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Financing Graduate School

Given how much of a monetary commitment graduate school is, it’s best to find as many financial resources as possible.

Financing your graduate education is one of the critical factors when considering a graduate program. You want to make sure that you are getting the most out of your investment. But often it’s hard to know where to begin and what options are available. Tennessee Tech has a number of resources for graduate students. While a student can pursue taking out a loan, there are other options, including:

Graduate Assistantships

Diversity Fellowship

Other Federal Student Aid Funding Resources

Below are some tips from University of Maryland graduate, Joe Oudin:

1. Start thinking about your graduate school finances early.

Before you even begin applications, you should understand what loans you already have and consider what your financial situation might look like as a graduate student. If you’re considering graduate school at the same institution you attended for undergrad, look for opportunities to get graduate credit while you’re still an undergrad. When I was an undergraduate senior, my university allowed me to take graduate courses that counted toward my master’s degree and saved me thousands in future tuition expenses.

2. Learn about the different types of federal aid for graduate students.

Your federal aid package will probably be different than what you were offered as an undergraduate. FAFSA4caster can give you an idea of what types of federal aid you will qualify for. Graduate students have a variety of federal student aid options and are considered independent on the FAFSA. Make sure you complete your FAFSA on time. You might have to complete it even before you know your admission status.

3. Seek funding opportunities at your particular university or graduate program.

Individual schools offer a variety of graduate funding options such as scholarships, graduate assistantships, and graduate fellowships. These are sometimes a more significant source of aid for graduate students than federal aid. When you’re trying to decide on a graduate program, make sure you compare the types of funding offered to students. Once you commit to a graduate program, proactively seek funding opportunities from your program or university.

4. Be proactive and stay on top of everything.

I enrolled in a graduate program at the same university as my undergraduate study, so I expected a smooth transition. A few weeks after I committed to my graduate program, I received a notification from the university saying I was ineligible for financial aid. After a moment of panic, I realized there was no way that this could be true. It turned out that there was confusion in the school’s computer system because I was enrolled as both an undergraduate and a graduate. The problem was easily fixed when I called my school’s financial aid office. Despite submitting my FAFSA and all other paperwork correctly and on time, I still ran into a few speed bumps. With grad school, it is ultimately your responsibility to make sure that everything is submitted correctly and to follow up when necessary. Being proactive can make the financial aid process go much more smoothly

Finding Housing in Cookeville

If you’re from out of town, it’s important to explore all of your housing options before deciding on a place to live.

Luckily, Cookeville is a really cheap place to find housing. According to this site, Cookeville’s cost of living is decently lower than the U.S. average. In addition, Cookeville’s housing costs are even lower, with an average of $526 rent for a 1-bedroom apartment. But it’s important to know what will suit you best.

On-Campus Housing

Some students choose to stay on-campus due to the convenience of location, safety, and low-maintenance upkeep. Alcohol and smoking are prohibited, and students who choose to stay over semester breaks can make special housing arrangements with an additional daily charge.

Residence Halls

Tennessee Tech has on-campus residence halls  with semester rates ranging from $2,525 for a 1 person room in a traditional hall to $4,795 for a double room as a single room buyout in the new halls.

Tech Village Apartments

Students can also choose to live in a Tech Village Apartment, which is designed to feel more like an apartment and less like a dorm room. The rates are also a bit cheaper than the residence halls, ranging from $1,370 for a two-bedroom split between 4 people to $5,480 for a two-bedroom for one person.

Finding Housing Off-Campus

Many students choose to live in apartments or houses off-campus due to the high availability of affordable options. It’s important to figure out what kind of place you’re looking for by determining your preferences:

  • Price range
  • Number of bedrooms and bathrooms
  • Proximity to campus
  • Pets/no pets
  • Smoking/non-smoking
  • Utilities included/not included in rent
  • Washer/Dryer hookups or laundry service availability
  • Roommates/no roommates
  • Furnished/unfurnished
  • Wi-fi/internet availability
  • Other preferences

