SURVIVING AND THRIVING IN GRADUATE SCHOOL

Some tips from faculty and students on how to survive and thrive in graduate school.

 

ESTHER GREENGLASS

Being a graduate student is more than just surviving which is defined as continuing to exist despite difficulty. Graduate students should aspire to thrive in graduate school, which is synonymous with flourishing, and being or becoming successful. Thriving can occur on four levels, each of which is essential for being successful in graduate school. These are the behavioural, cognitive, motivational and emotional levels.

On the behavioural level, it is important to engage in behaviour essential to fulfilling degree requirements including keeping up with assignments, applying for scholarships, engaging in research activities, presenting and publishing papers, and learning how to teach and converse with students, peers and faculty alike. The behavioural aspect is a necessary but not sufficient condition for thriving.

In graduate school, it is important to envision or visualize your goals, not only for today and next month, but also for the year that lies ahead, and for the next five years as well. This is the cognitive dimension of thriving. Keep your eye on those goals and build your plans around your goals. This helps keep you focused and goes a long way in eliminating distracters while you pursue your goals, both short term and long term as well.

Thriving on the motivational level involves really wanting to do what you’re doing in graduate school and finding it interesting. While this may not apply to all of your activities in grad school, it should characterize most of what you are doing. If not, maybe it’s time to reconsider your choices.

Thriving should also occur on the emotional level. Keep your surroundings pleasant and conducive to creative and original thoughts and long hours when necessary. For the most part, keep yourself on an even keel, emotionally, that is, avoid extremes. You can do this by pacing yourself, pursing a healthy lifestyle, seeking out friends and pleasant interactions, and ensuring your self talk is more positive than negative. While self monitoring is essential on a daily basis, try not to be overly critical of yourself as this can lead to depression. Rather, keep your self talk positive and try to reward yourself for a job well done. There will be occasions when you have not lived up to your own expectations. Instead of punishing yourself, try to step back and determine what you can do to make it better next time. Seek out social support and other resources that you need to accomplish your goals. And, figure out how you can incorporate these into your behavioural repertoire and strategies the next time you approach a challenge. While social comparison is inevitable in graduate school, be wary of it as it can lead to feelings of self deprecation. During your studies, take advantage of opportunities to meet and discuss research with experts in your field of interest. Learn to treat your peers as colleagues and be prepared to learn from them as well. Try to push yourself to explore avenues outside your comfort zone.

Try also to stick to the three C’s in your journey through graduate school: Regard your graduate studies as a Challenge that you greet with enthusiasm and vigor; Care for yourself and your body as they are essential to your successful accomplishments, and Continue to engage in all the activities necessary to achieve your goals. Finally, enjoy graduate school, it is a unique and marvelous time.

 

KERRY KAWAKAMI

1) Work, work, work
To survive grad school you need to really put in a lot of work (e.g., approximately 60 hours a week should be the norm). To do everything that needs to get done and to do it reasonably well it takes time. You may want to think of graduate school as a really hard job with long hours – you can have your vacation time but other that it is a long demanding job. Importantly though there is a goal that you can set as a grad student – within 6 years you can achieve your PhD and be finished and ready to start another phase. To finish that soon you need to put in the hours.

2) Research, research, research
That is what is going to get you the job interviews after your graduation. It is not going to be how well read or knowledgeable you are, how well you did in your classes, how many complements you got as a t.a., it will be your research that gets you the jobs. So my advice is that you do as much research as possible.

3) Focus, focus, focus
Although you may be excited when reading about new areas of social psychology – it is important to focus in your research – at least initially. Try to carve out one area that you can become an expert in and which is broad enough to later expand upon. Focusing on a topic that your supervisor works in is not a bad idea. Learn one area really well and try to keep all or most of your stuff more related to that area – at least initially.

4) Do not be a perfectionist – Do not sweat the details (at least too much)
Do not be a perfectionist. You are probably never going to have the perfect study but what is important is that you get in the lab fast and often to try things and see what works and what does not work. My philosophy is start small and do a lot of tweaking along the way. One study almost never answers everything but 3 small studies with varying manipulations and dependent variables can answer a lot.

5) Be pragmatic about reading the literature.
Although I recommend that people run to the lab every week with another half-baked idea, be pragmatic about reading the literature. When I was a grad student, I spent most of my time reading, I had gone over the top in being prepared and knowledgeable about my research area and while most of the reading was to some extent relevant to my field, it was peripheral to my research. I wish then that someone would have told me to read less and to research more. Although being knowledgeable about your area is important – be focused and only read what is directly and immediately important to what you are studying at the moment.

