Chandra Crane continues her series of letters for families of new graduate students, digging further into advice on what it means to support the graduate student in your life. Read Part 1 here. Part II: A New Course of Study, and Some Advice Dear New Graduate Student's Family, … [Read more...] about Letter to a New Graduate Student’s Family, Part 2
Advice for Entering Graduate School
Letter to a New Graduate Student’s Family, Part 1
Chandra Crane starts a new series by sharing her own journey of being family to a graduate student. Over the next few weeks, she'll further unpack ways of engaging in the unique journey of having a loved one in graduate school. Part I: Congratulations and Welcome Dear New Graduate Student's Family, Congratulations! Your loved one is not the only one starting a new journey. You have also started grad school, and you are now working on your own program of study. You have now begun your “PhT”: your Pushed him/her … [Read more...] about Letter to a New Graduate Student’s Family, Part 1
Letter to a New Graduate Student
Dear New Graduate Student, I don't know you. And yet today, I think about you and pray for you. The academic world is small and mobile enough that there's a good chance we'll be on the same campus at some point in our lifetimes, and yet this letter is probably the only chance I'll be able to speak these words to you. And reflecting back on my own first year as a graduate student reminds me of all I want to say to you, to tell you that you aren't alone. … [Read more...] about Letter to a New Graduate Student
Faithfulness In the Preparation
When I first realized that the taking the Graduate Record Exam © was on my horizons, I trembled a good bit. As my friends burned, sold, and threw away their textbooks after finals, I ordered two test preparation books and settled down for two months of math, reading, and writing prep. It was in the midst of my math study doldrums that Tom Grosh IV [Associate Director of the Emerging Scholars Network] asked me to consider writing a post about preparing to take the exam. I told him I would brainstorm some ideas, but I … [Read more...] about Faithfulness In the Preparation
What Do You Need to Get Ready for Graduate School?
In the Spring a student's fancy lightly turns to thoughts of graduate school. – Alfred Lord Tennyson, more or less In recent weeks, I've addressed whether graduate school was a path a certain doom (no) and whether getting a tenure-track job was a futile dream (probably). Most students thinking about graduate school, however, aren't planning on a PhD. They're thinking of a professional degree with a specific career path in mind, a master's to explore their discipline further, or (in many cases) simply continued … [Read more...] about What Do You Need to Get Ready for Graduate School?