Getting the Most out of Graduate School
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As you begin your UCSB graduate experience, here are some general suggestions to
make it more enjoyable and rewarding while minimizing your time to degree completion.
Strive for consistency and be an "early bird"
While consistent performance is viewed by some as boring, it can provide insurance
against the valleys that inevitably follow peak experiences. Consistent performance
often tends to produce better results over time. Whenever feasible, find a research
advisor, initiate research, and take key exams as soon as you can. Fulfilling each
of these will give you a feeling of accomplishment and make it easier to sustain
momentum over the long haul.
Get involved
Get involved in departmental affairs, university governance, or a peer group organized
around shared interests. The Graduate Students Association is a good place to begin.
Become your department's representative to the GSA or attend the monthly meetings
of the GSA General Council. In many departments, students can serve on departmental
committees or other departmental decision-making bodies. There are a host of university
committees-ranging from a student fee committee to one on parking-that seek graduate
student representatives. Contact the Office of Budget and Planning for further information.
Becoming more familiar with how the university operates can help you later if you
plan a career in academia.
Help to develop departmental activities to bring others together
If your department doesn't currently offer periodic get-togethers or symposia, help create them. You
might start by creating a faculty panel to discuss professional norms in the discipline,
what attracted faculty to the discipline, where they think the discipline is headed,
or developments in their personal research. Create colloquia or symposia to give
students the opportunity to present their research findings or to discuss other
concerns. Seek to foster a spirit of collegiality in your department if one doesn't
exist at present.
Seek peer advisors
I wish I had known that it is easy to meet other graduate students just by getting
involved in campus clubs and organizations.
The importance of peer learning is often overlooked. In many instances, more experienced
students in your department or students from other disciplines who "know the ropes"
can provide you with valuable advice on the way things are most readily accomplished.
The Graduate Division Peer Advisors are available for problem solving and have helped
launch dissertation writing or support groups. These groups are organized around
a specific goal, such as dissertation completion or exam preparation, and can provide
a vehicle to ensure a greater measure of consistency for the participants. Groups
with similar interests can be essential to getting the most out of life: the campus
is rich with groups, organizations, and networks.
Take advantage of the multicultural resources available to you; learn more about
and value diversity.
Seldom will you have more of an opportunity to learn from other
people and their cultures than you do at a university, particularly UCSB. The university
represents a model United Nations in a very real sense, while also bringing together
people of various ages with a broad spectrum of intellectual, social, and political
interests. Begin with the MultiCultural Center's offerings or those of Arts & Lectures,
or go to the web page of some discipline in which you've always been interested
to see if they have colloquia you might attend. Good luck!
--Graduate Division Staff
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