How To Get Your Work Published As A Graduate Student

27 January 2011.  TalentEgg Incubator.

As a graduate student, you are encouraged to do other activities other than those associated with your course work.

This can include extra-curricular activities, volunteering, or working part-time.  However, it is also suggested that you work on expanding your curriculum vitae.

“It is valuable for graduate students to publish as early and often as they can. Not only does it assist in the pursuit of scholarships, it will also help with future job prospects.”
—Chris Andersen, associate professor, University of Alberta

Other than presenting at an academic conference, you can also submit papers for publication in academic journals to enhance your CV .

This is especially important if you are contemplating applying for a PhD, since the competition for spots in a PhD program is even more intense than at the masters level.

Additionally, if you plan on pursuing the path of academia as a profession, you will need proof of your scholarly abilities when you are applying for post-docs, which is assessed in part by what is found on your CV.

I spoke with  Chris Andersen, an associate professor in the Faculty of Native Studies at the University of Alberta, who is also the editor of the Aboriginal Policy Studies journal, to get his opinions  on graduate students getting their work published and how to do so.

Q. Why should graduate students submit papers to academic journals?
A. While the “ publish or perish” cliché has probably been overdrawn, it is nonetheless valuable for graduate students to publish as early and often as they can. Not only does it assist in the pursuit of scholarships, it will also help with future job prospects.

Less instrumentally, its also a valuable exercise to engage in because it requires graduate students to come to firm conclusions about the literature they read and to position themselves and their arguments in light of such literature. Finally, it provides an entry into one of the primary duties of an academic – publishing – and begins a training process that they will engage in for the rest of their professional lives.

Q. What does a great submission consist of?
A. No one thing makes a great submission. However, we ask our referees to examine the extent to which the article makes a substantive contribution to scholarship, theoretical understanding or specific debates of interest to the readers of the journal. Likewise, given the audience we’re pitching the journal to, the writing should be relatively non-technical and be of interest to practitioners.

Manuscripts that are interdisciplinary and address emerging issues or areas are looked upon favourably, especially if the author demonstrates a clear command of their field of interest and positions their arguments within a literature (or literatures).

Q. What is the peer-review process, and why is it done?
A. We employ a “double blind” peer review process, such that our authors never know the reviewers, nor vice versa. Peer review is important because it assures rigorous but fair examination of the article that rests primarily on the validity and strength of the argument – as gauged by other knowledgeable individuals within the field – rather than the personalities of its author (or reviewer).

Given how invested scholars are in their particular fields, differences of opinion will emerge regardless and it is up to the editor to make a final decision – however, it all begins with the peer review process.

Q. Who can students ask for help in submitting a paper to the journal?
A. I’m not sure all editors would be willing to help, although personally I have no problem helping students.

Usually, the student should talk to his or her supervisor, a favourite professor (other than the supervisor) who seems approachable, and even other students who have already published.

Important: attend as many of the PRO seminars on professional development and grant writing (presented by many universities) as these give numerous tips and pointers that may prove valuable to getting their confidence up for a first submission.

Q. What should a graduate student do if their submission gets rejected?
A. “If at first you don’t succeed…” The main thing to keep in mind is that no matter how good you think your manuscript is, rejections can occur for any number of reasons. Two common ones include the editor deciding it’s not the proper fit for that particular journal (and may encourage you to submit elsewhere) and reviewers finding that the manuscript has potential but that the analysis is still a tad immature.

From the student’s perspective, the main thing to keep in mind is to use every review as a learning experience. Some reviews will feel unfair, others simply puzzling – but there’s something to be gained from calmly and dispassionately absorbing the critiques and positioning your argument in light of them (and don’t feel you need to change them simply because a reviewer disagrees with them – however, what you will need to do is position your arguments in light of those critiques).

Most importantly, if you feel strongly about your arguments and analyses, do not give up!

Q. Is there anything else you think graduate students should know about submitting papers to academic journals?
A. If you’re going to take your submission seriously and to increase your chances of success, speak to a senior professor within your department who “knows the ropes” and get him or her to read your paper and make comments on it (being sure to explain which journal you’re planning on submitting it to).

Likewise, if you write an essay for a class, make sure to talk to the instructor to ask him or her how you can make changes to the paper in pursuit of a peer-reviewed publication. They’re often the best positioned to give substantive feedback because they understand the broader context within which you positioned the paper.

If I could give one piece of advice to students: the decision to submit a manuscript is much more daunting than actually submitting it. That said, make sure you give yourself every chance to succeed by submitting as high-quality, journal mandate-relevant and as “clean” a copy as possible.

Q&A With A Medical Student Studying Abroad

18 January 2011.  TalentEgg Incubator.

On TV shows like Scrubs , medicine seems like a funny occupation.