6) Publish, publish, publish
Publications more than anything else will get you a job. So after you research, research, research then write, write, write. You should always try to have a study that you are designing/putting together, a study that is being run, a study that you are analyzing, and one or several manuscripts that you are writing up. If you have something in each of these stages you will be in good shape after graduation. Publishing should always be a priority --- even higher than running another study. If you have data to write up – start writing. If you don’t someone may scoop you or you may loose the energy and motivation related to new ideas and new results.

7) Courses, TAing, committee work
Because research is so important – focus on doing research rather than your courses, taing, or committee work. Although all of these things may seem more immediate and more rewarding to some extent – they won’t get you a job. So do them all adequately but research should be your focus.

8) Work, work, work
Grad school is hard. It can be frustrating and demotivating. When you have run 3 studies and can’t get a significant effect or when you have just received negative reviews on a manuscript that you thought was brilliant or when your grant application is rejected – it can be very hard. Remember -- everyone gets nonsignificant effects – everyone gets rejected – just keep at it and work, work, work, and hopeful it will all fall in place in the end.

 

RICHARD LALONDE

Most students have a very good idea of the amount of work that is required to be successful in graduate school. You had to do a lot of work as an undergraduate to get into graduate school. So what’s different at the graduate level? Following are my Selective Five (the fourth and fifth factors are my favourites).

1. You have to be an independent thinker and a self motivator.

2. You can no longer skip over the tricky bits when reading journal articles.

3. Social comparison can be brutal, so try to avoid it. As an undergrad, chances are you were among the better students in your classes. In grad school, you will be in a cohort of similar others. Better to support each other than to compete with each other.

4. If you have no passion for what you are doing then forget about it. You have to be engaged by your research in order to have a blast, otherwise your work will fizzle.

5. The stuff of social psychology can be found by reading more than journals and books. I believe that the best observers of human interactions are novelists.

6. OK, I know I said five, but I don’t have an editor (or a prof) breathing down my back. My number 6 is, a healthy body makes for a healthy mind. Don’t forget to exercise.

 

IAN MCGREGOR

Theses and Dissertations
Multi-study theses and dissertations are usually preferable to single-study theses and dissertations. Conducting multiple studies allows you to replicate or conceptually replicate your findings and to gain more confidence in your interpretation of them. Multiple study projects also allow you to probe particularly interesting or puzzling Study 1 findings in subsequent studies, and can serve as the basis for a tier-1 publication (most tier-1 journals prefer multiple study papers). The problem with proposing multiple study theses and dissertations, however, is that rarely does the first study work out exactly as anticipated. This can mean that subsequent studies are no longer particularly germane after the results of the first study are known. The upshot of this is that proposing multi-study theses can sometimes be a bit of a waste of time, especially if one conducts the second and subsequent studies simply to do what one proposed, even after they are no longer promising in light of Study 1 results. One solution to this that some advisors favour, is to conduct the first Study (for your MA) or even the first few studies (for your PhD) early on in the program, before your formal proposal. That way you can already have a sense for the phenomenon under investigation, and your actual proposal can contain the initial studies that have already been run, as well as one or two reasonable follow-up studies.

Brownbags and SP Area Citizenship
Try to present your ongoing research at SP area brownbag meetings at least every two years, and to show your collegial support for your fellow SPers by attending and commenting on their presentations. Such collegial willingness to contribute goes a long way toward building a sense of community in the area. Collegial involvement in the SP area, more generally, can be an important asset when mentioned in reference letters. Your future colleagues will want to feel confident that you will be a good departmental citizen. We are encouraging all SP students to stretch a bit to speak up more at the brownbag meetings. The faculty will try make sure there is space for student comments. A particularly helpful way to comment in brownbags (or at academic talks in general) is to try to see the value in the work presented, and then see if you can think of some idea or strategy that the presenter might consider to make an even stronger case, probe the question more deeply, or make the argument more clearly. As you are listening to presentations, try to simultaneously grasp what the presenter is claiming, and to think of any additional studies, techniques or operationalizations that might help fill holes in the argument, or cement an already strong one. Making such comments at brownbags is collegial because it can help the presenter see the research from a different angle, and because it stimulates the free-flow of research ideas and perspectives. Some of the most valuable training in graduate school occurs informally in brownbag meetings and in collegial discussions about research with fellow students. Making comments at brownbags can be good practice at thinking on one's feet and honing the ability to communicate about research ideas. These are skills that will serve you well in an academic or applied career.

