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Graduate School

A student posted a message on our dean’s blog:

Anonymous said… What are ways that you can benefit most from the time you are in Graduate school if you also work full time?

I thought about this for a while since I’m in the very same boat.

Graduate school for most involves working full time while attending classes. What do you learn from this? Perseverance. It’s difficult to go to classes after working all day. It’s difficult to complete school assignments on time, especially when there are work assignments and the dealings of every day life (dropping off the dry cleaning, spending time with children, food shopping, etc). While there is no doubt that the courses are beneficial in terms of learning information and expanding your horizons; just as important is learning how to manage your time, and developing the grit to just put your head down and “get it done”.

I approach life in graduate school as “Basic Training”. Once it’s completed, nothing my regular workplace can throw at me will seem difficult. Why? Because assuming you know how to do your job, 90% of being successful at work requires the ability to manage your time and completing projects. Graduate students who work full time simply become experts in this because we have to.

For me, there are only three courses left to finish after this semester. I’ll try to finish before the end of summer. I have to think long and hard about the committment required before continuing for the Ph.D.

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