Back to Blog

Tips for Graduate Students

7/24/2024 2:58 pm

By Dr. Julia Dunn

 

Having recently defended my PhD, I find myself reflecting on the guidance I was given, the lessons I have learned, and the advice I want to share with students just starting. In the absence of junior PhD students in my research team, I instead openly offer the following five pieces of unsolicited advice:

  1. Come into the lab/office in person. Far more than when I started my PhD, we are set up for hybrid and remote work. There may be benefits to working from home some of the time. However, ensuring that you come into your office or lab regularly will help you to build a support system within your research group. Building personal relationships with your lab mates makes it easier to support and help each other when the need arises. A PhD is not completed alone, and the support, compassion, and friendship of lab mates can make a big difference in success in a graduate program. In person meetings offer the opportunity to build stronger interpersonal relationships and a more interactive experience [1]. Having these relationships with lab mates is beneficial, especially for new graduate students. Sharing an office space with older students will allow you to learn community knowledge about research resources on campus, which conferences your lab likes to submit abstracts to, and what techniques are already established in the lab. In-person lab and office interactions allow for more impromptu brainstorming and troubleshooting or an easier time with demonstrations [2]. It can also feel more accessible to ask the ‘silly questions’ when you’re leaning over to the person next to you, instead of writing an email and hoping you’re sending it to the right person [3].
  2. Get involved in your graduate community. Several studies report ‘predictors of success’ for PhD students. The most consistently reported external predictors are quality of mentorship, financial support, and a sense of belonging in the program [4-8]. Reports suggest that students who “perceive themselves to be a valuable member of their departmental and/or scholarly communities report better well-being, higher interest, and better achievement,” as this allows for information sharing and forming a strong academic identity [8]. Once enrolled in a graduate program, the mentor and level of financial support are established. So, from there on out, the external factor that a PhD student has the most control over is whether they put in the effort to integrate into the community of students in their program. Try going to department seminars and mingling with peers and faculty, attend departmental graduate student meetings to get involved and learn what is happening, attend peer presentations, or volunteer with peers for outreach events in the community beyond the institution. Putting yourself out there may feel intimidating or awkward, but it will also improve the likelihood of your success in your graduate program, and you might even make friends in the process.
  3. Trust your gut when you need rest. Graduate research and school, in general, are often unique experiences in a new way for most. Your timeline is arbitrary, and most deadlines are internal. Over five years, the minimum degree requirements must be met, and there is a lot of wiggle room in those five years. This lack of structure and many other factors make graduate school very stressful [9], and the feeling of needing to work all the time makes it hard to take a moment to rest, relax, and tend to mental health. Research tells us that rest and relaxation benefit our learning, memory retention, and brain efficiency [10-12]. However, it is too easy to listen to peers talking (maybe even bragging) about late nights and weekend lab sessions and feel inadequate or like you should be coming in on the weekends too. The result can be a feeling of anxiety, that resting is ‘wasting time,’ and that anxiety impedes the effects of the attempted rest [13]. Instead, set boundaries around when you work or think about work. Figure out what work schedule enables you to be productive and happy, stick to it the best you can, and make time for rest and relaxation. For example, I don’t check email after 5 pm; that way, it is easier for me to ensure I wrap up my work in the evening on my timeline and do not get sucked into a new task for someone else. Gentle exercise, reading for fun (I love turning off my brain during a trashy beach romance), going into nature and enjoying the greenery, or using a meditation or mindfulness app are all great ways to practice rest and relaxation.
  4. Apply to everything. There are obvious reasons to apply for external or internal funding through scholarships and fellowships. Winning funds to cover or supplement a PhD stipend can reduce the need to TA through the entirety of graduate school, show initiative to an advisor, and may give research autonomy. Additionally, winning these awards can improve a CV and help with career goals. However, applying to these awards can be intimidating because time and effort go into preparing an application, and failure is always possible. So, what’s the worst thing that happens? You take the time to apply, don’t get the award or honor, nothing changes, but at a minimum, you have learned something. I think of this as falling forward (something my dad used to say to me). In life, if you are going to fall, fall forward, so that you are better positioned to succeed at the next opportunity. You took the time to write down your accomplishments in a personal statement, you outlined and described a research plan, and you updated your CV. These are all tasks that are important, time consuming, and will benefit you in the long run. Personal statements can be tweaked and updated for the next application. Your research plan has now been thought through, and though it will likely change, you have done a lot of the initial and necessary work. Your CV will be easier to update next time. And with many awards, feedback is provided, which will help you find room for improvement on the next application. And while I cannot tell you how many times I have applied to a fellowship or grant that I did not earn (because I lost count), I can tell you I thought every award I did win was a longshot. So, go for it, and remember that if you fall, you have fallen forward, placing you closer to your next goal.
  5. Find what works for you. I know this seems like an obvious and potentially unhelpful, one, but I mean it to apply to the small, daily things. Each graduate student faces unique challenges, and no one blog post will address every challenge. Instead, this is a reminder to speak up for yourself and support yourself. Advisor-advisee relationships are just that, relationships. All relationships require communication about needs and expectations; have conversations with advisors and mentors early and often to ensure that you are meeting their expectations, and that they are supporting you. There are excellent resources to guide these conversations and help mentees identify what they want from their relationships with their advisors and mentors [14]. PhD programs and research are much more self-guided than most undergraduate programs, so finding tools and techniques to keep on task and motivated will be instrumental. Take advantage of software that’s out there already. If there is too much to keep track of, Notion (there is a free academic version) can be used to keep track of tasks and deadlines. If getting started feels overwhelming, Goblin.Tools has a free to-do list tool, which uses AI to break down big tasks (like completing a response to reviewers) into smaller, less daunting tasks, and can even estimate the time each task will take. If writing that first draft feels like too much, name the document “outline” (my written dissertation was saved as dissertation_outline for months until I submitted it to my advisor). Make time to use the (usually free) mental health services at your school, there might be peer support groups or workshops to help deal with stress. Some ways to provide self-support might feel silly or embarrassing, but all that matters is they make work easier for you. And if it works for you, it might work for others, so be confident in sharing your tools!