The following are some resources available for Cookeville housing:

http://www.homes.com/rentals/cookeville-tn/

https://cookeville.craigslist.org/search/apa

https://www.trulia.com/for_rent/Cookeville,TN/

http://www.rentalguide.net/Rentals/TN/City/Cookeville/Listings.html

https://hotpads.com/cookeville-tn/houses-for-rent

https://www.apartments.com/cookeville-tn/

http://www.homesandland.com/For-Rent/Cookeville,TN/

https://www.rentjungle.com/cookeville-tn-apartments-and-houses-for-rent/

5 Keys to Grad School Success

Starting graduate school can be stressful and intimidating, whether you are just completing your undergraduate work or going back to school after a period of time in the ‘real world’. To combat this feeling of uncertainty, I have found that students are likely to be happier and more successful if they focus their efforts. Here are five keys to help you be more focused and purposeful in graduate school:

1.  Become an Expert Now 

The challenge many students face is whether to graduate as a generalist or as a specialist. Dan Schwabel makes the case to think of yourself as both.  For example, a law student should strive to become an excellent generalist attorney, which requires developing overall legal acumen (e.g. learn how to draft contracts, interact with clients, craft arguments, etc.). However, aspiring attorneys must also look into a few specific areas of practice (e.g. real estate law, family law, etc.) to begin assessing what area of law is most appealing to pursue as a career.

2.  Be Learning-Centric

You may have heard the expression “the joy is in the journey”. In graduate school, instead of putting all your focus on good grades (which are, admittedly, important), consider also addressing the question: “How will this class or assignment help make me be a better practitioner?” View your instructor a partner in answering these questions, someone who can assist you at multiple points during your journey of building a productive and satisfying career.

3.  Rethink the Way You Learn (from Pedagogy to Andragogy)

In the years preceding graduate school, students are often spoon-fed information from a subject matter expert (teacher), then asked to regurgitate it for tests. In graduate school, depending on your discipline, you may be expected to contribute content based on your experience. Come to class ready to discuss and apply experiences you’ve faced in and out of the classroom. Facts are always important, but your ability to think about their relevance and application in various contexts is what will truly help you stand out as a professional.

4.  Practice, Practice, Practice

Theoretical methodologies certainly have their place in the learning process; however, practice is where the greatest learning occurs. Herminia Ibarra states: “To launch ourselves anew, we need to get out of our heads. We need to act.” Seek opportunities where you can apply your newly-acquired skills (Ibarra calls these moments “experiments”) immediately. Experiments include volunteering, part-time gigs, taking on project work, temporary assignments, etc. These application-based experiences are also great to help build your resume.

5.  Build Relationships

By attending graduate school you are developing your new identity. Making connections with your fellow students and professionals in your chosen field will open doors to employment, resources, and lead to new, unique experiences. Take the time to start building relationships with professors, fellow students, and the professionals in your field now. You won’t ever be sorry you did this.

Good luck and remember: your career, like every other aspect of your life, is a journey. Just by enrolling in graduate school, you have made a huge leap forward in developing your professional brand and expertise.

5 Cheap Ideas for Hangouts

Sometimes it’s easy to make friends at school. You spend lots of time in the same places: class, student organizations, campus jobs and local hangouts. But other times, like when you move off campus or start graduate school, it can feel like you never see your pals.

Try out one of these entertaining ideas to bring your old friends back together and maybe even get closer to some acquaintances.

Lazy dinner party
The key ingredients for a bona fide grown-up dinner party are friends, food, a place and a time. Lots of dinner parties are fancy, with proper place settings and mailed invitations, but simpler dinner parties can be a great way to catch up with your friends without spending a bunch of time or money.

  • Start with the time. You’ll want to pick a time people are free, obviously, but less “dinner-y” times (like Sunday brunch or the afternoon of a bank holiday) can make for fun themes.
  • If your place is small, reduce clutter, move as much furniture out of the way as you can, and be sure to have enough seating and places for people to set down their plates and cups. You can host a lazy dinner party in half a dorm room if you want to! Alternately, persuade someone with a more spacious locale to co-host with you.
  • If you have a lot of close friends but not a lot of money for food, provide the main course yourself and ask guests to bring sides, drinks and desserts. Food can be based off of your theme or totally random.
  • Keep your space and food restrictions in mind when planning a guest list. Invite people you like spending time with, and recruit a buddy to text people the day before so they’re more likely to show.