Conference Presentations
Try for at least one conference presentation per year. Conference presentations are important on your CVs because they can tell the granting agencies that you are serious about research and deserving of funding (especially in the early years when you may not have any publications yet). Some of my favourite conferences for SPers include the annual meetings of the: Society for Personality and Social Psychology (really great!), American Psychological Society, Midwestern Psychological Association. Such conferences can expose you to a wide range of approaches, and help you locate your research in the context of the current dialogue and cutting edge concerns in the field. Others you may wish to consider are the annual meetings of the American Psychological Association, the Canadian Psychological Association, and the biennial meeting of the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues.

Second Line of Research
As you progress in the program it can be to your advantage to mount a second line of research that complements their main line of thesis research. Ideally, this would be conducted with a faculty member other than your advisor, with other students, or both. This can be a great way to keep all of one's eggs out of the same research basket, increase the chances of having something to present at conferences every year, facilitate cross-fertilization of ideas, and learn different skills from working with faculty members who may have different strengths and areas of expertise than your advisor.

External Funding
You should give serious thought to applying for external funding from SSHRCC, OGS, and any other granting agencies that might be willing to support you. It is difficult to excel at graduate school if one's energies are spread thin across academics and various part-time jobs. Consider preparing your grant applications in the summer so that you have time to craft high quality applications. The SSHRCC application in particular is quite onerous, and you should dedicate at least a week of your summer to preparing it. To increase your chances, you might want to ask around amongst your fellow grad students about who has been successful or almost successful with SSHRCC and OGS, and see if you can use their successful applications as templates for your own. If you have had some success with your grant applications, please share your successful applications with your fellow students.

Joining SPSP and Journals
If you haven't already done so, you may wish to consider joining SPSP. SPSP is the largest international association of Social and Personality psychologists. Joining is inexpensive for graduate students (something like 30$), and when you join you automatically receive the journals PSPB and PSPR, as well as the SPSP newsletter. There is also a free, moderated SPSP email listserve that you may wish to consider getting on. Useful tidbits about conferences, jobs and post-docs, and relevant to research and teaching regularly appear on this listserve. To subscribe, you must be an SPSP member, and then you can just email the moderator, Chuck Huff, at huff@stolaf.edu, and he will put you on the list. Finally, if you can afford it, you may wish to consider subscribing to the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology (an APA journal). JPSP is the flagship journal in the field of Personality and Social Psychology. It is rather pricey, but it makes writing much easier when you can just pull the required readings right off of your shelf rather than traipsing to the library whenever you want to look something up.

 

WARD STRUTHERS

I believe that graduate school is about developing the skills to independently ask and answer a question of social relevance. The areas of skill development that I think are important are in scholarship (knowing the literature/research/theories and evaluating them critically and fairly), technical aspects (scientific method, research methods, statistics, writing, presentation, etc.), and observing/thinking/debating/creativity (i.e., developing the skills to notice interesting, meaningful, and counterintuitive socially relevant phenomenon, being able to debate the strengths and weakness of your ideas, and finding creative ways to explore your ideas and develop theories to explain social phenomenon). In my role as a professor, I make several assumptions about graduate students:

1. Few IQ points separate most graduate students and so effort contributes significantly to the success of graduate students. As such, I think it is reasonable that you would be working at least 60 hour / week (of course, this is a general guideline, but graduate school and science is not a 9-5 day job).

2. Most graduate students in SP psychology want to become academics/scientists/researchers/educators and it is my job to help you to develop the skills to perform these jobs.

3. Our programme is focused on science and theoretically driven research that is relevant to a range of social issues.

4. Most of your time at graduate school should be spent on reading and becoming familiar with the literature/research that is relevant to your area of interest and that you will spend most of your time doing reseach (designing studies, collecting data, analysing data).

5. You should constantly be presenting at conferences and brownbags and writing articles for possible publication.

6. You will assume the role of an area citizen and will conduct yourself professionally. You will work toward building a professional and supportive community assisting new and junior students as well as supporting your cohort and senior students. I strongly believe that these behaviors will visit you in kind.

