An Open Letter to New Graduate Students

Epic post, Brian, and thanks for pulling it together. If I had my druthers, every Humanities grad student would get a copy of this taped to Graduate Study for the Twenty-First Century: How to Build an Academic Career in the Humanities and all would be right with the world (ok, perhaps not the last part).I wanted to note one thing about “pursuing internships or part-time jobs outside of your program”—while I absolutely agree, be aware that there may be some administrative red tape that goes with that. For instance, in the English Dept. at WSU we had to get a letter from the chair sent to the Grad School essentially stating that they knew we were working more (inside or outside academia) and that if we failed to finish on time it was the department’s responsibility and blah blah. Something about grad students in other departments taking much longer to finish than they should, so we had to do more paperwork, etc. Wasn’t a problem with the actual working, but students should know that they should be in touch with their administrative support staff to ensure that problems _don’t_ arise. That goes with Erin’s tweet above, “be nice to the administrative support staff. They will pull your bacon out of the fire more times than you can count” (which is 100% true).I agree w/ most everything said in the tweets above, and am glad some people noted that reading wisely (or strategically) is a good thing. It is. It goes with the balance, etc.

Superb (and superbly comprehensive) post, Brian. The only thing I was going to add was what Bill just noted above, that the list is really geared toward full-time Ph.D. students. Almost all of the graduate students I work with are part-time grad students with full-time jobs outside of their grad work (this applies to both the MA and PhD students I work with). In particular, I think MA students in a terminal Masters Program have a different set of concerns—and they would probably trend toward the Alt-AC side of the spectrum.Also, and this might sound strange coming from me (who has half-jokingly given completely opposite advice), but part-time students with full-time jobs might want to think very hard about the kind of online profile they build. I’ve had several graduate students who were strongly discouraged by their employers from posting on blogs or Twitter, for example.

Both Bill and Mark are right, of course, and I’ve made a wee editorial change at the beginning of the post. But instead of filling the comments with what would undoubtedly be very useful advice for the different population of students, can we table that in general and just plan to do a post that specifically addresses those students? So, commenters, please feel free to send those comments to ProfHackerCHE@gmail.com or @-reply to @ProfHacker on Twitter.

I also thought it was a great post. Can I just add something on networking. It’s vital but it’s also fun: most good things in my career have come from just chatting to people at conferences (like academic collaborations, writing things, even jobs) But I’ve also made good friends. It’s not as grim as it sounds…Also don’t assume that because you are a humble grad student, and view yourself as nobody and not at all interesting, that faculty members find it a bore to talk to you and are just being kind. We don’t and aren’t. We like meeting new people and we are as human as you are. (You don’t (sadly) get superpowers with the PhD and tenured job :-)) Just because you might have heard us give a paper or read something we’ve written it does not make us scary people (any more than we ever were) Also some people don’t stop being shy just because they are highly eminent scholars. I don’t include myself in this category, obviously, but can think of people with huge global reputations in their field who find meeting new people quite hard. So you might find it difficult to summon up the courage to say hello, but so might they! Doesn’t mean they aren’t pleased to talk to you.

Great post Brian. I’d add “begin to collect your professional documents” — things like letters of recommendation, curriculum vitae, and examples of your work. Start early and keep these in one (safe) place! It will make life so much easier later when you are applying for assistantships and jobs. Julie’s earlier ProfHacker post discussed using Interfolio for this purpose: http://chronicle.com/blogPost/Using-Interfolio-to-Manage-/24094/ . Dropbox and Evernote work great as well, but Interfolio lets you store confidential letters and do deliveries too.

@Julie: Thanks for your point about internships or jobs along with departmental red tape. In my mind the ideal would be to make such internships a part of a graduate program, but until they do, such administrative things do need to be considered. Part of the conditions for receiving my grad school stipend hinged on my not working at another job. It was easy to get exceptions to this principle granted, but it was something that I had to do. Also, thanks for making the changes to the intro.@Mark and Bill: Thanks for your points about the differences between MA (full-time or not) and PhD students. I do think that some advice pertains to both groups, but there are obviously differences as well. My experience is entirely with the latter, and I should have been more clear about that in the intro. Good thing we’ve got Julie around! I’ll look forward to a post that grows out of such a conversation.@natalieg: The wiki that I created is password protected for a number of reasons. But please email me and I can give you a sense of what we’ve got in there. @Lincoln: Your point about showing up to deparment events is crucial and one that I forgot. It’s not only about showing people that you care but about learning how one behaves the events that you’ll be attending for the coming six years (or 46 years). Learning when you’re a new grad student is far better than when you’re a new assistant professor as no one expects you to get everything right as a grad student. And once you start showing up for things, you can start figuring out how you can contribute (inviting speakers, being on committees, etc.).@clharwick: Thanks for making the point that networking can be fun. When I first started attending conferences, I had to force myself to interact with people because I knew that it was what I was supposed to be doing. These days, I do it because I’ve discovered how enjoyable it can be to get to know new people and their projects. One of the best things about graduate school was discovering how interesting very smart people’s projects were, even if they had nothing to do with my own.@mabelmeigs: You’re absolutely right that grad students should be looking out for one another and sharing what they know about being successful. Current grad students should be willing to cut all the new ones some slack and help them see through the facade we all perform when in the seminar room. Just remember how it was for you and be the person you would have liked to have around.@frankfessenden: Thanks for the reminder to keep vitae and other documents up to date. It’s amazing how quickly you forget all the awesome things you do.