Poker night
Poker (or Cards Against Humanity, Dungeons and Dragons, MarioKart…) makes for a low-pressure get together, because there’s something to focus on during lulls in the conversation that doesn’t demand constant attention while you’re trying to catch up. Plus, it’s super easy to plan: just pick a game and add in some snacks, drinks and friends.

Netflix themed party
Netflix is full of entertaining potential! Original series, all kinds of movies, TV shows from childhood and more. Select a feature and invite your friends to bring food, drinks and other activities for a few hours of fun. Here are a few examples:

  • Friends: Binge watch a season (or five) while playing the trivia board game, eating Monica-inspired snacks and taking Buzzfeed quizzes about Ross Geller.
  • Documentary competition: challenge your friends to find the weirdest (most conspiratorial, most niche…) documentary. Watch the winner and see who has the best commentary.

Barbecue at the park
It’s hard to have a backyard barbecue if you don’t have a backyard. Lucky for you, there are parks everywhere, and most of them have tables and grills that can be used for free. In warm weather, cook up burgers and hotdogs and enjoy the sunshine. On cooler days, use a fire pit, get some fresh air or have a snowball fight!

GRE Information and Study Tips

Most graduate programs require taking the GRE (Graduate Record Exam).

Every year, more than 700,000 people take the Graduate Record Exam, commonly known as the GRE. While the test is similar in many ways to its college-entrance cousin, the SAT, there are some important differences.

Unlike the SAT, the GRE is most commonly taken as a computer-adaptive test

This means there’s no need for a No. 2 pencil and those all-too-familiar bubble sheets. On the computer-based test, the difficulty of the questions is based on the accuracy of your answers to previous questions. The better you perform on the first sets of 20 verbal and quantitative reasoning questions, the harder the next sets of 20 questions will be.

The GRE is broken down into three primary components: verbal reasoning, quantitative reasoning, and analytical writing

For the verbal reasoning section, test takers have two 30-minute periods to answer two sets of 20 questions. Test-takers answer two sets of 20 quantitative reasoning questions, with 35 minutes to answer each set. The analytical writing section consists of two essays, for which test takers get 30 minutes to write each. The verbal and quantitative reasoning sections are graded on a 130- to 170-point scale in 1-point increments, and the analytical writing section is scored on a 0-6 scale in half-point increments.

Having a good SAT/ACT score and GPA don’t ensure that tackling the GRE will be a simple task

The GRE doesn’t necessarily test on a student’s knowledge or aptitude. Rather, it tests students on how well they can take the GRE. Therefore, there are specific things that students need to focus on in order to do well on the test.

 

Below are six surefire studying tips for the GRE:

1. Go back to high school

Having trouble differentiating your X-axis from your Y? Have too many late nights in college wiped away the important teachings of Pythagoras? You’re not alone. Many GRE test takers are many years removed from the basic tenets of high school math, which play an important part in the quantitative section of the test. If you’re rusty, it’s important to revisit the concepts of algebra and geometry that you learned in high school.

“Algebra and geometry are assumed background knowledge in college courses, and you will be hard-pressed to find a class to take at that level [that] will prepare you directly for questions of this type,” says Eric Reiman, a GRE tutor with Creative Tutors. “If you’re preparing for the GRE alone, a text like Algebra for Dummies or Geometry for Dummies could be a great help, and both come with example problems to work.”

2. Sleep with your dictionary

While the GRE’s quantitative section is not much more advanced than the math found in the SAT—and familiarity with concepts learned in high school should be enough to post a decent score—the verbal section went to college and graduated with honors in English. Test takers who slept through their English classes or turned to SparkNotes may be in trouble.

During your time in school, be sure to read as much as possible to expand your vocabulary so that you can decipher unfamiliar words, testing experts say. You can assimilate far more diverse vocabulary over four years of college than you could ever hope to by cramming for a few weeks or months prior to the GRE.

“As a successor to the SAT, the GRE uses adult words that aren’t found on the SAT,” says Reiman. “It is extremely important for success on the qualitative sections of the GRE to be well read.”

3. Take a GRE prep course (if you can afford it)

According to Andrew Mitchell, director of pre-business programs at Kaplan Test Prep, the GRE is designed specifically to differ from areas of study in college and is supposed to be a measure of a college graduates’ critical thinking skills, not necessarily what they learned in school.

