We've discussed some important things to know if you're headed to college, but if you're headed to grad school, the game changes. In many fields, it's all but required, and even if it's not, it might be necessary to distinguish yourself from the competition. If that sounds familiar, here are some things we wish we knew when we went after our advanced degrees.
Grad school has a reputation for being the most difficult time in a student's life. It usually comes after a long undergrad career, bringing empty pockets, longer classes, and teaching requirements to students—on top of the stress of independent studies or a thesis. However, it can also be an eye-opening and fulfilling part of your academic career—and it opens doors you'll appreciate for the rest of your life. Here are some of the things a few of us at Lifehacker learned from our graduate schooling that you can take with you going in.
Be Prepared for a Level of Competition You've Never Experienced Before
One of the most surprising things I learned in grad school was how fiercely competitive my classmates were. It was a completely different world beyond my undergrad career, where most of us were content to do our work individually. Instead, my classmates were intent on making sure they were at the top of the class, well-known and liked by professors and classmates, and as active in class activities as possible.
It didn't take long for me to figure out why this was the case. Appearances are important in your graduate career, and making sure you're in the limelight goes a long way. If you learn nothing else, remember this: Your graduate career is only partially about walking away with a piece of paper and a title. While you can say your undergraduate career is "proof to an employer you can commit and succeed," graduate school is about learning advanced skills and meeting people that will be your professional connections for the rest of your life. Making sure you're always present and viewed in a good light helps you stand out in a good way, and almost everyone you'll work with wants to.
It's not all roses though: Normally a little friendly competition is healthy, but when it came time to work together in teams or collaborate, the competition was ridiculous. Not only did my classmates want to outdo other groups, but there was real friction among teams when it came to selecting group leaders. Everyone wanted to lead or be the person to present the team's work. When it came to the grunt work, like compiling research, interest waned. Tread carefully and hone your people skills.
Intelligence Isn't As Important As You Think It Is
When you're an undergrad, your intelligence is highly valued. In graduate school, and truthfully, anywhere after that, intelligence is important, but it doesn't pay the bills. That's not to say you shouldn't be smart, but the degree to which you're knowledgeable on a specific topic isn't enough anymore. You likely won't be the smartest person in the room, and even if you are, you need to be diligent, confident, and communicate well too. You'll meet people less intelligent than you who are better at those soft skills. And you know what? You'll see them getting their feet into doors you won't, and it'll sting.
Manuel Ebert, writing over at Medium, shared some of his thoughts on what he wished he knew before grad school, and he hits the nail on the head:
When you’re young, being smart gets you a long way. You’re a big fish in a small pond. Doubly so if you have a knack for expressing yourself half-way eloquently. In fact, being intelligent and a smooth talker will get anyone through high-school and most of college without learning much at all (you’ll have to study for physics though. Can’t just talk an equation away.) Congratulations, you’re lucky. And also, very unlucky. Because while you were effortlessly rushing through school, picking things up as you were going, others had to learn what would be much more important later on: Diligence. Persistence. Networking. And probably some of the eight things further down the list.
Our society values intelligence beyond proportion. When I tell people that I used to work in neuroscience, the first response if often: “Wow, you must be super smart”. I’m not dumb, but I know a lot of people who are probably less intelligent than I am, but far better neuroscientists.
Intelligence is certainly still a door-opener. But it will never get the job done on its own. Diligence, rigour, a reliable network, and finally not being a dick are essential qualities of not just software engineering but any profession that’s outside the little bubble called grad school.
The solution, of course, is to build those so-called soft skills yourself. Ideally, do it before you go to graduate school, but it's never too late to start. In many ways, self-confidence, assertiveness, diligence, and persistence will get you farther than any other set of skills. At the very least, they'll open the doors for you to get in with people who will be truly impressed by your intelligence—and that's the secret sauce.
Do Everything and Make Connections: That's What You're Really There For
You may have heard this advice before: Do all the extracurriculars you possibly can. Go to the guest speakers and lectures. Join study groups. Go on offsites and class trips. Join student societies. Assist professors who are looking for grad students to help out. When you do, you're building on our first point: You're meeting the people you'll make valuable connections with. You're also learning how to network professionally without being sleazy about it, which is one of those soft skills that will take you places.
Finally, and perhaps most importantly, you're making friends. Better friends, and potentially closer friends than you even made as an undergrad. You're more mature now, more focused, and more interested in your career and long-term goals. You know enough at this point to not waste time with people that will drag you down or drain you emotionally (or financially). Learn from the social mistakes and awkwardness of your undergrad life and apply it in your graduate career to meet people who really matter to you on every level.
Lifehacker's own Thorin Klosowski, who also went to grad school, told me:
Especially in the liberal arts, grad school is often about meeting people more than it is advancing your education. So make sure you take the time to meet people, spent time with different people, and, for lack of a better word, “network” with as many people as possible. You will tap into them at some point for postgraduate projects, and they’ll do the same with you.
Do everything extra you can: This applies to a bachelor’s degree too, of course, but I think the extra-curricular stuff in grad school is really way more important than it is during a bachelor’s program.
Thorin points to his experience in the liberal arts, but I can vouch for the same experience in the sciences and in business. If you're planning to head to grad school, whether you're going to work in a lab and scramble for authorship on papers, or you're going to business school to learn technology management, be ready to turn it on whenever you're in "work" mode. Reach out to the people around you, work with them, see how you can help them, and don't be afraid to ask them for help. Get to know them, and use every opportunity to meet and learn from as many people as possible.
