Hi there! I’m Nina, a second-year PhD student at Stony Brook University. During the past few semesters I’ve received many helpful pieces of advice that have helped me to succeed in graduate school. Here are some of the best ones that have helped me survive graduate school so far (during a pandemic!), and will no doubt remain useful as I move forward.
- Have many mentors
Mentors are people who can provide guidance and serve as a role model for you throughout your graduate studies. However, it’s unrealistic to expect one mentor to have all of the answers you need; you should have more than one mentor for more than one purpose. For example, your PI can serve as a research mentor to guide you through your projects in the laboratory. You can also have academic mentors, like upperclassmen, who can help you prepare for your qualifying exam. There’s also social mentors who you can go to for general life advice, like navigating a new city. It’s important to have many people to go to when you need advice, as they can each offer a unique perspective.
- Don’t be afraid to ask for help
At the graduate level, a lot of students assume that they have to be completely independent. That’s not necessarily true. Sure, you may be expected to lead a project and do a majority of research on your own, but it’s always okay to ask for help. If you’re struggling in a class you can ask your professors for help in the form of office hours, study guides, or tutors. If you’re struggling in the lab, it’s okay to ask a lab mate or another student for their expertise. Asking questions will only help you learn!
- Send that email (don’t be shy!)
This one is related to asking for help: don’t be shy! Don’t be too shy to send someone an email, and don’t spend too much time overthinking it. Whether it’s asking a question, scheduling a meeting, or asking to borrow a reagent–just send the email.
- Stay up-to-date in your field
Part of being a good scientist is staying current in your field. Every day thousands of new papers are published, so it can be hard to keep up. If you don’t have a journal club to attend you can instead sign up for science newsletters like Nature Briefings. Reading little snippets about recent findings is helpful and pretty interesting. If you prefer to keep your reading outside of school to a minimum, Science Twitter is a great option too.
- Use a reference manager
Now that you’re reading all these articles, you’re going to need a way to organize them all. A lot of students use Mendeley or Endnote, which are reference managers. They not only store each article as a PDF, but they also store information about the reference. This way, when it’s time for you to write your own paper, you can easily find and cite each article.
- Make time for self care
This is one of the most important things in your graduate education: taking care of yourself. Spend time to prepare for the day and make yourself breakfast (or at least drink some water) before running to school. Make (or buy) yourself some lunch, take a snack break when you study, and do something nice for yourself. It doesn’t have to be a spa day, it can be a treat that you’re craving or just some quality time with yourself. Make sure you get enough rest and take care of yourself so you can do your best in school!
- Whatever you do, don’t quit during the first year
Graduate school can be a scary and isolating experience, especially if you started during the COVID-19 pandemic. But the best piece of advice I’ve gotten was this: don’t quit during the first year. No matter how hard it seems, do not quit during the first year. The first year is a difficult time because you’re adjusting to a completely different environment. Aside from the academic difficulty, for some this might be their first time in a new city, or their first time living alone in a new city. As I mentioned before, don’t be afraid to ask for help or consult a mentor. Odds are that the upperclassmen and your new classmates are feeling the same way. Once you get through the first year, you’ll have overcome one of the biggest adjustments of your life and be able to handle a lot more than you think.
Good luck!