Thriving in Graduate School

You made it! Now the real work begins.

  • Take advantage of all that the campus has to offer. Marymount, for instance, extends all kinds of services to graduate students—the Center for Teaching & Learningcounselingstudy abroad, multimedia services, etc.
  • Connect with other students juggling home/work/school. Some universities have graduate student associations that facilitate peer support and lobby on students’ behalf.
  • Befriend your librarians. They can make your life as a researcher so much easier. Universities often have institutional subscriptions to online bibliographic management programs—at Marymount, RefWorks —that save useful citations for multiple bibliographies.
  • Prepare for your career as intensely as you prepared for graduate school. Hone your writing and presentation skills. Learn how to organize your work and your time. Seek out opportunities – advice.pdf
    • to present—on campus, in the community, and at conferences.
    • to publish —everywhere. Work your way up to an academic journal in your field.
    • to network.
  • Pat yourself on the back now and then. You are on your way to becoming one of the roughly 10 percent of Americans who hold a graduate or professional degree.