No matter how much cramming you might’ve done in college or how stellar your grades were, thinking critically might not come naturally. The tutoring classes tend to pay off, but are a sizable investment. Kaplan’s instructor-led classes cost more than $1,000 for about eight on-site sessions. Twenty-five hours of private GRE tutoring with Kaplan can cost roughly $3,000.

“It’s worth investing some time and money in preparing for the GRE,” says Mitchell. “Critical thinking is something that’s hard to change overnight because it’s such a lifelong skill. We try to help people unlock their critical thinking skills by getting more familiar with the test and more familiar with proven methods.” Another option for building critical thinking that’s a little easier on the checkbook is using the free resources on the Educational Testing Services (ETS) website. Sample questions and essay responses, advice, and scoring guides are available online from the folks who created the GRE.

4. Take a practice test

While your vocabulary may be impeccable, your writing skills polished, and your quantitative abilities sharpened to a razor’s edge, none of that matters if you’re unaccustomed to the test’s unconventional format.

“To walk into this test unprepared, to sit down [and take it] having never done it before is suicide,” notes Neill Seltzer, national GRE content director for the Princeton Review. Educational Testing Service, the Princeton Review, and Kaplan all have free computer adaptive tests online that help simulate what is a foreign experience to many.

“It’s different from the SAT, and that really threw me off the first time,” says Amy Trongnetrpunya, who earned a perfect score on the quantitative section of the GRE after scoring poorly on her first try. “The computer-adaptive practice exam really helped.”

5. Don’t like your score? Take it again

Schools have access to any GRE scores for tests you’ve taken in the last five years, but experts claim that many universities only care about the best one. While this isn’t true for all schools and all programs, many universities pull the highest scores from the GRE ticket they receive from ETS. The admissions officials (and sometimes work-study students) who receive the tickets are the first line of defense, and oftentimes, they record only the top score when they’re compiling your file before sending it up the admissions food chain. “Even though ETS will report every score, the person reading that file and making the admissions decision may only see the highest math and highest verbal,” says Seltzer.

6. Take a tough English course

Even if you aren’t an English major and don’t plan on writing the next great American novel, honing your writing skills is integral to overall success on the GRE. The two essays in the analytical section take up roughly one third of the time test takers are allotted. Some testing experts argue that near the end of college you should take a high-level English or writing course. While enduring a high-level writing course might put a small dent in the GPA (and ego) of non-English majors, it is an immense help when it’s time to crank out two timed essays on the pressure-packed GRE.

“I would emphasize taking a few rigorous English and writing college courses, in addition to test prep, to best prepare yourself for the caliber of questions you’ll find on the GRE,” says Alexis Avila, founder and president of Prepped & Polished, a Boston area-based college counseling and tutoring firm.

 

4 Ways Your Summer Job Can Jumpstart Your Career

Are you making the most of your summer job? Perhaps you’re “just waitressing” or working at the mall or a grocery store. But, did you know that a temporary summer job can help boost your future career?

In fact, did you know that New York City’s Mayor Michael Bloomberg was once a parking lot attendant? Or that Howie Mandel started out as an amusement park attendant? There are lots of great stories about first jobs of many famous and successful people in this MSN Money story – but my point is this: just because you’re not in your dream job now, doesn’t mean you can’t be working like you’re in your dream job.

So, how can you make the most of your summer job?

1) Don’t treat it like “just a summer job.”

Whether you’re working at a fast food restaurant, in retail or even babysitting, this is your chance to build a foundation of experience! Look closely at your job responsibilities. What skills do you use every day at work that can be applied to your future career?

Likely, you’re building organizational skills and you’re learning to be accountable for yourself, and you’re undoubtedly gaining customer service experience. All of these things are called transferable skills – a versatile set of skills that you can apply to more than one job.

So, while you may not even be working in your major field this summer, you are gaining experience that can be applied to your future career. Take your job seriously this summer!

2) Be Proactive

Use your summer job as an opportunity to try new things, experiment with your abilities and gain new skills. To do this, you need to set some realistic goals and establish clear communication with your supervisor.

Perhaps you can request to work on a special project or shadow another employee who has greater responsibilities than you; or you can ask for some responsibilities beyond your day-to-day tasks.