AWESOME. I now feel the need to elaborate on my somewhat flippant tweet. I do stand behind the advice! But here’s a longer rationale:1. Syllabi for grad courses are notoriously unrealistic in their assigned reading. If professors actually tailored texts to what could reasonably and fruitfully be consumed and discussed in a given week, that’d be one thing. But they don’t! I promise you that your profs don’t actually expect you to carefully pore over 500+ pages times three seminars per week, guys!2. Grad students are notoriously neurotic and prone to obsess over doing exactly what we’re told. It would be easy to get caught up in following syllabi to the letter and do nothing but reading at the expense of other important aspects of learning/professionalization.The idea that a PhD represents a “life of the mind” where you dedicate yourself to a monastic and arcane experience of pure research is a throwback to a dangerously antiquated model of academia. Prioritizing reading assignments based on what is useful to YOU in your career is one “hack” that can facilitate other vital advice on this list, including “network,” “build an online profile,” and of course, “recognize that graduate school should not be your entire life.”

Fantastic post, and certainly a worthwhile read for students beyond their first year. Based on my own experience (I am currently a 3rd-year PhD student), I would stress that new students (and really all students) should seek out fellow classmates that they want to spend time with outside of school-related functions, people that they can commiserate with and go to when it seems like to world is collapsing around them. You need to be able to talk with someone who can empathize with what you’re going through, who really understands your struggles. I had never heard of impostor syndrome before I began my PhD program, but I certainly felt it right away (and still feel it on occasion), and I made the mistake of not talking about it, which only made it worse.It is also intimidating when, as a new student, you start working on a research team and you may be the only 1st year and you feel like you are so far behind everyone else, or that you will never live up to the standards you think others have set for you. Neither your advisor nor the other department faculty nor the more advanced students expect you to begin a PhD program with the knowledge they have. Remember, the faculty in your department may have 10, 20, or 30+ years of working in that field! They may set high goals for you to strive for, but they don’t expect you to know/produce/write/research/etc. at the levels they can.

I loved the post…as a current grad student, I think these all hit the nail on the head. I’d like to add a couple things I’ve found helpful:1. Your grad committee is ON YOUR TEAM. They’re invested in your success, and want you to succeed (or should, anyway), so don’t be afraid of them.2. You’re learning. So asking for help and saying, “I don’t know” is okay. We’re not supposed to know everything. That’s why we’re in graduate SCHOOL.3. Take a class on teaching college, particularly if you want to go into academia. Teaching is something we’ll all have to do, and a lot of grad programs don’t provide opportunities to learn how to do it. We should all be taking a class, instead of relying solely on TAing as our teaching training. Why not make teaching an enjoyable part of our careers, that we love to do and want to do well, instead of a chore that gets in the way?

I am one of many university advancement officers (fund-raisers, communications professionals, alumni relations specialists) who were pursuing a PhD years ago when the bottom dropped out of the market for humanities professors. Think about volunteering at the development office of your institution, and if you enjoy the work, keep it im mind as a potential career. It’s noble work, it’s varied and often exciting,and helps keep universities and colleges alive.

@vitak: Thanks for again emphasizing the importance of one’s cohort and other fellow graduate students. All of us who are further on in our academic careers also need to do our best to be willing to open up to people seeking collegial interactions. Remembering our own missteps through the minefield of graduate school will hopefully provoke the requisite empathy.@sanworker: I’m glad that you found the post useful and I hope your students do too. You’re absolutely right that the concept of “mere” MA students is problematic. Perhaps solving that problem can serve as a model for fixing the divide on campuses between faculty and staff/alt-ac individuals? I too will be looking forward to a list that we can produce to supplement this one that is also aimed at MA students.@brockter: Good point re: one’s committee. Many people arrive on campus intimidated by those with whom they’ve committed to work for several years, expecting the committee to not have time for them. Recognizing that you probably wouldn’t have been admitted to the program if those people weren’t already interested in you is a logical–if difficult–thing to do. And I absolutely agree with doing what one can to learn more about being an effective teacher. Getting better in the classroom leads to have more fun, which leads to getting better; finding virtuous circles is important.@dhiraj26: I find that doses of xkcd go well with PHD Comics.@elizabeth_o: Thanks for chiming in on your own alt-ac trajectory. Getting involved in campus units that are not departments or programs is something that I wish I had done more so that I would have had an earlier sense of what other careers one can do in the orbit of a university. I think it’s much easier to get that experience part-time as a grad student. Then you’ve got experience and a foot in the door for a full-time position should you want to pursue it.