But if you were to watch Grey’s Anatomy or House, you’d know that, along with all the jokes, it can be really difficult work too.

In actuality, medicine is an incredibly challenging field, leaving you to work long hours week after week.

“[Living abroad] makes you more resourceful, encourages you to try new things, lets you appreciate what it really means to ‘come home,’ etc.” —Joanna Mathisen, second year medical student, University of Aberdeen

And if that isn’t enough to dissuade you, gaining admission to medical school is very competitive, and also require long hours of studying and hard work once you’re in the program.

So then why do people want to become doctors in the first place?  Quite simply, they wish to help others and make their lives better.

Joanna Mathisen has wanted to be a doctor for most of her life.  But unlike many Canadians, she decided she wanted to leave the country and attend medical school abroad after completing an English degree with a minor in art history at McMaster University.

Joanna is currently in her second year of studies at the University of Aberdeen in Scotland.

Q.Why did you consider applying to medical school abroad in the first place?
A. Because I wanted to live in Scotland – it was very simple! I want to get more travelling in while I’m young and I lived abroad before (in France), and figured that although being an international student is expensive, it would be worth the expense to live for five more years in a foreign country. With a good excuse!

Q. What made you decide on going to U Aberdeen after getting accepted?
A. It was the only university that had accepted me, primarily!

Also, I have two distant cousins in Aberdeen who took me out for dinner and showed me around the town when I went over for my interview, so I felt comfortable there.

Q.What are some things that med school abroad can give you that you can’t get in Canada?
A. Experience living abroad! It’s something I think everyone should do, if they can. Of course, it’s very much a privilege to be able to live abroad, so that makes it extra special. It makes you more resourceful, encourages you to try new things, lets you appreciate what it really means to ‘come home,’ etc.

Medical school is pretty similar across the board (not like taking a Canadian history degree elsewhere!), so you’re not straying too far away from Canadian standards by going somewhere like Scotland.

Q. How will getting your degree abroad make things better for you in terms of practicing medicine?
A. Well, it gives you more choices in terms of where to practise! I’m trying to decide whether to start working here or Canada, and I have that option.

Coming home will be difficult, but not impossible, and I’ve begun my career in the British system, so I can also work here if I wish to. It’s exciting to have that kind of opportunity!

Q. How will getting your degree abroad make things more challenging for you to obtain a residency after graduation?
A. To be honest, I haven’t looked into coming home in much detail because I’m taking things one day at a time. I’m sure I’ll have to write a few difficult exams, and fewer training positions will be open to me than for Canadian-trained students, but the experience of being abroad outweighs those difficulties.

Q. What is the coolest thing about doing your degree in Scotland?
A. I’ve met some amazing people, gotten to know some Scottish family, and met an amazing  Scottish guy who’s now very important to me! It’s been quite a ride!

Q. What is the single-most important piece of advice you would pass on to others considering applying to med school abroad?
A. I would advise anyone to apply abroad even just to be able to dream about it!

Danielle’s Grad School Update: Month 4

6 January 2011.  TalentEgg Incubator.

I think I was a little bit too cocky the last couple of months, because December pummeled the crap out of me.  It was like getting a kick to the (proverbial) balls.  If you recall:

I almost cried in their office.  I had never been told I was a poor writer, even during the first year of my undergrad. This made me concerned that there would be no possible way I could pursue a PhD.

• September was pretty easy.
• October was not as easy, but still relatively stress-free.
• November was  manageable.

So what happened?  Term papers.  Horrible, dreadful, soul-crushing term papers.

Now, you’d think that these papers were especially long, or on ridiculously obscure topics assigned by my professors.  Not true.  Both were less than 20 pages (so lengths I was used to completing during my bachelor’s degrees) and both were on topics I developed myself (and topics I was excited about, I may add).

After I left the relative safety of November, I developed a considerable amount of self-doubt, which caused a bad case of “the block”.  Consequently, it took me a long time to start the writing process. It was an intense battle, but I managed to power everything and hand in my papers on-time (but barely, I was down to the wire both times).

As soon as I finished writing, there was no rest for the wicked: it was on to marking my students’ term papers, and following that, their exams.  That was the second (and third) battles I had to conquer in as many weeks.  50 or so hours of marking later (and 10 hours before my flight left) I was free (for 13 days)!!

But for a lot of the time I was home, I was worried that what I handed in was dreadful.  And I had just cause to do so: I happened to run into one my professors a couple of days before I left, and they said although I had great ideas, my writing needed considerable work.

I almost cried in their office.  I had never been told I was a poor writer, even during the first year of my undergrad. So, needless to say, I was worried and anxious that I was going to end up with an awful grade.   This made me doubt my abilities even more, and made me concerned that there would be no possible way I could pursue a PhD.

