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UNDERSTANDING GRADUATE SCHOOL

Abstract Graduate school is a significantly different world from undergraduate study. It is also drastically different from the “real world.” One of the main complexities associated with being a graduate student is understanding and meeting expectations. These include your personal expectations, expectations of your advisor, other faculty, your department, the school, other students and future employers. This paper provides a students perspective on being in graduate school. It discusses the development a student goes through as they journey through graduate school and focuses on the transition from being a follower to being a leader. This paper has two main goals: 1) to remind faculty of their own graduate experiences and encourage them to better know and understand their students and 2) provide students with guidance about what to expect and how to succeed. Ideas about dealing with the pressures of graduate school, making life choices, independence, responsibility, networking and growth are also presented.

1.0 Introduction What is graduate school? “Graduate school or ‘grad school’ is a school that awards advanced degrees1.” Okay, but really what is graduate school? This paper provides a students perspective on being in graduate school. It aims to dispose of mythical thoughts of graduate school and provide a true look at what being in graduate school means. Graduate school is a significantly different world from undergraduate study and it is drastically different from the “real world.” Graduate school is a place where students are transformed into leaders, professors, researchers and much more. Graduate school is not for the weak. It can be a very trying place, but it can also be a very rewarding place.

The intention of this paper is not to promote or denounce graduate school. This paper has two main goals: 1) to remind faculty of their own graduate experiences and encourage them to better know and understand their students and 2) provide students with guidance about what to expect and how to succeed.

The remainder of the paper is organized as follows. Section 2 discusses the journey through graduate school; from get to graduate school, to getting done. This section aims to breakup the time a student spends into different developmental stages. Section 3 is aimed at students who are either in graduate school or are considering graduate school. This section discusses some of the difficulties graduate students will face and provide support and guidance to help the students deal with these difficulties. Section 4 is aimed at advisors and other faculty. This section asks faculty to remember being a graduate student and think about their experiences. Section 5 provides a summary and thoughts about the future.

2.0 The Journey

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Eisenman, S., & List, G. (2007, June), Understanding Graduate School Paper presented at 2007 Annual Conference & Exposition, Honolulu, Hawaii. 10.18260/1-2--2255