What we wish we’d known…

• Start with this blog post titled, “What I wish I had known: advice about grad school (and life) to my younger self”, written by an OEB student, Laura Hancock.
• While you’re at it, check out the other blog posts in the “Grad School Diaries” category of That’s Life [Science].

Other thoughts from OEB students:

• “Other labs/advisors are not off-limits. You can ask to attend other lab meetings, make connections with other advisors, and coordinate collaborative meetings with other groups. The more you expand your network, the more you will find support and develop resiliency when you meet obstacles.”
• “Don’t be intimidated by further-along students! Reach out, get to know them – it takes more initiative since you’re not in class together, but students across all years can mutually benefit by creating connection and community.”
• “The more you are a team player, the more other people help you. You will find a time when you need help whether it's with data collection, signing a form while you're in the field, statistics, mock orals, reviewing your grant application. Help other people. Go to the Seminar Series; it's not mandatory past first year, who cares, just go. Budget time for things like OEB seminar, Food for Thought, etc. every week. If an hour is crucial to your own work, make it up at another time. You can't do a PhD alone and if you think you can, well you're wrong.”
• “Certain Fellowships are not GEO-eligible positions, so you don't qualify for some benefits (Dental, Vision, etc.) while you hold one. We're working on this though.” (Update 2020: NSF GRFP fellows are now covered under GEO. Update 2022: UMass admin has proposed to include fellows with funding equivalent to a 10-hr appointment, GEO has countered with a no-minimum hour equivalency)
• “How much sleep I would lose; the cost of living in the area.”
• “I wish I had understood more fully what it meant to be in an interdepartmental program. It was more difficult to connect with other students that were all housed in the Biology Department, when I was housed in Fish & Wildlife halfway across campus.”
• “This is actually pretty tough because when I visited the hosting committee and other students really laid out what being in OEB was like. Also, the mentoring program was pretty helpful as my mentor gave me lots of general advice about living near UMass and getting set-up with healthcare etc.”
• “Everyone is willing to help and answer questions. Don't be too shy to ask - it's very likely that another graduate student or faculty member has encountered any problem you come across and can offer you advice.”
• “You will survive quals.”
• “I wish I had known how much time would be taken up by classes, meetings, teaching, and other commitments. I found it very hard to organize my time well in my first few years. That might always happen, but the better you can be at time management (especially early on), the more productive you'll be.”
• “Your well-being is your responsibility. Prioritize your health and happiness, even over your research. Eat wholesome meals, exercise each day, and practice mindfulness. The healthier you are, the better you’ll be able to focus and think creatively; the happier you are, the more motivated you’ll be to complete your research, which means you won’t have to fight as much mental inertia during the daily grind of life as a grad student.”
• “Get involved in some kind of organized group on/near campus early, such as outreach with Graduate Women in Stem (GWIS) or other groups you’re interested in. It’s really helpful to meet people outside of your lab/department, personally fulfilling, and has a side benefit of helping you to think about broader impacts when writing grants. Also, you do not need to work crazy hours, every weekend, etc to do your Ph.D. It is necessary to set boundaries around your work and with your advisor to maintain your health.”
• “Your dissertation doesn’t have to be a perfectly cohesive document. Think about each chapter at a time and the theme that connects them all will naturally emerge.”
• “OEB has students from many different departments. Your home department is technically the home department of your advisor. So although your Graduate Program is OEB (homed in the Biology Department, if your advisor is homed in a different Department, for example ECo, then your home department is ECo and you can participate in ECo events, have ECo admin staff assist you, etc.”