However, just before New Year’s Eve, both of my grades were posted.   Although I did not do badly, I’m still not quite satisfied with my marks; I could have done better on my papers and, as a result, better in the courses overall (but remember, I’m a keener).

What is most important is what I can take away from all of this: I know now I need to start writing earlier in the term, and one can’t subsist on pizza and energy drinks alone (everyone needs sleep eventually).

Despite everything, I managed a major accomplishment: I’m one-quarter of the way through my masters and the upcoming term is looking good.

Considering Law School: The Bar And Beyond

17 December 2010.  TalentEgg Incubator.

In the previous two articles about considering law school – The Application Process and Studying, Summering, Articling And More – Western law school graduate Alina Preston walked us through the application process as well as the life of a law student.

This time, Preston explains the bar exam and next steps for law school graduates.

“If you’re still not deterred, it’s an amazing profession. The type of work you do is at such a high level, the clients you deal with come in such a range, and at the end of the day you’re helping people move forward with their lives.” —Alina Preston, University of Western Ontario law school graduate

Q. How do you prepare for the bar exam?
A. The bar admission exams are written after you finish law school. There are two of them: the solicitors and the barristers. These exams change depending on which province you’re writing them in.

In Ontario, if you write the exams in the first sitting, end of May and June, you are given the material with six weeks to study from the time you receive the material to the time you write the last exam. So, working backwards, you get the materials right after you finish writing your last third-year law school exams. Which sucks. But almost everyone does it that way.

You study – which means you read through the 1600 pages of material, highlighting as you go and hoping that you remember it when you do the multiple choice exams. The Law Society recommends that you read through the material three times, but this is virtually impossible based on how long it takes the average person to read through a given page. Most students are happy if they make it through all the materials once.

They are open book exams, so worst case (in fact, for most cases) you can just flip through the material. To study for it, people also usually split into groups to create or update last year’s “indices,” which are very much what it sounds like. There are key words written down (alphabetically) and a corresponding page number. So if a question is talking about Topic X, you can look up in your index Topic X, find the appropriate page in the materials, and then read the blurb about it.

There are two weeks that separate each exam. Which doesn’t usually leave enough time to start the second batch of materials after you finish writing the first exam, so plan your studying accordingly. Most people treat it like a job: study from 9-5, and then enjoy your evenings. Depending on your study progress, you may have to extend the studying to the weekends.

Q. What is the bar exam like?
A. It is a marathon. If your write the exams in Toronto, which a vast majority of students do – there were about 1,000 of us writing the June exams, all in the same hall – you’ll be surrounded by students from most of the Ontario law schools. You have to go through security, you’re restricted on what you can bring and how you can bring it in, and everything is regulated to the point that you feel like you’re in kindergarten.

The exam instructions begin at 8:45 a.m., which means you will likely arrive around 7:30 a.m., so that you can sign in, go through security and have time to mentally prepare yourself. The exam finishes at 5:30 p.m., which means you will likely get out of there around 6 p.m. So that means you’ve been at the testing centre almost 11 hours.

By the halfway point, your brain starts to go numb and you just want to get out of there. But you have about a minute and a half to do each question, including reading, researching, and answering so your brain doesn’t have time to stop working. The questions are all multiple choice, so the answer is there somewhere, and the answers also give you an indication of what type of answer they’re looking for (something general or specific).

But there is good news. Most students end up passing, and if you don’t, you have nine more tries within the following three years to write the exam(s) again and try to pass.

Q. Now that you’ve passed the bar exam, what are your options?
A. Once you finish law school and pass the bar exams, you’re still not a lawyer yet. You then have to article for 10 months at a firm and do an online course during this. Some firms require that you finish your bar exams before you start articling, and others are willing to allow you to study and write them during your articling term.

Once your articling is complete, your mentor recommends to the Law Society that you get called to the bar. There are a couple call dates during the year, and once you are called, you are officially a lawyer – finally. So law school, plus studying and writing the bar exams, plus articling totals about four years.

After articling, your firm can then hire you back (or not) as a junior associate. Many of the large Bay Street firms only hire back 50% of their articling students. Consequently, articling is a stressful time.

“If you’re looking to make a lot of money, aim to become a CEO or a VP or go into government. Much better salaries, better hours, better benefits, and sweet severance packages.”

You are the office bitch. You’re the first to arrive in the morning and the last to leave at night. You take on extra work that the rational part of your brain says that you should not. Why? Because you’re not a lawyer yet. Because there’s no guarantee the firm will recommend you get called to the bar to become a lawyer. Because there’s no guarantee you’ll have a job after you finish articling. And because you’re competing against colleagues who are as smart, if not smarter, than you.

