Do you ever wonder what are the keys for success in grad school?
You are not alone; grad school can be a tremendously tricky time in your life, but it is important to make the best of this time in your life as the payout can be exponential.
To be successful you’ll need to learn to plan, study ahead, get close to your professors or mentors, take good notes, pursue professional development, group work, be social, use Zotero, and don’t forget to reset. You must be sure to stay self-motivated and dictate the success of your grad school experience by your actions.
Support The Public Health Millennial on BuyMeACoffee
1. Plan
Unlike undergraduate, where you could easily get away with not having a functional system for planning – planning is an essential part of for success in grad school.
You will need to have either a physical planner, google calendars, or an app to keep on top of everything that you have going on.
Grad school can really throw a lot at you from exams, quizzes, homework/assignments, research, professional development, leadership roles all while having a job and/or internship. You will have to actively monitor and plan your time so that you are able to stay on top of everything happening while ensuring you are doing everything you need to.
I know for me; I would take notes of what is going on and then later on put it on a wall calendar I had at my apartment.
Just be sure to keep on top of all your assignments and have a system to know what you have to do for every given day ahead. Foresight is key.
2. Study Ahead
One thing about grad school is that the amount of content on one exam is usually 7 chapters worth or more…or in other words on 7 major topics in your class.
Imagine having four 7 chapter exams in the same week with two of them on the same day – YIKES! (This can happen – make sure you are good with your professors)
One skill that I developed in grad school that I didn’t have in undergrad was to ensure that I was doing small but consistent amounts of review (“studying”). This was extremely helpful two-fold:
- The material is fresh on your mind when its brought up in class and you can more actively participate in class;
- It makes reviewing before an exam so much easier since you are already actively studying throughout the semester.
When you are reading – and odds are there is going to be a lot of reading – make sure you are actively reading. Meaning you are taking notes, critically evaluating the material, asking questions, and summarizing.
Side tip: make sure you do all extra credit in the class because you never know when those extra points will be the difference from a better grade.
3. Get Close to Professors/Mentors
It’ll be important to build professional relationships with professors and mentors that have been impactful throughout your grad program. This will be essential because you are going to need letters of recommendations and/or professional references.
Professors and mentors have the ability to transform your experiences during your grad program.
So if you are able to find either a professor or a mentor that sparks your interest, ensure you make time to continue to strengthen your professional connection. Pick their brains, speak up in class, talk to them about changes and the future of your field.
Making these relationships can also be beneficial because they can connect you to a great opportunities, jobs or influential persons in your field.
I was able to get my internship through my professor and then got my fellowship primarily because of the roles I had in that internship. Making those connections can help you get to where you want to be more easily.
4. Take Good Notes
People usually overlook how powerful the skill of good note-taking is.
If I was to tell a story right now, how likely would you be able to relate that story back to me in 2 weeks? 1 month?… How likely would you be if you wrote it down when you got home that night?
I bet you will remember it better if you write it down – and then even if you don’t remember you will have it written down so you can go look at it later (DUH!).
This is the same for all the classes you attend, the conferences you go to, the webinars you log onto – just make sure you are taking notes of things you think are important as you never know when that little jot of information will prove hugely beneficial in your journey.
FYI writing by hand has been shown to strengthen the learning process..
I have attended a few conferences during grad school while also attending many professional development lectures/webinars hosted by my university. And as I write this now, I am able to look back on ALL those times just because I made sure to be present and write down the important bits of these learning experiences.
Just write it down.
5. Pursue Professional Development
Whether you like it or not, the career world and the grad school world are two different beasts. And even if you plan to go into academia, developing your professional skills can prove indispensable.
During grad school you are going to have many different sorts of professional development experiences and opportunities.
There will be mandatory seminars from your program, various conferences you can attend, graduate school professional development series, webinars, or online courses to name a few.
Whenever possible ensure that you opt to go to these opportunities because there will be a lot of useful information that can help you during grad school and in your future career. These opportunities can also give you a chance to think outside your field and build your “personal and professional brand.”
