-time, that time was in no way free. I like to feel productive, and like I am learning and achieving things, hence, one of the reasons I went to graduate school. However, I found out fast that it takes a lot more effort to be motivated by internal goals rather than external ones. It’s easier to get a paper done that’s due in one week than it is to create a research project from scratch that is multi-faceted and several years long and doesn’t really have any deadlines except for approximately two years from now when your project is over. Understanding how to make myself not only work on something with abstract end dates, but also work smart, was a learning curve. However, this is a skill I feel confident about now, much more so than I did after I was done with my undergraduate degree. Come at me future job projects, I know how to tackle you now.

2.       Imposter Syndrome is real, and it’s okay to talk about it

If you are unaware, Imposter Syndrome is something where a person feels like they will be exposed as a “fraud” in what they are doing because they are secretly not capable or intelligent enough. I was stricken with this at a few points in my project, and it is something I still grapple with from time to time in smaller doses. The best thing I did was chat with my adviser about how I was feeling. Whether or not you feel comfortable with that will depend on your adviser, but it opened up a dialogue that helped me feel less isolated in what I was feeling, and like I had more resources to combat the issue.

3.      Own your project

Because of #2, I would sometimes feel as if my project was this thing I couldn’t grasp onto and understand in a real way. It was like I would finally feel that I had a good background on something, and then I would find a research article that made me doubt everything I did. I have learned that being confident in myself, and what I have been able to do is essential to moving forward in my project. If you are in graduate school, you definitely have the capacity to do quality research that you can be proud of. Instead of always qualifying my statements and downplaying any successes, I have learned to be confident in what I have done. No one else is going to defend your project for you, so at some point you have to put your stamp of approval and do all the work you can to show why it’s awesome, and trust me it is awesome.

4.       Your experience is unique, and other grad students have good advice

Don’t isolate yourself. Asking around for help on projects whether that be in experimental design, running analyses, how to be a more effective Teaching Assistant, or on understanding the foreign language that is statistics, can be essential to getting un-stuck and moving forward. However, I found it important to understand that while advice from other students is great and often helpful, their experience is not my experience. Maybe a friend in your program is already starting experiments, and you are still trying to understand your topic. I’ve found that it’s OKAY to be in different place than other people, and to go your own route. I moved through my project a lot more slowly at first than others in my cohort. Now, near the end, we are still in different places with me being ahead of some who were quicker to start than me.

5.      Mental health is important, it’s okay to be a person outside school.

Multiple times during my graduate school experience I have felt guilt. A lot of guilt. Let me rephrase, crushing guilt, when I was not working on my thesis project or accomplishing something school related. Or, honestly, when I was not setting myself up best as a professional by doing things outside my program to make me more marketable. That guilt was often incapacitating, causing me to feel even worse about not being able to get over myself and just get work done. It has taken me to the end of my program to realize that I had to just let go. I could not deny the fact that sometimes, you need a Saturday where you watch too much Netflix and disconnect from life. I have heard other people say “make sure to spend time on yourself! Do fun things you like!” While that is also awesome advice, I will follow it up with give yourself a few hours a week where you put no pressure on yourself, even to have fun. It has been the break I needed and gave me time to reflect on why I like actually doing things as opposed to just watching Netflix, etc.  

Have experiences or advice about grad school you want to share? Leave in the comments below or contact me I’d love to hear your advice and put together a longer top-ten list from multiple people!