 

Julia Dunn, PhD is a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Denver. She received her Bachelor’s in Biomedical Engineering from the Worcester Polytechnic Institute in 2019 before moving to the University of Utah to complete her Master’s and PhD in Biomedical Engineering in 2021 and 2024. Julia focuses on developing methods to measure biomechanics and mobility in patients with upper extremity amputations, and has used her research and teaching experiences to create educational modules for K-12 students.

 

  1. Huebner, M., et al., What matters to graduate students? Experiences at a statistical consulting center from pre- to post-covid-19 pandemic. Stat, 2024. 13(1): p. e659.
  2. Wisker, G., et al., Remote doctoral supervision experiences: Challenges and affordances. Innovations in Education and Teaching International, 2021. 58(6): p. 612-623.
  3. Scott, C.P.R., et al., Onboarding during covid-19. Organizational Dynamics, 2022. 51(2): p. 100828.
  4. Sørensen, H.T., I-determinants for a successful phd or postdoctoral outcome. Clinical Epidemiology, 2016. 8(null): p. 297-303.
  5. Anderson, B., M. Cutright, and S. Anderson, Academic involvement in doctoral education: Predictive value of faculty mentorship and intellectual community on doctoral education outcomes. International Journal of Doctoral Studies, 2013. 8: p. 195.
  6. Maton, K.I., et al., Outcomes and processes in the meyerhoff scholars program: Stem phd completion, sense of community, perceived program benefit, science identity, and research self-efficacy. CBE—Life Sciences Education, 2016. 15(3): p. ar48.
  7. Van Rooij, E., M. Fokkens-Bruinsma, and E. Jansen, Factors that influence phd candidates’ success: The importance of phd project characteristics. Studies in Continuing Education, 2021. 43(1): p. 48-67.
  8. Sverdlik, A., et al., The phd experience: A review of the factors influencing doctoral students’ completion, achievement, and well-being. International Journal of Doctoral Studies, 2018. 13: p. 361-388.
  9. Hyun, J.K., et al., Graduate student mental health: Needs assessment and utilization of counseling services. Journal of College Student Development, 2006. 47(3): p. 247-266.
  10. Bönstrup, M., et al., A rapid form of offline consolidation in skill learning. Current Biology, 2019. 29(8): p. 1346-1351.e4.
  11. Gais, S., B. Lucas, and J. Born, Sleep after learning aids memory recall. Learning & Memory, 2006. 13(3): p. 259-262.
  12. Aarabi, H., M. Abdi, and H. Heydari, Effects of relaxation training to increase self-esteem in the university’s graduate students. International Journal of New Trends in Social Sciences, 2018. 2(2): p. 32-38.
  13. Newman, M.G., L.S. Lafreniere, and N.C. Jacobson, Relaxation-induced anxiety: Effects of peak and trajectories of change on treatment outcome for generalized anxiety disorder. Psychotherapy Research, 2018. 28(4): p. 616-629.
  14. Tsai, A., et al., A mentee’s guide to the mentoring relationship, U.o.U.S.o. Medicine, Editor. 2023.