Today’s question comes from Fraser Smith of the Get Psyched YouTube Channel.
“Hi Ali.
What does it take to succeed in grad school today?”
The first thing you have to understand is the skills that helped you succeed in undergrad
might not work in grad school.
An undergraduate education is mostly focused on completing short term projects: readings,
papers, and exams, stuff you have to do doesn’t last for more than a few months.
Grad school is different, especially if you’re getting a doctorate.
There’s a greater focus on long term projects you have to independently create and complete.
Undergrad is like studying pop music while grad school is about creating your own album.
This transition was really hard for me.
It took my 7 years to finish my 5 year PhD.
But I got through it and trust me if I can do it you can do it.
Here are the top 5 things I learned that helped me succeed in grad school.
#1 Understand your procrastination
In college I got away with waiting till the last minute to get my work done.
It’s how I managed my anxiety.
But this turned out to be a horrible way of dealing with anxiety in grad school.
You can’t do a thesis or dissertation the night before it’s due.
Believe me, I tried.
I procrastinated for many reasons: anxiety about what to do next on my research, anger
at my advisor for giving me critical feedback, guilt about falling behind my peers, and sadness
over not being able to do all the things my friends outside of grad school were doing.
Understand why you’re avoiding your work.
What thoughts and emotions come up when you slack off?
Then, get help that will best address these barriers.
Getting support and accountability from my roommates helped me.
I also worked with a therapist and a dissertation coach at different points in grad school who
helped me understand how much perfectionism was leading me to create these big unrealistic
goals that I never could achieve.
Learning how to break things down into smaller, realistic, daily goals helped me finally get
my dissertation done.
2.
Invest in self-care
When you’re a grad student working long hours in a crappy office with little to no
funding, it’s easy to burn out - to feel like what you’re doing doesn’t matter.
The good news is most grad students have a lot of opportunities to invest in self-care:
access to campus gyms, campus sports and clubs, and student health insurance.
I made a whole video about self-care, so check that out for more, but my number one tip is
to find something that you love that’s outside of the stuff you’re doing in grad school.
For me it was photography.
Weekend photography projects gave me a welcomed escape from grad school.
Create photos made me feel good even when my research lacked significant results.
Yes, that is a cheesy grad school joke.
3.
Find your people
Most of what you do in grad school is isolating and all that loneliness can mess with your
physical and mental health.
This is why you have to connect with a larger community.
Your greatest sources of support are the people in your department.
Start by getting to know your cohort, the people who are in the same year of grad school
as you.
They may become your closest friends and future collaborators in your field of study.
But don't stop there.
Reach out to students who are a few years ahead of you.
Advanced students can give you an honest answer to what you need to get through your program.
4.
Get involved
A lot of grad students miss out on the opportunity of getting involved in professional organizations.
Some don’t think they have anything to contribute.
Others are told to avoid getting involved under they have “more time” after they
graduate.
Spoiler alert - you’re never going to have “more time” after you graduate.
You’re always going to be super busy doing a lot of stuff.
The reality is graduate students have a lot to contribute to their professions and a lot
to gain from being involved.
Many organizations are hungry to get new members, fresh perspectives, and hear from the future
of the profession.
Professional organizations can help you learn skills you don’t get in grad school, expand
your professional network, and might lead to new opportunities.
At the American Psychological Association, I advocated for the brain and behavior sciences
on Capitol Hill, learned about strategic planning and budgeting, and met psychologists from
all over the country.
Most of the awesome opportunities I’ve had in my career came from meeting people through
this organization.
Find an organization related to your field of study and reach out to see what opportunities
there are to get involved.
5.
Build a Professional online identity
Grad school is also about transitioning from a student to a professional.
A big part of this transition is creating a professional identity.
You’re likely to get mentorship on how to own that identity IRL (in real life), but
few grad students learn how to do this online.
This is a problem for two reasons:
People find you through a Google search and they will judge whether or not to reach out
to you based on what they find.
Start by learning what’s already out there.
Search the internet for your name using different search engines and remove unflattering content.
Setup a Google alert for your name, increase privacy settings on social media accounts
you want to keep private and shift others to include more professional content.
Creating a professional website with a headshot, biography, and links to your work.
I know it sounds like a lot, but I’ve got resources in the description below that will
walk you through the process.
And if you do this early, you can be confident future employers, clients, and students will
see what you want them to see.
What are your favorite grad school tips?
Let me know in the comments section!
Thanks to Fraser Smith for submitting this question.
Be sure to checkout his YouTube channel - Get Psyched!
He’s got some great videos about dealing with procrastination, how to take notes, complete
essays, and lots more on staying productive in grad school.
What question do you want me to answer next?
Let me know with #ThePsychShowQA.