Attending graduate school is an exciting experience, with only a small percentage of the population

successfully earning a graduate school diploma. When finished, graduate school can have a positive

influence on self-confidence and self-esteem. You’ll also learn work skills that are valuable for any future

occupation or pursuit.

Thriving and Surviving Tips

Source: GraduationSource

Graduate school is an intensely challenging and uniquely rewarding experience. It is a full-time job that

requires you to hone a diverse mixture of skills while simultaneously acquiring new ones. Staying

motivated can help you realize that small progress is more important that evaluating bigger goals. The

following are 5 smart strategies to help you succeed in graduate school.

1. Focus more on learning and less on grades. Graduate programs accept the best applicants, so it

is safe to say that you have spent your undergraduate years focusing mainly on
your grades.

However, graduate school it is less about passing a test and more about critical thinking.

2. Begin Your Dissertation Research As Early As Possible. If a dissertation is required within your

graduate program, begin research as soon as possible. This will make the process less stressful

and allow you to spread the difficult data collection part of the process out over a longer period

of time. Write whenever you can and start with points that make sense to you. Remember that

the topic and even the outcome are less important than the academic exercise of completing

the thesis.

3. Stick to a fixed workday. You will always feel as if you should be working more hours, but if you

stick to a regular work schedule you will find that you can focus easier and get things done

faster. It will also enable you to turn down time-consuming requests that add little to your

career.

4. Realize that intelligence and experience are not the same. The longer you work in a field, the

better you become at it, and the smarter you appear to those with less experience. Remember

this while you are in graduate school, and realize that someday you will be the one with more

experience.

5. Make sure not to neglect your basic needs. Basic needs that many graduate students tend to

ignore include the need for adequate sleep, exercise, a healthy diet, downtime, and fun.

Without consistently meeting these needs, the likelihood of meeting your academic

requirements is very low.

If you don’t already have some great organizational skills, graduate school is definitely the time to learn

them. Otherwise, you will do a lot of extra work during the course of your degree, which has little payoff

to you.

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