Tips I Used to Survive Graduate School

These 5 Processes helped guide me through graduate school to success.

Graduate school can be one of the most daunting, stressful, and anxiety inducing periods of your life — but I learned to tackle it through very efficient steps. A little more than one year ago my tenure as a graduate student came to an end, and I am now able to reflect on the many things I learned and overcame during that period. From the long all-nighters to write papers to the several gatherings for consuming spirits, grad school can take you across the entire spectrum of emotions. Having completed both a masters and a PhD, I found that there were never any decent practical guides for what my focus should be on during graduate school. The stress and intensity of post-baccalaureate study often compels many to focus on stress reduction and mental health. The desire to land a tenure track position can bring about isolation so that experiments can be conducted and papers can be written. The need to earn a reasonable living, even if an assistantship is acquired, can also feel overwhelming when every single purchase seems to claw at the wallet. I would like to provide my process for navigating the above dilemmas — along with many others — that emerged during graduate school. I attribute my success to discipline, focus, and having a goal. I will break these down into five steps I believe everyone can follow.

I should also point out that my experience is entirely predicated on achieving a Masters of Science (writing a thesis and defending it) and a…