Category: Ph.D. Success
-
The Ultimate List of Grad School Essentials: People Edition
The further you get in a wet lab-based STEM Ph.D. program., the more isolated you become. At least, that was the case for a lot of folks that I knew, including myself. Sure, we have relationships outside of the academic environment, but for a lot of us, as we progress through the program, the daily…
-
6 Health and Wellness Services That Helped Me Survive Grad School
You won’t find EndNote, RStudio, or ApE on this list (although I used those a lot during grad school). These are all lifestyle-related services that really made a positive impact on my physical and mental health during grad school. There are already plenty of lists out there talking about the best reference managers, productivity timers,…
-
The Best Writing Hack: The Shitty First Draft
I was a 5th year Ph.D. student when I learned about the “shitty first draft”. One of the 6th year grad students was just about to defend, and gave a short presentation to the rest of the students in our program about her tips on writing. She was a writing guide for graduate students on…
-
7 Healthy Habits That Got Me Through Graduate School
The phenomenon that makes students feel like their work defines them as a person is really pervasive in academia. The work we do as researchers, regardless of department and field, is extremely interesting to us, but it doesn’t have to define everything about us. This boundary between work and person becomes very blurred for a…
-
Templates for Every Important Email I Sent Related to Grad School
I recently wrote a post about how I got into my Ph.D. program with a 3.1 GPA straight out of undergrad, and I included the exact email I sent to my soon-to-be Ph.D. advisor. I know everyone can write a basic, polite email asking for something. However, there are definitely a few situations in grad…
-
The Top 5 Most Important Lessons I Learned During My Ph.D.
1. It’s okay to say “I don’t know”; don’t pretend you get something when you don’t. There’s a shift that occurs when you go from being an undergrad to a full-fledged grad student. At some point, something inside of you wakes up and realizes, it’s better to just say you don’t know something than to…
-
The Ultimate List of Grad School Essentials
Introduction I finished my Ph.D. in 2021. Here’s a shortlist of my top essential items that got me through those 6 grueling years. No, none of this is sponsored – I have a day job! External hard drive You should be backing up your data in multiple locations. You don’t want to lose all your…
-
5 Types of STEM Grad Students
I spent 6 years in grad school. Along the way, I met some pretty interesting characters. Going through a list of them in my head, I realized a lot of them are likely to be found on other campuses. I thought it’d be fun to make a list and see if any grad students relate.…
-
How I Made Easy Money During Grad School: My $500+/Month Side Hustle
Introduction There are some industries that never go out of business, and one of them is anything related to kids and childcare. Parents will do anything for their kids and are willing to pay a premium for quality. Parents that are extra busy and have a lot of money are great clients, because they just…
-
Top 6 Personal Things I Wish I Knew When I Started My Ph.D.
Having finished grad school, there are so many things I wish I knew or I wished that someone told me when I was going through the rigmarole of it all. These are tips that lean more “personal”, that focus on mental health, physical health, communication, and self-care. Here are the top 6 personal things I…