1. Technically, I'm not in grad school
My teachers really find it necessary to remind us of this (we had a lecture last year about how to correct your awkward uncle at Thanksgiving when he says this, I have never used it, but maybe someday... I really don't care what people call it.) Technically, a doctorate is 'professional school' and a masters is grad school. This isn't really advice, but you never know when this little tidbit may come in handy. I will continue to refer to my program as grad school through the course of this blog, simply for the sake of consistency and simplicity, but I thought you should know this fun little fact.
2. Roommates are everything.
Unlike college, you likely can't hide from your roommate in grad school because more often than not they are in the same program. Leah and I have all of the same teachers, assignments, projects, and almost the same schedule. AND - I currently have the best roommate I've ever had. Leah ad I are POLAR OPPOSITES. We study differently, socialize differently, cook differently, and most importantly, have consistent disagreements about whether we should break the noodles in half when we make spaghetti. BUT. Coming home to someone whose company I genuinely enjoy has made all the difference in a smooth transition to a new city and new school. Sometimes we are really only bonding over dislike of a subject or assignment, but the grad school roommate bond is rock solid and it makes all the difference in the world.
3. Your free time is not actually yours
When I started college I remember being overwhelmed with the amount of free time I had. Not that most of it wouldn't be spent studying, but still. No one was telling me how or when to do things and it was kind of scary. (Looking back, I would have had a LOT of free time had I known how to structure a day like I do now. But whatever.) In grad school, you have much less free time (I spend way more time actually in class than I did in college, and have about four times the homework) but the twist is that, LOL, I don't have any time that's mine. There are lots of times when I'm not scheduled to be somewhere but the school can just tell me I'm doing this event for a class on a Friday. You don't have free time ... it's more 'rented' if you will. For the low price of tuition (which is like three of your limbs)
4. You truly learn how to get along with people you don't like.
I don't know about anyone else but this is what my professors PREACHED in college. Group projects will teach you how to get along with people you don't necessarily care for. That was false. They taught me how to save my own butt when I didn't like the people I worked with because they didn't do their work (which is a valuable skill) and how to learn how to avoid them for group projects in the future, (also a valuable skill) which was easy because I would usually never see these people again. In grad school, there are 62 people in my class. Not all of us get along. But we have at least learned (for the most part, or we will) how to work together. I have at least three group projects per class, per semester. Some days we don't really like each other all that much. But we're all here for a common goal, and we're doing our best. We learn how to utilize the planner, the best speaker, the logistical thinker, and the person with the most artistic talent to improve our success, not make us perfect equals.
5. You deserve The Bachelor
I will be the first to admit that The Bachelor is, debatably, one of the dumbest, most unrealistic, shallow TV shows in existence. THAT BEING SAID. Do you know what got me through spending 20 hours a day at school? Knowing that my roommate and I had an hour every Monday night reserved just to gossip over the people on the show, and then creep on their respective social media sites to see what they thought of the episode. Then go back to our rooms and continue to study. You have to take a break from the deep stuff. Or you will die. Not really, but it will feel like it.
*Note: You don't have to choose The Bachelor. Any shallow show of your choice is really okay. Just choose one. You owe it to yourself.
6. Career Fairs are good for your health
a. The wellness of your ideal future job. I HATED these in college. I knew I wasn't doing anything with my undergraduate degree and they were a downright waste of time. HOWEVER. When I went to one at Creighton I did talk to quite a few people and get quite a few business cards of people who maybe I wouldn't want to work for in terms of practice setting, but these may come in handy in the future.
b. the wellness of your desire for free things. Everyone loves free things. Why not, you know? I'm always running out of pens.
7. Learn to be wrong, and learn to do it well.
This is especially important if you are in school for something that is health, teaching, or people related. There is a reason it is taking you more than just four years of lecture halls to learn your trade. You may have some sort of fieldwork, clinical rotation, or something similar. It is important that you understand you need to be wrong and need feedback about your performance with clients, patients, or students in these positions. If you didn't, you wouldn't be in school.
8. Do not underestimate the importance of good library study spots
One thing I really like about Creighton is that their professional school library has an excellent and wide variety of places to study. Large classrooms, tiny cubicles, wooden booths, couches (mostly for napping). You must find the perfect spot. This is not undergrad where you can get your assignments done in a couple of hours. On the weekends it is likely that your butt will be in the same seat for the next ten to fifteen hours. The only thing worse than studying anatomy for ten hours is if your butt hurts while you're doing it.
