Heartbreak

If you get through grad school without a little heartbreak, it means you didn't invest much in the process. Learning is hard. Growing and developing new understanding can hurt a little bit. 

That's okay. You're tough. 

Also, ask for help if you need it.

But not help like, "I'll pay you to do this assignment for me." That's an academic integrity violation. 

Conduct

Reese just finished a first-ever conduct meeting with a student. Nice job, Reese, but you're not Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

Reflective Practice

Students didn't always realize how much the classroom experience meant to their professor. One day the professor walked home in the rain after a difficult day in class. Thinking "I don't know if they learned anything. I don't know if I taught anything," did not make the walk home go any faster.

The professor got even more depressed remembering the drive to work that morning. And that the car was parked on the other side of campus. 

Dogs

Sometimes when you get some time off, it's good to spend that time with dogs. They reduce stress and live in the moment and are great role models. They can help us disengage from the stress of graduate level work. 

Unless one of the dogs tries to get you to go to an abandoned amusement park or a construction site after dark or somebody's uncle's ranch. If you get sucked into that, it will NOT decrease your stress. Trust me.

Fitting In

There's always that one grad student who feels like they don't quite fit in. And by "that one" I mean all of them. They all feel that way sometimes. 




Gardner, S. K., & Holley, K. A. (2011). Those invisible barriers are real: The progression of 
first-generation students through doctoral education. Equity & Excellence in 
Education, 44(1), 77-92.

Gibson‐Beverly, G., & Schwartz, J. P. (2008). Attachment, entitlement, and the impostor phenomenon in female graduate students. Journal of College Counseling, 11(2), 119-132.

Lane, J. A. (2015). The imposter phenomenon among emerging adults transitioning into professional life: Developing a grounded theory. Adultspan Journal, 14(2), 114-128.

Idea

The professor had some BIG IDEAS for the course this fall...

Feelings

Reese knew that they had to put their feelings about undergrad behind them now that they were in graduate school.

But they were such happy feelings...

Of course ultimately they were just feelings. Nothing more than feelings.