Want to gain some financial acumen? Ask to shadow someone in the accounting department. Want to improve your organizational skills? Ask to lead a project or take on responsibilities in the stock room. If you think about all of the departments that make the business run where you’re working this summer, you’ll likely see opportunities in many areas.

3) Assess Your Strengths and Weaknesses

As you gain experience this summer, make a list of your accomplishments – and your failures. What were you good at? What didn’t go so well? What did you love to do? What did you decide that you never want to do again?

Once you have a list that summarizes your summer work experience, you can use this information to help build your resume and a list of skills that you want to either acquire or improve on in the coming months. This process can help you choose classes for the fall – for example, if you learn that speaking in front of others is a weakness, you can take a public speaking class. Creating this list can also help you in selecting internships and finding future jobs that will help advance your skill set as you prepare for your future career.

4) Find a Mentor

Perhaps more important than any other aspect of your summer job, you are provided an opportunity to develop relationships with others who could become a mentor to you. Having a mentor to guide you in your career development, to help you network with others and to provide honest feedback and suggestions about your work, your skills and your potential … is priceless.

Some of the most successful people have sought a mentor at a various times in their career. In fact, many executives continue to seek mentors long into their well-established careers. Some even have more than one mentor at a time! Once established, though, these relationships will encourage you to stretch and reach for your potential, to truly build your legacy and your career.

So, while you might think of your summer job as “just a summer job,” think again. As Steve Martin once said, “I just believe that the interesting time in a career is pre-success, what shaped things, how did you get to this point.” Now is your time to write your story, to build your success, before you have a career.

Maximize your Productivity this Summer

Image result for Summer college

Is it summer yet?

I am sure I am not alone in daydreaming about summer on those overwhelmingly busy days during the spring semester. 

But I have learned that summer break must be used wisely to avoid feeling as though I have wasted this time. Since this is a generally unstructured time, it is important to fight the temptation to put off all of our work until late August. For graduate students marching toward an increasingly competitive (and generally depressing) job market, it is particularly important to use the summer months to at least continue, and hopefully broaden and extend, their training between academic years.

Make a plan.

Before summer arrives, I suggest taking some time to assess what you need to do before the next academic year begins. Are you behind on any tasks or milestones in your training? Where could you gain the most by getting ahead? Where do you feel your training is lacking, especially relative to your ultimate goal?  If you plan to participate in some sort of summer program or coursework, the deadlines to do so are quickly approaching or may have even passed by now.

Prioritize self-care.

I agree with advice to view graduate school as a yearlong job. In other words, some vacation time is good, but it may not be ideal in the long run to put off work the entire summer. But it’s important to assess your personal needs first. Many of us neglect our health, relationships, and other aspects of our personal life during the hectic academic year. While getting ahead would be great, the other side of wasted summer is returning in the fall still exhausted.

Be honest with yourself. Do you need to work to save up money? Do you need to take a substantial amount of time off to, first, address any health issues you have ignored, and, second, to effectively relax and recover? Do you need to put in more time into attending to your partner, kids, and other important relationships? The summer is a decent time to escape or disappear for a short time. Remember, this job (whether grad school or beyond) will not take care of you.

Get ahead in coursework.

If your graduate program offers courses, or will accept credit from other departments or universities, the summer may be an ideal time to get ahead in coursework. In my second summer of my doctoral program at Indiana University, I attended the summer program at Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR) at University of Michigan. These outside courses counted toward my graduate minor in research methods at my home program. Courses are useful, but there is no harm in completing this part of your training so that you can start working on independent research and the dissertation. 

Aside from formal coursework, I also recommend making progress on theses, qualifying/comprehensive exams, and other important milestones. I devoted much of my first summer to making progress on my master’s thesis, and studied for my qualifying exam over my third summer. For these more unstructured tasks, it is important to find out in advance whether your advisers will be available over the summer to provide feedback. This would also be a good way to stay visible over the summer months.

Broaden your research training.

Besides getting ahead, I found that the most important use of my summers was to broaden my training. In my first summer, I attended the summer institute of the Center for Research and Education on Gender and Sexuality, a program at San Francisco State University.In my fourth summer, I attended the summer institute in LGBT Population Health at the Fenway Institute. Both of these summer programs provided a great deal of training on sexualities that was not available in my home department. Also, it was nice to spend an entire month in San Francisco and Boston (respectively)!

