5 Tips for Starting the New Semester

For all of the grad students out there who started last week or this week, whether it’s your first semester of grad school or your 4th year of grad school, here are some tips regarding the start of a new semester (especially during a pandemic)!

1. When we start grad school, everyone tells us that we won’t have a life. That our job in grad school is just to grind: eat, sleep, work and repeat. But realistically, we can’t survive like that for however many years your individual program is! Even though the semester is kicking off and the assignments, papers, exams, and work begins to pile up, it’s important to take time each day for yourself. Whether it’s 5 minutes or an hour, make sure to take a pause and watch a funny video, or listen to your favorite podcast (I recommend the Daily by the New York Times or WorkLife by Adam Grant). I have a routine where from about 6 pm to 8 pm (depending on the day and level of work load), I’ll put my phone away so I’m not constantly checking my school or work emails, and I’ll make dinner with my fiance, we’ll take our dog out for a walk, and then we’ll usually watch an episode of Brooklyn 99 or another show.

2. Don’t be afraid to reach out. Grad school is a tough time! There’s a lot of pressure financially and academically, and typically people who go to grad school are high achievers, meaning we all want to do well and strive for perfection. But we’re not always going to get straight A’s, some days are going to be tough, and there are days where you go to your class and walk out feeling like you know less walking out of class than when you walked in (true story, good times). But in times where you’re feeling dejected and demoralized, it’s important to remember to reach out. If you reach out to friends, it helps to ask first if they have the capacity to take on the emotional word vomit that you’re about to give them because they might be struggling too!

But, an often forgotten place that students don’t look to for support as often as they should, are the professors in our programs. Professors have gone through the same process, or at least a similar process of what we are currently going through and are honestly a great resource for a myriad of things. In my first year I went to two of my professors at various points, sat down in their office and just straight up told them that I was struggling. Each professor helped in their own way, but I’ll never forget the feeling of relief that I felt when I said those words to one of my professors, who responded with, okay, how do we tackle this problem together. And she and I made a plan, and we figured out a way to study, and manage my time. We also figured out that I was spending too much time appeasing other students by studying with them even though I don’t study well in groups, and she helped me figure out that I needed to take more time for myself.

3. Prioritize, prioritize, prioritize. There’s always going to be a lot going on, there’s always going to be something that we could be doing, that we should be doing, that we ought to be doing, but sometimes, we just can’t get to all of it! At the beginning of each semester, I like to make a list of priorities based on all of the “stuff” or activities that I have going on. So, it usually looks something like:

1. Classes / Classwork

2. Research/Thesis/Dissertation Prep

3. Teaching (or Work)

4. Family, Fiance and Dog

5. Friends

And so when things would inevitably come up where I have to choose between taking a meeting during a time where I’m not scheduled to work and classwork, I’ll tell people at work to reschedule for a different time when I’m available, or to email me the important points from the meeting that I’ve missed. I am not only very conscious of my priority list (which may change through the semester), but I also make sure to emphasize my list to those around me so that they know what my priorities are. My poor fiance has lovingly taken the role of whatever time I have available to hangout with him and spend time with him is what he accepts. Somehow, he doesn’t have a problem with it and still asked me to marry him! Plus, knowing my priorities helps him understand what’s going on this semester in my life and he’ll pitch in more with helping with the dog or doing …all our chores.

4. Set goals! But make them realistic and do-able. Don’t sit down on a Saturday evening and say you’re going to finish writing your term paper in 3 hours even though you haven’t started or done anything because it’s probably not going to happen. Setting goals can help you chunk up your work, and I like to set assignment goals rather than time goals, but that’s just personal preference. So I’ll set a goal of reading 4 articles before lunch or 4 articles for the day that I can do at any point as long as, by the end of the day, I read them all, I check off that from my list. Other people like to set time goals, so they’ll say, “I set aside 3 hours to read articles, and however many I get through in that time, is what I get through”. It’s definitely up to you and what works best for you. I like setting assignments because I usually have a set number of articles I have to read/finish in a week or so, so I’ll chunk those across days because I’m a planner and like to plan my days and work in advance.

5. Last, but not least, enjoy being a student. While sometimes, when you’re knee-deep in assignments, coffee, and maybe some tissues from crying, it’s hard to remember why you even chose to become a student. But keep in mind your end goal of why you’re in grad school. Also, enjoy the fact that you’re not working the typical 9-5 grind that most people in the workplace are doing, but rather you do a never ending, usually late nights and strange hours grind of work, but also have some days where you sleep in until noon and don’t change out of your pajamas until it’s way too late in the day (we’ve all been there). Just remember, that sure, while the grass is always greener on the other side (the side where you’re not a broke grad student and are making money and have health insurance), be mindful of where you are, the relationships you’re building, the information you’re learning, and the flexibility that you currently have, because for some of you, it won’t last forever!