Leave Your Comfort Zone Behind
Speaking of learning as much as you can from as many people as you can, leave your comfort zone behind. It may cause you some anxiety—in my case, it was a lot of anxiety—but it's one thing you should absolutely get ready for. No one will force you to attend those guest lectures, or travel for talks and conferences. No one will insist you go study abroad for a term, or work in someone else's lab for a little while so you can offer your expertise. You could stay at home and coast, and ignore all of those events, just because it's easier to. Don't do it.
Those opportunities don't come every day, and when they do come later, they'll be more of a hassle than they are now. Embrace them and learn to balance your time. Later in your career, you'll be missed (or be left behind) if you don't do those lab visits or head to that conference. If you want to be the best possible you that you can be—and ideally, that's part of why you're in graduate school—you'll need to push your personal boundaries.
Learn from your guest speakers and visiting professors. Make friends with them. Unlike your undergrad career, many professors are willing to connect with grad students and stay connected after the term ends. If you have the opportunity to travel and see what the brightest people on the cutting edge of your field are doing, don't miss out because you "didn't feel like traveling that week." It's an excuse you'll almost certainly regret.
Embrace the "Poor Grad Student" Stereotype, Even If You're Not
One thing you've probably heard is that grad students are poor. Depending on your personal situation, that can be true. Even if it's not and you can afford to feed yourself without resorting to ramen noodles and frozen vegetables, sometimes it's better if you embrace that stereotype anyway. We're not saying you can't enjoy a decent place to live and good food if you can afford it, but keeping your lifestyle neat, portable, and minimal now will serve you later when the student loan bills start coming in.
Even if you're lucky enough to escape those loan payments, you'll be happier for having made smart money decisions while you were in grad school instead of racking up both student loan debt and credit card debt because you lived a bigger lifestyle than you could afford. In my case, I worked full-time at my alma mater for a few years while I was also in grad school, so I was lucky enough to enjoy free tuition (seriously, if you can do that, do it.) However, for the years that I didn't, I racked up some solid student loan debt. Many people assume that they'll be able to score a high-paying job right out of graduate school and their debt or loan woes will be history. That's not necessarily the case (and we'll get to that later), so don't bank on it. Smart money decisions now will lead to a much happier graduation day.
Keep Your Textbooks and Find Your Niche
Graduate school is your opportunity to find a niche, or a specific field you want to specialize in. Unlike undergraduate schooling, which focuses on giving you a broad education on your major, in grad school you'll expand on what you learned and drill down into specific topics. Don't coast and just flow with the curriculum—take the time to find parts of your studies that really interest you. Ideally, this is how you'll uncover your future career.
When you do find it, connect as much as possible with the people involved with it. As you study that specific topic, you'll learn about where the best research on the topic is being performed and who you can talk to at your current school that's involved with it. Go talk to them—offer to work in their labs, or help them with their research. Ask them if they have projects you can work on, and express your interest in their field. If they teach your course, see if you can be their teaching assistant, or work with them on their undergrad classes (if they have any.)
Also, keep your textbooks. I know, for many of us, those overpriced books are the first things we want to offload when the term is over. If we were talking about undergraduate school, I'd agree, but in grad school, keep those textbooks—they're usually highly specific and they're often the definitive (and sometimes the only) text on a specific topic. You may never need your old Calculus I textbook from your freshman year, but you'll definitely find a use for your business text packed with case studies on multinational corporations and international law once you've graduated.
Don't Expect Anything After Graduating
Finally, once you've made it through graduate school and come out the other side with your Master's degree or Doctorate, don't expect big things to happen right away. It doesn't really matter which field you studied, but just because you have a shiny new MBA doesn't mean you'll get a high-paying job the month you graduate. In the sciences, being a freshly minted post-doc just means you get to compete with everyone else who graduated that year for a slot in someone's lab. You still have a long way to go.
If you have those connections we mentioned earlier, the whole process is a little easier. Your business school colleagues may have leads to share, or they may be starting their own companies. The professors you worked with may bring you into their labs, or write recommendations to help you get into great institutions. Even so, don't expect anything—you'll still need to work your ass off to get a job.
Similarly, if you're expecting a miraculous sense of self-fulfillment or accomplishment when you graduate, you may be out of luck. Thorin noted:
Don’t expect to “get” anything when you graduate: Most liberal arts programs are about teaching you how to learn and how to think. A graduate program’s no different—and if you walk in expecting to finish some grandiose project or have a sense of completion, you’ll be disappointed. Instead, you’ll walk away being more confused about the world than when you started, BUT you’ll at least be able to explain your way through it a little better. To that point, I’d argue that when you’re picking out a school, atmosphere and culture-fit is WAY more important in grad school than in an undergrad program. Your general view of the world, and how you think about it will be tainted by the grad program you choose, so pick one that you think is relevant and interesting.
Some fields do have big projects that you'll complete when you graduate, though, but the advice is sound. In the sciences, you'll have a doctoral thesis or defense, or your own published paper. In business you may author a thesis or case study. However, completing those things usually doesn't translate to much aside from the final gate between you and your degree. Sure, you'll be glad to have everything finished, but once you start in on your career, you'll get to do it all over again.
All of the lessons we discussed when we talked about things you should know before you go to college still apply for graduate school. However, because grad school is part education, part work, and part professional networking, there's more to the picture you should remember before diving in. If you're headed for graduate school next term, hopefully this is useful to you. Grad school can be grueling, stressful, and challenging, or it can be easier than your undergrad schooling—a lot of it is how you approach it and what you take away from the experience. Have some fun, enjoy the journey, and as they say, consider the destination as its own reward.
Title photo made using Stokkete (Shutterstock). Additional photos by toffehoff, JD Hancock, Vancouver Film School, State Farm, Ed Kohler, John Liu, and Texas A&M University.