There is so much to know about different aspects of professional and/or personal development so keep learning.
This is why it is NEVER a bad idea to attend a professional development experience. It will teach you invaluable information that you can use to improve your professional and person life.
Some of these events can even be a lot of fun and be great to network at. Look for the opportunities at your university or online so that you can develop into a lifelong learner.
6. Group Work
Throughout grad school most of your classes will be with the same people and its usually a small class size. This can be a great asset for you to do well in your courses.
One thing that really helped me excel in some of my tougher courses throughout my grad program was Group Work. This means having a small group of students who work together to support each other throughout the semester in regard to the course.
This could be having a shared Google Doc of class notes or for readings. This is creating a study outline and filling it in together using Google Docs.This is coming together to study the material for exams. This is quizzing each other on test material and asking thoughtful follow up questions.
Having a group of people that you are able to work with can tremendously help you succeed throughout your grad program.
You are never going to “get” everything in your classes, so having people to turn to who can possibly explain it in a better light for you to understand. Plus you need friends to go out with on the weekends.
If you do group work then not only will you succeed but your group will be better enabled for success in grad school.
7. Be Social
Grad school can be tiring and stressful – it is important that you able to socialize with your cohort in a professional environment as well as outside of class.
It can tremendously stress relieving to get out of the classroom and socialize with like-minded (or not so like-minded) people – don’t discredit it.
Not only can you get your drink on (if that’s how you roll), but you’ll also be able to learn about new ideas in your field (or personally/professionally) and give you a greater perspective when looking at different topics.
Being social is also extraordinary helpful since having friends (connections) in your field can be of huge benefit to your professional career after you graduate, and these can be the people to put you onto cool and exciting new opportunities.
Get out and enjoy your grad program! There is a whole lot of learning done outside of the classroom – make sure you make the most of it.
8. Zotero
Zotero has been a lifesaver for me during grad school and has saved me countless hours of references for papers or presentations.
Zotero is a “free, easy-to-use tool to help you collect, organize, cite, and share research.”
Basically, you download the Zotero app on your laptop (or use the online website), install the browser plugin and download the word processor plug-in for Zotero.
After you do this you can easily save articles, books, websites, videos, etc. to the app. And easily cite them in Microsoft Word or another word processing program.
A cool thing about Zotero is that it saves a pdf automatically when you cite a source for offline use. This was extremely helpful for when I was traveling and had to do assignments.
I know they are going to be other Zotero alternatives such as Mendeley, Qiqqa, or EndNote that work just as easily and seamlessly as Zotero. This was just what my professor put me onto in my first semester of grad school and honestly, the has reduced the amount of time I spend on citations.
It makes doing assignments where there is a research component so much easier. The Zotero app you can create folders to sort the different assignments you are working on.
9. Reset
It’ll be important to have some sort of ritual or habit that will help you reset. You will more than likely need this at least every two weeks as grad school can be stressful.
Different people reset in different ways. For instance, you could do meditation, yoga, or go to the gym. Or maybe you go out to eat at your favorite restaurant or go hike your favorite trail. Or go to the bar and get some drinks with the some friends.
Whatever your reset is, ensure that it is a regular habit in your life.
Remember that mental health is just as (if not, more) important than physical health. It is important that you are strengthening both.
Additionally, it is really helpful if you have a support system that you can count on. Whether that’s the late-night phone call with your mum, dad, sister, classmate, best friend or significant other, it’ll be essential to have someone that you can count on,
Make sure that you are making time for the things that are important to you in life. Just because you are in grad school doesn’t mean that the other parts of your life have to whither away. KEEP GROWING – and you will amas success during grad school.
Side Note: It’s extremely important that you continue to work on your other passions during grad school.
Recap
- Plan
- Study Ahead
- Get Close to Professors/Mentors
- Take Good Notes
- Pursue Professional Development
- Group Work
- Be Social
- Zotero
- Reset
Focusing on these 9 things will lead you to success in grad school. If you are searching for a job, please read 4 steps to secure a job after graduate school.
