20 tips sailing through grad school!

Firstly, congrats — you made it to grad school (or university)! This is by no means an easy accomplishment and what lies ahead is a beautiful transformative journey. Some days, you are going to hate yourself on why you even decided to go grad school, but trust me, sometime in the near future, you will be thanking yourself for making this journey.

I came up with this list in 2019 when I was given the opportunity to share my experience as a Fulbrighter with incoming Fulbrighters at Northern Illinois University. So, let’s get started, 20 strategies which greatly helped me in sailing through the randomness.

1. Formulate your vision. Your vision is what will see you through this journey. Remember, it is also dynamic and shifts over time as you progress.

2. Understand your course structure and demands, look at the types of assignments you will be doing and how it can help you to develop your thought process which will aid in your career.

3. Use Google Docs. Create a Quotation document and store insightful phrases from the various authors that you read according to themes. This will immensely save your time later on. Also, it will help for your final thesis, assignments, comprehensive exam (PhD). Wish I knew this earlier!

4. If you have a great idea the moment you wake up, jot it down. Or record it on your phone. You’ll forget it later.

5. Attend university events/ Fulbright chapter to network and socialize. You will meet some awesome people doing awesome things. (PS: free food).

6. Do yoga. (Thanks to Yver for this). Connect your body and mind. Most of your work will be in your mind, sometimes you lose the sense of your body. If not yoga, do something physical.

7. Create a routine. (This is very important). Routines are important in grad school because you are your own manager, your own boss. The better your routine, the more productive you are. Remember, routines are not prison system, there are days you should not follow your routine and just Netflix all day with Ben & Jerry’s.

8. Read and write everyday. Make it a habit. You are in grad school, this what it’s all about — to sharpen your arguments.

9. Budget your money so you can travel to meet other Fulbrighters or just to travel. (I didn’t do this as much but I know others did).

10. Go on Netflix. If you get depressed cause of the weather, watch comedy or some random shows. I like Big Mouth, Ultraman, and One Punch Man. (Thanks to Nasrullah for this)

11. Contact your loved ones occasionally. Schedule a time if you are busy or they are busy. If you don’t have a loved one, get one in America, remember most Americans are lonely too, reach out to them (only thing is you need to plan in advance, like 2 weeks ahead).

12. Embrace the whirlwind journey and don’t resist. I resisted, wish I didn’t. Remember, you are in transition and this is not the endgame. (Thanks to Shelley)

13. Try new food. Mexican, Korean, Japanese, Indian, whatever. Food and soul is connected.

14. Get ready for the pseudo-positive bullshit. Where people say you should only look at the positives and so on. Screw that. You are a human, you are meant to have darkness. Light can only exist in the absence of darkness. So, just roll with the darkness and don’t feel bad or compelled to fake ‘positivity’. It is perfectly fine to feel shitty and don’t feel guilty about it. That’s how life is.

15. If you have come to that stage where you hate everyone and everything around you, it is fine. Just write 5 things you are grateful for every morning until your dopamine and serotonin levels are feeling better.

16. Try to get published and present your work. This is why you come to the US for. (Thanks to Max)

17. Should have said this earlier, do annotated bibliography. Will help you immensely when you need to write a big paper/ literature review.

18. Have a hobby or cultivate your side-business. Focusing on academics is good but hyperfocusing on it will leave you burned out. That’s how I felt. Shift your attention to other pursuits too.

19. Volunteer. This helps you to realize that there is more to life.

20. As the past 19 strategies were about you, the truth is this journey is not about you at all. It is about the bigger picture. Will you leave this world a better place after you are gone?