{"id":3082,"date":"2015-07-20T10:54:31","date_gmt":"2015-07-20T05:24:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.enago.com\/academy\/?p=3082"},"modified":"2021-12-01T20:09:30","modified_gmt":"2021-12-01T14:09:30","slug":"things-phds-wish-they-had-done-in-grad-school","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.enago.com\/academy\/things-phds-wish-they-had-done-in-grad-school\/","title":{"rendered":"Things PhDs Wish They Had Done in Grad School"},"content":{"rendered":"

Even the longest stays in grad school go by in a flash and most of it\u00a0seems to be filled with reading,\u00a0research, and writing<\/a>. I interviewed a group of recent PhDs and asked them, in retrospect, what would they spend more time doing if they had it all to do again. The answers were interesting and I thought to take them to the entire academic community. Here are the top 4 things\u00a0new PhDs wish they had done more.<\/p>\n

Sleep<\/h2>\n

This was a favorite among most of the people I talked to. Austin, a recent grad, commented that he thought \u201cevery department should have a nap room for grad students.\u201d He said that late nights plus stress and brain fatigue means that sometimes in the middle of the day you just need peace and quiet, even if it\u2019s only for 15 minutes.<\/p>\n

Others said they would\u2019ve skipped the all-nighters. \u201cYour work is never good,\u201d explained Asti, reflecting on the nights she stayed up to finish a paper. \u201cI tell my students now that I\u2019d rather have them submit their paper in late than finish it by staying up all night.\u201d<\/p>\n

Socialize<\/h2>\n

Colleen, who recently\u00a0completed her\u00a0PhD in the Humanities remarked that she didn\u2019t necessarily think she in particular needed to socialize more, but that she \u201csaw a lot of people who just needed to step away and let lose for a little.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s too much stress,\u201d she explained, \u201cto not go out and have fun with your colleagues\u2014or someone\u2014at least once a week.\u201d Go for a walk with a friend, grab a beer, watch\u00a0a show\u2014it will do you good!<\/p>\n

Ask More Questions at the Beginning<\/h2>\n

Puja explained that she wished she had asked more about the process and about the most successful students<\/a> and what they did and how they did it. \u201cI was under some delusions when I first came to grad school\u2014especially about how long it would take.\u201d<\/p>\n

Others agreed with her. \u201cAnd ask your advisor how he or she did it,\u201d Dan chimed in. \u201cIf nothing else, it will make them more human!\u201d<\/p>\n

They both have a good point: you may think you know what you\u2019re doing, but don\u2019t make it harder on yourself than it has to be\u2014follow in someone else\u2019s steps.<\/p>\n

Commiserate with Your Colleagues\u2014But Not Too Much!<\/h2>\n

Aside from sleeping and napping more, Austin revealed that he wished he had opened up to his peers earlier about struggling with the dissertation process<\/a>. \u201cI thought everyone but me was sailing along. I was afraid to admit I was having struggles because I was afraid everyone would think I was a failure.\u201d A number of other recent grads agreed. \u201cBut when I did finally open up to a friend,\u201d Austin explained, \u201cshe was having the same problems as me. It was an immense relief and we were able to support each other.\u201d<\/p>\n

But this brought up another topic. \u201cBut don\u2019t complain too much!\u201d Laura added. Again, the group nodded in agreement. \u201cThere are always a few grad students who seem like they are constantly complaining. They bring everybody down, and that\u2019s not good.\u201d Colleen said, \u201cAfter a while, you wonder why they are even there.\u201d Nobody likes a whiner.<\/p>\n

These answers reveal the difficulty but also the potential joys of grad school\u2014yes, it\u2019s hard, but you\u2019re part of an elite cohort and share an experience with them that very few other people can understand. Put\u00a0in efforts to cultivate these relationships as they can be some of the best friendships you ever make. Through the thick and thin of grad school, as much as studying is important, so is being happy with your life. Don\u2019t forget to live your life as you begin your new life as an academic.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Even the longest stays in grad school go by in a flash and most of…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1319,1336],"tags":[1510],"ppma_author":[1895],"class_list":["post-3082","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-beyond-publishing","category-phd-cafe","tag-tips-for-phd-students"],"better_featured_image":null,"acf":{"faq_main_heading":"","faq_heading_one":"","faq_heading_two":"","faq_heading_three":"","faq_heading_four":"","faq_heading_five":"","faq_heading_six":"","faq_description_one":"","faq_description_two":"","faq_description_three":"","faq_description_four":"","faq_description_five":"","faq_description_six":""},"views":264,"single_webinar_page_date":null,"single_webinar_page_time":null,"session_agenda":null,"who_should_attend_this_session":null,"about_the_speaker_field":null,"co-webinar-sec":null,"co_webinar_sec_one":null,"speaker-name":null,"webinar-date":null,"webinar-time":null,"webinar-s-image":null,"custum_webinar_category":null,"authors":[{"term_id":1895,"user_id":4,"is_guest":0,"slug":"editor","display_name":"Enago Academy","avatar_url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2ef4bc47f3ceaa56f5eb3b26f9520fad298ba36ede4f86315997ffb45db37a1f?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","author_category":"","user_url":"","last_name":"Academy","first_name":"Editor","job_title":"","description":"Enago Academy, the knowledge arm of Enago, offers comprehensive and up-to-date resources on academic research and scholarly publishing to all levels of scholarly professionals: students, researchers, editors, publishers, and academic societies. It is also a popular platform for networking, allowing researchers to learn, share, and discuss their experiences within their network and community. The team, which comprises subject matter experts, academicians, trainers, and technical project managers, are passionate about helping researchers at all levels establish a successful career, both within and outside academia."}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.enago.com\/academy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3082","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.enago.com\/academy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.enago.com\/academy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enago.com\/academy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enago.com\/academy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3082"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.enago.com\/academy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3082\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.enago.com\/academy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3082"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enago.com\/academy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3082"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enago.com\/academy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3082"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enago.com\/academy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=3082"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}