Grad school is a time of great development and learning about yourself both personally and professionally.
It is important you take advantage of the right types of opportunities during grad school so that you are able to jumpstart your career or grad school life. 3 opportunities for me that jumpstarted my career were running for president of a student organization, getting an internship through my professor and being an active learner during seminars.
Make the most of your finite time and make sure to continually try to push yourself outside your comfort zone so you are able to grow, learn and become adaptable.
These 3 opportunities allowed me to grow immensely during grad school and gave me the upper hand when it came time to apply for jobs.
How are you going to make the most of your grad school life?
Running for President of a Student Organization
How it happened?
Never before have I held a formal leadership position until grad school. When I heard about the elections for the Public Health Student Association, at first, I was VERY hesitant to run for any position, furthermore as the president.
Nonetheless after being talked into it from my partner and family members, I decided to go ahead, give it a try and run for president.
The day of elections I was decently nervous, especially because I didn’t prepare any sort of speech beforehand. I know I know, I’m crazy I’m crazy!
I was the first person to say a speech, and you know – I got the president position.
And oh boy (or girl) this allowed me to excel so much in during grad school and allowed me to build real relationships with staff that gave me an upper hand.
How this helped me?
This allowed me to develop my personal leadership style.
I think it’s important to have a defined mission to drive the work that you are trying to do whether that be in an organization or in your life. And it’s just as important to say as to do.
Because I was president, this allowed me to sit on the Public Health Policy Committee for the College of Public Health and Health Professions where the program director and all of the different departments heads convened.
This allowed me to better understand how you had to strategically plan and allow free conversation on topics to hear all perspectives to make the best choices for complex issues.
By having to lead team meetings with the other student executive members, I was able to learn how to motivate and work collaboratively for success in year-long goals.
I also had to conduct all the meetings we had so I was able to greatly hone in my public speaking skills and feel more comfortable speaking in front of crowds.
This has been hugely beneficial for me throughout my grad school and for securing my current fellowship.
Additionally, since I was always in contact with many staff members during my time as president this allowed me to get ahead in certain situations.
Our student organization had a mentor who was also the internship coordinator. And once Professor at FSU was looking for a last-minute intern for this really cool prison reintegration program which she sent to me and before anyone else.
I applied and got it, unfortunately I had to turn it down for personal reasons because of the time commitments. But wow, what an opportunity given to me to be the first person in my entire program to hear about this opportunity.
How this can help you?
Since grad school is so short, there is no harm in trying to be in a leadership position. Actually, the benefits truly do outweigh the drawbacks.
I think it’s important that even if you don’t hold a leadership position in an organization, that you try to put yourself out there into new and unfamiliar situations.
This is the only way that you are going to be able to grow and understand just how much potential you really have.
Always ensure that you are trying to take on leadership roles or just try activities where you can learn something that you won’t necessarily learn in the classroom.
Asking my Professor for an Internship
How it happened?
As I mentioned above, I had to turn down the prison reintegration internship (which would have been amazing and paid very well).
However, my professor who was also the CEO for a local non-profit was offering a paid internship at his organization that no-one in my class seemed to want.
After realizing that I couldn’t do the prison reintegration internship, I asked him if I could apply for the internship.
The application process was very informal and my “interview” if you could call it that was just talking about the different projects going on at the organization and seeing what I’d be most interested on working on.
If you have a professor who also works professionally at a non-profit or similar organization near your university – its best to give it a chance to see if you can work, there.
How this helped me?
This internship was incredible, and I later chose it as the site I would do my formal internship for my grad program.
I was also able use a project I was leading at my internship as my special project for graduation in my MPH program.
I was able to work on so many different projects that eventually helped me get my fellowship since they were looking for someone with the specific skill of working on and being familiar with conducting and reporting Community Health Needs Assessments.
Additionally, I researched and developed an Opioid Whitepaper for Marion County, Florida and provided recommendations which I used for my special project of my grad program.
This tasked gave me the chance to be the expert on a database provided to us by the Florida Department of Health and also develop a high level of knowledge on a critical public health issue of the opioid epidemic.
How this can help you?
Getting an internship during your grad program will be essential.
It will be even more beneficial if you are able to work on projects that will give value to you future employers.
By acting on opportunities provided to you, it will give you the best leverage for your future personal and professional career.
You will never know how beneficial an internship will be for yourself until you at least give it a shot and see if it is helping grow and understand part of the field better.
Be an Active Learner at Seminars
How it happened?
So this is a simple thing that EVERYONE can and SHOULD be doing.
During grad school, there are going to be so many different opportunities where you can learn whether it be a seminar or a professional development workshop or something completely different.
How do you make the most of these events you ask?
If you can, sit in the front of the lecture hall or presentation. This will help you be more attentive, reduce distractions and helps maintain an active and critically thinking mind.
Write down important points. Take pictures of slides. Thoughtfully ask questions.
As I write this post right now, I am able to look back on notes and presentations I attended in grad school and reflect on the knowledge and value it gives to me today.
I highly recommend getting a Rocketbook so you can write and access all your notes electronically very easily.
How this helped me?
By sitting in front of many of my seminars and ensuring that I either engaged the speaker during their presentation or afterwards – I was able to better understand the information while also making connections with speakers.
I was able to learn about many different topics from communication in the inter-generational workplace to how to be an expert in your field.
This knowledge you gain will show up in unexpected areas of your life and in other coursework.
By gaining this knowledge it allowed me the ability to have intellectual conversations on various topics. And kept me being curious about what I would learn tomorrow.
This has taught me many unconventional hints of knowledge that I can apply in different context. It has allowed me to better navigate the world around me.
There’s so much knowledge and information out there, it’s good to expand and know information that isn’t necessarily directly related to your field.
How this can help you?
A lot of people go to seminars but don’t leave with anything new. Don’t let that be you.
Make sure that you are always prepared to learn, prepared to question, and prepared to grow.
Make sure that you find all the free opportunities where you can learn something that will increase the value that you bring – whether that be about leadership,
Make sure you are able to know and schedule to attend as many events that you think will be beneficial to your short- and long-term goals.
Be a proactive learner.
Conclusion
Everyone’s experience during grad school is going to be different, but you will always have to put your best foot forward and take on the opportunities that arise as you never know what they’ll lead to.
Whether your opportunities include being a leader in a student organization, getting an internship through a professor, or developing learning through attending seminars or professional development workshops.
Just make sure that you are taking active steps towards your future goals and dreams.
Be present and keep learning.
And keep your eyes open (and ears) or you’ll miss those one in a lifetime opportunity.
All in all, if I had not taken advantage of the different opportunities that came at me during my time in my grad school, I don’t think I would be in my current fellowship or even writing this blog post.
What opportunity during grad school do you think is valuable for achieving your goals?