 

DAVID WIESENTHAL

Read:

Peters, R. L. (1997). Getting what you came for: The smart student's guide to earning a Master's or Ph.D (Revised edition). New York: Noonday
Press.

The call number for it at Scott Library is: LB 2371.4 P48 1997.

 

ROBERT CRIBBIE

I see the relationship between a faculty member and a graduate student as being very symbiotic. The faculty member gains valuable assistance with his/her research program (in addition to any departmental incentives) while the graduate student gains valuable training in conducting research and extensive knowledge in the research domain. However, in order for the relationship to be fruitful two things must happen: a) the advisor and the student must effectively communicate the (specific!) goals that they expect to attain from the relationship; and b) the advisor and the student must work diligently towards the satisfaction of these goals.

Effective Communication: Students should specify (very early!) what they would like to gain from the graduate program and (if known) what future academic/occupational plans they may have. Faculty members should communicate to the students (very early!) the short term and long term requirements/expectations they have of the students. For example, the advisor should specify any courses that he/she expects the student to enrol in, any research assistance requirements that he/she expects or demands (e.g., paid assistance) from the student, as well as outlining a (possibly rough) timetable of events for completion of the program. The faculty member should also outline any additional activities that he/she believes will be useful to the student in achieving their specific academic or occupational goals. Continuous communication will help to ensure that both the faculty member and the student are content with what they are receiving from the relationship.

Diligent Work: Students expecting to complete a graduate program in the allotted time (MA - 2 years; PhD - 4 years) should treat their studies in the same way that they would a full-time job. The distribution of their time will be dependent on the stage they are at in their program as well as the goals that they have for their future. For example, a student in the first year of an MA degree will likely spend much of their time with course and research practicum work, whereas a PhD student hoping to attain a faculty position in a research institution should dedicate much of their time to conducting and publishing research. Faculty members also need to work very hard in order to assist the student in reaching his/her goals. For example, the advisor should be extremely diligent in responding to or commenting on written drafts that the student prepares for the advisor. There is no reason why it should take a month or two to comment on a draft of a thesis that the student prepares for the advisor to read. The advisor should also attempt to provide/find positions (e.g., research assistantships) for the student that may help bring the student closer to his/her goals.

 

FELLOW GRADUATE STUDENTS

Words of wisdom from those who have been there and done (or are still doing) that

1. Figure out why you are here
2. Work at your own pace
3. Develop a consistent schedule
4. Work with someone other than your advisor
5. Try to get at least one thing out a year
6. Keep a research journal
7. Stay motivated
8. Apply for financial support

And when the going gets tough, remember…

9. Reward yourself
10. Don’t compare
11. Don’t try to do too much
12. Exercise
13. Get help (counselling services, friends, family)
14. Have fun without guilt
15. Develop outside interests

Source:
www.cs.indiana.edu/how.2b/how.2b.html

http://smi.stanford.edu/people/pratt/smi/advice.html

FIVE SURE-FIRE WAYS TO BECOME A GRADUATE SCHOOL SUPERSTAR

1. VISIBILITY: Put in some face time! Join a committee, work in your lab, meet regularly with your advisor. The more you are seen the better your chances of getting to know others, staving off that feeling of isolation that hits in the midst of your thesis, and impressing the big-whigs who control your funding…

2. WILLINGNESS TO WORK HARD: Take initiative! Be keen! Do that optional reading. Stay late to finish that analysis that your advisor doesn’t expect until Monday. It will pay off in the long run (e.g., more time for yourself, more research ideas, better grades, and it will ensure VISIBILITY!)

3. THINK AHEAD: Keep your long-range goals in mind. If you’re interested in an academic career, find out what you can do early on to improve your chances of landing a tenure-stream position. If your interests lean more to applied work, talk to others in the field to find
out what they did in graduate school to make themselves more marketable.

4. HAVE A TRUE INTEREST IN RESEARCH: If you don’t like it now, you’ll despise it later! Don’t let yourself become the cynical/bitter/ABD grad student monster lurking in the BSB basement! Choose a topic that YOU find interesting and you will be rewarded ten-fold.

5. DEVELOP A RELATIONSHIP WITH A MENTOR: Whether it is your advisor or another member of the faculty, get to know someone well! It doesn’t hurt to have your own personal cheer-leader and they will be invaluable to you in an academic or personal rut.

Source:
www.psywww.com/careers/suprstar.htm