Whether within one’s department or outside of it, grad students could use the summer to serve as a research assistant. This (hopefully) means a source of income. And, it provides an opportunity to work one-on-one with a professor. I served on a small team of research assistants for one professor in my department in my fourth summer. I found it refreshing to see that professor, who was my #2 adviser, working as a researcher. We were able to see how she made decisions along the way, how she dealt with obstacles and frustrations, and how excited she became as we made progress on a rather large interview project. In other words, we saw her as a human, rather than a professor who was always polished and organized.

Broaden your teaching experience.

There are also some opportunities to teach at other institutions. In my third summer, I taught at the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee as a diversity fellow. I taught sociology of sexualities – a course I had already taught; however, I was challenged to make course material accessible and relevant to a different student body.  My students at UWM were more likely to be black or Latina/o, working-class, first generation, parents, and working part- or full-time than the mostly white middle-class students I had at my home institution (Indiana University). This experience was useful to broaden my pedagogical focus and toolkit. 

The summer might also be a useful time to teach at different types of institutions – private vs. public; liberal arts vs. research-intensive; community college vs. four-year college – to gain more experience, and also begin to get a feel of where you would like to end up if you pursue faculty positions.

Broaden your network.

Through the above suggestions, grad students can also focus on broadening their professional networks. Through each summer program I attended, I made connections with both faculty and fellow student participants that I maintain today. These connections sometimes become friendships, lead to other professional connections, and possibly collaborations. Your committee and other members of your department are important. But, so, too, are the connections you make with others at other departments and universities. It is who you know, right? 

I cannot say whether these summer-became-lifelong connections led to a job offer or some other opportunity. But I do know that I have benefited from advice and support from these contacts. In general, I think it is useful to avoid falling into the trap of thinking exclusively of other members of your department as your colleagues. 

Happy summer! Enjoy it, but also make the most of it.

Source: https://www.insidehighered.com/advice/2014/03/31/essay-how-grad-students-can-get-most-summer

9 Things all Graduating Students Should Know

It’s hard when you want to know everything.

That’s the mindset that traps a lot of people beginning their careers. If you’ve recently graduated from college, spent your last year grunting through entry-level work, and feel you’re entitled to some recognition, remember these 9 principles and you’ll be on your way.

1. People matter

Treat people well, not because they’ll always treat you well, but because it’s the right thing to do. This includes never stepping on anyone to step up. If you do, you’ll probably hit them again on your way down.

2. There are very few rules

You don’t have to go to college to be successful. You can live virtually anywhere. You don’t have to get a desk job at a big company. The longer I live, the more I realize that most of the rules we consider to be written in stone aren’t even written down. Make your own rules about your own life.

3. Be completely transparent

People don’t like what they don’t understand. Conversely, people accept what is clear. Don’t hide from reality. Speak truth into peoples’ lives. You may catch some backlash occasionally, but the people who matter will respect and cherish you for it.

4. Always learn

Learning creates knowledge. Knowledge creates expertise. Expertise creates value. You don’t need a teacher. Read a ton and ask smart people hard questions. There are two things people love: 1) being asked for their opinions, and 2) surrounding themselves with people who want to grow.

5. Create value

You aren’t entitled to earn anything. Money is one form of stored value, and it’s transferred when value is created. Figure out how to add value to other peoples’ lives, and money will flow.

6. Your network is vital

Who you know is important. Who you matter to is even more important. Create lasting relationships by helping others, who will eventually help you. Organize those connections (I like LinkedIn), and work to maintain the relationships. When you need them, they will be there for you.

7. Study successful people

Successful people figured something out. Work to figure them out. How did they become successful? What steps did they take? You’ll often find those “overnight sensations” worked hard for a very long time. Look for someone whose work or lifestyle you’d like to emulate; don’t spend time trying to replicate success you don’t even want.

8. Never operate from a position of fear

Fear causes strange and terrible things to happen. It will force bad decisions, impair your logic, and drive you to behave irrationally. It also makes things seem far worse than reality. Seriously, what’s the worst that could happen?