9. Your backpack should function very similar to an IKEA shelf
... In that it is organized to the owner's eye but also a little terrifying and overwhelming to someone who is unfamiliar with it. I would recommend specific compartments for snacks, permanent markers, chargers, lunch boxes, wallets and personal items, feminine products, etc. (You do not want to pull out your professional name tag only to send tampons flying in the direction of your professor) Similar to the concept of your locker in high school, maybe your car in college, your backpack is your best friend for at least 15 hours per day. You need it. Treat it well.
10. Understand sleep and it's important components
In the blog I wrote about college, I wrote about getting enough sleep. For some people in college, that was not possible based on their program and how much they needed to study. For me, I did get enough sleep because I am such an unpleasant person when I do not get enough sleep. Sometimes, it is not possible to get enough sleep, and instead of freaking out about how little sleep you will get, it is actually easier just to accept the fact. My practicums in the spring made me so nervous I would toss and turn and only end up sleeping 2-3 hours, which just increased my anxiety because I was over tired. Do your best to take a deep breath, drink lots of water, eat something high in protein, and remember that whatever it is, you are confident and capable and can get through it. (One of my favorite moments of that spring was my first kinesiology practicums on about 45 minutes of sleep. I don't even remember it, whether that be because of my panic or my lack of sleep, who can be sure?)
11. Practice on a variety of patients, if this applies to your profession
If you are getting your masters or doctorate in something such as accounting, I would recommend skipping this step. There really is no need for strangers to let you practice your skills on them. Math is pretty much math. (I could be wrong about this but it seems to make sense) But those of us in professions revolving around health, people skills, and bedside manner, it is necessary for us to practice our skills on adults, children, people who don't speak English.... the list goes on. You must practice on LOTS of people to really understand what you are doing prior to a practicum. Stretching the rotator cuff muscles of a four year old is very different than doing it on a large, grown, man. Practice.
12. Dunkin Donuts
This is perhaps the most important of the steps, so please pay attention. Dunkin has a happy hour for their iced coffee from 2:30-6:30 every day. Check your local store before quoting me on this, but it's pretty important. My roommate and I pretty much text about the following things, in order of their importance:
1. If the other one would like Dunkin.
2. What type of coffee the other one would like at Dunkin
3. Whether or not we should get a couple large coffees with no ice to use the rest of the week at Dunkin
4. Whether we are out of Ziplock bags
5. Where and when we are watching the Bachelor this week
13. Learn that your grades are a different kind of everything.
I HATE when people tell me my grades don't matter because my future employer won't care. Some people in the workforce tell me that they agree with this, and I've heard people say that employers asked about their GPA. Regardless, grades DO matter, because you spend all your time working for them, so saying they don't matter just feels really frustrating. The most important thing you need to realize is that to an extent they do, and to an extent they don't. I don't learn a whole lot from taking tests, I learn a whole bunch through practicums. You have to be able to take your grades with a grain of salt - look at them when it matters, and ignore them when they don't. It's a skill.
14. Embrace the chaos.
Although pretty much all you do in grad school is things that revolve around school, so it would seem like your life is pretty singularly focused, it's really not. There are mornings when it seems like Leah and I can barely make it out of the house with our lunch, backpacks, coffee, and a solid idea of what we've got going on that day. One time last semester Leah tried to get coffee ice cubes out of the tray (we freeze them for easy and yummy iced coffee) and right as she tried to do that the ice tray broke in half and coffee went flying all over the kitchen. I am someone who is a planner and needs to operate on a schedule, but I've learned that if I'm not the perfect combination of flexible and really on top of it, school will ruin me. Sometimes you just have to embrace the chaos.
15. Understand pizza and it's wide variety of blessings and values.
Other than Leah just being a great roommate, one of my favorite things about her is that when I text her or ask her "What do you want to do for dinner?" She KNOWS that isn't an actual question. The simple answer is always "Pizza." We try to eat healthy, to eat protein, to not eat five slices in one night. We drink our protein shakes in the morning and go to the gym a couple times a week. But sometimes, you've had a hard week and you just need Domino's. This almost always happens on a Thursday night for us, and man, is it good.
16. You. Can. Do. It.
These programs are downright stressful, overwhelming, and tear-inducing. Last semester I remember coming out of a practicum in anatomy and I wasn't even sure if the cadavers were laying on their stomachs or backs. Just remember that whatever your fear is (failing a class, messing up a practicum, etc.) that millions (ish? That's a loose statistic) of people have gone before you and few have done whatever you're fearing. And, if it does happen, you are a competent and excellent adult who will handle the situation with confidence and grace. Whatever it is, you can do it.