On the PT MA dynamic: I find most other PT students, especially the Masters group to be much more “eyes on the prize” oriented. We show up on campus (as a student) for the 3 hrs once a week and when we need the library. The rest of the time we are with our families or at our day job. It’s not that we are anti-social; it’s just a much different focus for us. While we can relate to each other much more than the FT clique that forms each fall, largely we only discuss things related to class when we need to as going to school is not our primary identity.There are a great set of tidbits in the tweets above, and to add to those for other new *PT MA* students would be not to let others bother you or get under your skin, and look outward from your institution, not inward toward it as the center of your learning/research/involvement/etc (since it probably values full time students over part time students the same way it values docs over masters students). Don’t put all your eggs (opportunities/energy) in one basket (your institution) type deal. Last; just because you are in it for the long haul doesn’t mean you aren’t in it to win it, in some regards; it works to your advantage. The drawn out process allows more time to contemplate exactly what you want to have your culminating project be, tweaks to your course selection, or ultimately how you want to tailor our MA to catapult you toward where you want to go afterward. Similarly; if you are going PT, it’s probably because you are employed (hopefully with an employer in the sector you are interested in). The rest of the world will probably value your determination to slug through years of both work (which they value) and going to school to achieve your goal.The end destination may be the same, but PT students are more apt to travel their own way on back country roads then the FT freeway. Different tools are welcome on each route but what we get out of it will be very different, and neither will necessarily be better than the other.@g_page

“Can I just add something on networking. It’s vital but it’s also fun: most good things in my career have come from just chatting to people at conferences (like academic collaborations”.Not for introverts, it isn’t but then, I suspect that you don’t consider that, or think of introversion, at all, other than as a pathology to be overcome. Do introverts need to go to Europe, or to any other (from my perspective) sensible continents where extraversion is not the “norm”?

Great stuff. One more word of advice:Have fun! Seriously! Getting a PhD is a rare privilege that very few people experience. Few people have the time or the inclination to study something very intensively for years. Grad school helps build the skills to learn something fairly deeply. At the same time (and this is all my personal experience) the intellectual stimulation is a rush–exciting, intense, overwhelming, all those things. My PhD experience was the best time of my life–great cohort, excellent friends/classmates/colleagues, great professors and mentors, and I was fortunate to do it all in a beautiful city. [And, no, I wasn't in the "best" program in my field.] So this colors my enthusiasm. But most PhD students should have at least some of these things going for them. If you don’t, much of this advice in this thread and post will help you make the most of an imperfect situation. But sometimes the planets align, and things are good. If they are, *have fun!* Being a prof or other professional pays much better, but I’d submit that the intensity and novelty of getting one’s PhD can rarely be replicated in a “job.”

@caseygreen: Thanks for the recommendation. That’s not a book that I’m familiar with, but I’ll have to check it out.@gpage: Thanks for these suggestions. We’re brewing a post for MA students that will run shortly, and your points are certainly apt.@akana: I might ask the same thing about where this column was in 2002 when I needed it. That’s why we’re here now! (Also, in 1996, I was a sophomore. You didn’t want any advice I might have dispensd at the time.)@aldebaran: I know that networking isn’t fun for everyone. In fact, I believe that aspects of it aren’t fun for most anyone, as @karenjcannon notes. As @zefelius says below, however, it’s wishful thinking to believe that our hard work and effort will be recognized without any effort on our part. That might happen, but it’s much more likely to do so if we try to let others know about it.@karenjcannon: I think that the peer mentoring that you describe in your program is important and probably implemented in many programs. I’m really grateful that the program I attended was collegial and not hypercompetitive so all of this knowledge was easily shared via word of mouth or wiki.@tee_bee: Thanks for reminding us of the fun that is to be had and the privilege that it is to study for an advanced graduate degree. We shouldn’t overlook such opportunities and keep them in the forefront of our graduate experience may help us deal better with the hard times that are (almost certain) to come.@zefelius: You raise a good point about finding a balance on how public or outspoken one should be in the open space of the web. The DGS of my own program wrote me in response to this article to raise this point. It’s worth considering that what we put on the Internet will be with us for a very long time. And as much as I like Emerson’s idea that the truly self-reliant person need not trouble him- or herself with consistancy, Emerson also didn’t have to deal with the academic job market. While each of us has to choose how we will manage our online profile, incoming graduate students might not understand the ramifications of their choices and so it’s worth discussing the different possibilities with them.

The impostor syndrome is a consistent issue with students. You can take an online quiz at http://www.impostorquiz.com.