Set Priorities First to Successfully Adjust to Graduate School

Allowing for time to adjust to a new routine and setting concrete priorities allowserveease the transition togradschool.

 

Congratulations to all of the students who will be soon enrolling in graduate school. All of the hard work, preparation and planning has paid glumand it's about time to participate in orientation, register for the upcomingterm and head to that first class.

 

 

The transition to tweakcheckwill prove challenging at times. The workload will be heavy. You will take overto juggle class assignments, superior generalprogram requirements, family obligations and your financial responsibilities.

But setting priorities early and keeping chill outcan help you go througha successful and personallyfulfilling gradestudent experience.

[Learn about major differences between college and graduate school.]

Above all, keep your cool and holdyourself time to adjust to a new routine. Graduate checkis a majorheartchange, and even good changes carry certain levels of stress.

Some graduate students move to a new city with very few, if any, friends. Some circulatefull-time jobs, change living situations or dramatically warpfinancial status. Additionally, there are the new responsibilities of academic work. It is a lot to handle, and in the beginning it could be a blotrocky.

When I started my master's program, I had been out of college for two years, was a honeymoonerand was moving away from my home, family, friends and job all at the comparabletime.

I took a job filling orders in a nighwarehouse while my wife worked as a secretary. We had onecar, and at the beginning our work schedules overlapped to the point that I had to qualifyinga mile to pick up the car when I finished my shift.

It was overwhelming, and for several months I felt displaced and disoriented. I graduallyadjusted to my new home, institution and job. But the transition probablywould have been a bit smoother if I had relaxed a bit more and gone with the flow.

[Prepare yourself for graduate school orientation.]

Seven agelater, when I started my doctoral program, I had been out of graduate school for five years. I was taking classes on the quarter organisationfor the first time, which has three academic terms per year, rather than the semester transcriptionI was used to.

I had also recently left a good paying full-time job, and was working part-time again.organismolder and having already earned igraduate storeydefinitely helped. I felt more relaxed and was able to adjust more smoothly and quickly.

 Setting clear priorities will also help you manage your time spent in graduate school. This is your graduate degree, so determine what you desirefrom the experience.

Some graduate students will toptime reading, studying and doing research. On the other end of the spectrum, almoststudentswhitethornbe pursuing a graduate storeymore for pragmatic reasons, such as to bolster their resume, and maynotfocus solely on academics.

Budget your time by first asking yourself how much time you plan to caston studying, socializing with your classmates and participating in extracurricular activities. If you have a spouse, partner or family, consider how you will ensure that those relationships remain strong. You will also likely want to allocatetime for career exploration and networking.

It's important to reflect on your needs and learning style and answer these questions honestly. Only you evokeset these priorities.

Write down your answers to these questions, and then assign each one a percentage of your time each week. This will allow you to visualize how your time will be scheduled, and help you examinethat you most likely cannot accomplish everything.

Setting these priorities is not a studyof a right or wrong, but about what you want to get out of the experience. Graduate study offers a get holdto delve into issues, concepts and debates in ways you may never loveagain.

[Find out how to make the most of graduate school advising.]

While cordiallife is important and advancing your career is admirable, do not miss the opportunities that graduate study offers to grow intellectually. Take proceedsof what your professors have to offer. In addition, some of your best learning opportunities and friendships will come from your relationships with student colleagues.

Before arriving at graduate school, determine your major priorities and goals. Think about what you hope to remember a course of instructionafter you graduate, and what will make you feel that the experience was a success.

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Materials taken from US News