9. Be humble

Oscar Pistorius made it to the semifinals of the 400-meter sprint in the 2012 Olympics without either of his legs. Mark Zuckerberg is a self-made billionaire at the age of 28. Even if you kill it, you’re still not Overlord of the Universe. Don’t act like it. Cockiness is a career killer.

 

Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/brentbeshore/2012/09/10/9-things-every-graduate-should-know/#1109e6188bad

 

Life After Grad School

The more things change after grad school, the more they stay the same. Or do they?

Nearly five months ago, just hours before my grad school commencement, I sat at the foot of my bed watching a YouTube video on how to properly wear my hood regalia.

For at least 30 minutes, I watched the video repeatedly, squinting, tussling and folding the hood, outfitted with white velvet on the upper side, before tossing it across the room.

I eventually figured out how to wear it — albeit lopsided — and only straightened it when a fellow classmate helped me position it, seconds before lining up for graduation procession.

That experience is much like what life after graduate school has been for me so far — full of questions and moments where I wished someone had offered the practical advice and words of wisdom I needed, as well as tempered my expectations.

There are five things in particular that might be of use to any graduate student preparing to take the leap of graduation:

1. You’ll often forget you have another degree … until someone asks for your updated resume.

This will dawn on you at networking events or if a friend mentions a position you should apply for since you now have a master’s degree. Oops, you did just earn that degree, right?

2. You’ll miss classes, homework and your routine.

For many, working toward something (in this instance graduation) does wonders for morale and focus. The most difficult part for me was recognizing school fed my soul and made me feel like I was actively bettering my life, versus just getting caught up in the working grind.

3. The debt returns with full force.

Weeks after I graduated (and before I had even received the official hard copy of my diploma), thick envelopes full of detailed, line-by-line totals of how much money I owed by financing my education with federal loans poured in. If I could do it all over again, I’d not pay a cent and opt for an assistantship or other means of scholarship funds.

4. Life won’t change immediately after you graduate in the ways you expect …

The moment after you graduate, moments after you leave the hall, auditorium or theater packed with friends, loved ones, fellow classmates and former professors, you’ll wait for things to feel different, but as urgently as waiting for everything to change, life will resume as it always has been.

You might start working a new job if you attended grad school full time or, if you attended grad school in the evenings after work like I did, you’ll resume your job tasks, without the interruption of homework, group projects or looming end-of-semester deadlines. The days will seem longer because work and home will be the only thing constituting your life. You’ll wonder how in the world you managed not having as much free time as you do now, but you won’t know what to do with it.

5. … But life will change immediately after you graduate in unexpected ways.

In the same token, you won’t view life the same because as a grad student, you changed.

Self-awareness and the desire to be intentional about every step forward in your life will consume you. You’ll start to demand more from your friends, family, things you did in your free time, your job — and you may discover that some of those things no longer fit and new ones are needed to complete you.

A journey of discovery becomes the goal and there’s no other decision, no other choice, no other way to exert energy but to pursue life in a new way. Gone is the fear and despair that had grown so familiar. Only courage and the desire to live with unbridled passion, zest and hunger for what can only be a more fulfilling, satisfying and fruitful life remain.

Source: http://college.usatoday.com/2013/05/08/5-things-i-wish-id-known-about-life-after-grad-school/

Student project – Aubree Hill, PhD, Environmental Sciences-Biology

Environmental Sciences-Biology student Aubree Hill is working to develop a treatment for amphibians infected with a deadly fungus called Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd). She is specifically researching the salamander microbiome—or community of naturally occurring bacteria on the skin—and whether it can inhibit or eliminate growth of the fungus. Aubree and her team captured, swabbed and released more than 350 salamanders this year. They then isolated the bacteria from the swabs and challenged them against Bd to determine their ability to inhibit fungal growth. These so-called candidate probiotic species may then be recommended for therapeutic treatments of infected amphibians.

Aubree also hopes to gain a better understanding of the structure of the amphibian skin microbiome as a whole and whether it varies across taxonomic groups of salamanders, habitat types and seasons. She will use TTU’s new Illumina MiSeq DNA sequencing instrument to help make these comparisons.

Aubree recently presented her research on the salamander microbiome at the Tennessee Herpetological Society annual meeting in Knoxville. Her advisor is Donald Walker.

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