So to summarize the process: you stress trying to get into law school.  You stress during your first year of law. Second- and third-year law aren’t too bad and are actually fun. Then you stress about passing the bar exams. Then you stress about articling. You are basically on this rollercoaster of stress, and when you calculate at the end of the day how much you’re getting paid, it’s scarcely better than minimum wage sometimes.

Is this really the profession for you? If you’re still not deterred, it’s an amazing profession. The type of work you do is at such a high level, the clients you deal with come in such a range, and at the end of the day you’re helping people move forward with their lives.

Q. What are some misconceptions about lawyers that are out there?
A. That they get paid a lot. They do, but if you break it down and count all the hours spent in the office combined with all the hours spent on their “crackberries,” it’s not that much in the end. If you’re looking to make a lot of money, aim to become a CEO or a VP or go into government. Much better salaries, better hours, better benefits, and sweet severance packages.

That we’re all slimy grease balls out to steal all your money. We’re not. Or at least most of us aren’t. You’ll meet the odd jerk, but that’s true for any profession and for society at large. Lawyers have to be meticulous, in order that they close off any loopholes and get the maximum benefit for their client. As a result, it takes more time and effort, which is why it costs more.

That we’re all alcoholics. This is mostly true. Alcohol is one of the most accepted forms of socializing and unwinding, so lawyers tend to do it. A lot.

Considering Law School: Studying, Summering, Articling And More

8 December 2010.  TalentEgg Incubator.

In the previous Considering Law School article, I interviewed Alina Preston, a graduate of The University of Western Ontario’s law school, about the application process.

In this article, Alina provides additional insight about what law school classes are like, the material law students study, as well as what law students do when they’re not in the classroom (or the library). She is currently articling at a firm in Toronto.

“With so little feedback on whether you’re actually understanding the material, first year is indeed stressful. Students end up spending 95% of their time reading and summarizing their readings.” —Alina Preston, University of Western Ontario law school graduate

Q. What do you learn as a first year law student?
A. At Western, and I believe most other law schools, first-year law courses are all mandatory and students have no say in what and when they are taking courses.

First year provides you the basic foundation in several areas of law, including criminal,  torts, property, constitutional (or public), contracts and a legal writing class.

Western also requires students to take foundations of law (history of law) and legal ethics in first year.

The main courses are full year courses, with midterms in December and finals in April. The legal writing class is the only one that involves writing assignments. The other two classes, foundations and ethics, are each half a year course so their finals are in December and April respectively.

With so little feedback on whether you’re actually understanding the material, first year is indeed stressful. Students end up spending 95% of their time reading and summarizing their readings.

At Western, class sizes are small. Some of my classes only had 17 students, and one or two classes had our entire grade (165 students). This smaller class size was very beneficial in learning from the professors and being able to ask questions. It also facilitated getting to know everyone within our year. By the end of the three years, I knew by face, if not by name, every person in my graduating class.

Q. What do you learn as a second and third year law student?
A. In second and third year, all the classes were only half a year in length. While there were a few core courses that had to be taken at some point in second or third year, the rest of the courses you were able to pick on your own. Some courses were paper courses, where there was no final exam and just a 30+ page paper, and others had a midterm or assignment and a final.

During these upper years, it is a mix between second and third year students in the classes.

There are also less classes to take in a given year – between four and five courses per semester, rather than the seven courses required in first year. As a result, upper years are much easier and less stressful than first year.

Q. What is “summering”?
A. The process of getting a summer job at a law firm after second year, termed “summering” is a competitive, stressful and often disappointing process. Students ready their resumés and cover letters during the summer after first year, to be submitted to law firms the first week or so of September. Students usually end up applying to any and all law firms, because first year does not provide enough specific information about what type of law students actually want to practice.

“The actual summering at a firm is quite enjoyable. You get paid pretty well (if you’re at one of the bigger firms) and they try to take it easy on you because they want you to come back.”

As a result, firms are inundated with applications, which makes it that much more competitive to get an interview, never mind the job. Once applications are in, firms let students know who gets an interview.

The interviews last from Monday through Wednesday, with cocktails and dinners thrown in on Monday and Tuesday nights, making the long days that much longer.

Wednesday at 5 p.m. firms make the call to offer job(s). By 5:30 p.m. everything is over and you know whether you have a job for the following summer (six months down the road).

If you were unable to secure a job during this crazy process (which is regulated by the Law Society), then you spend the rest of second year trying to avoid talking about summer jobs and hope that you can find something in the mean time.

The actual summering at a firm is quite enjoyable. You get paid pretty well (if you’re at one of the bigger firms) and they try to take it easy on you because they want you to come back, since they’re spending all this time and money training you. Then of course you cross your fingers that they do indeed want to hire you back the following summer, which ends up being the articling term.

Unfortunately, some firms don’t hire back all of their summer students and a lot of in-house counsel positions don’t have an articling position at all, only room for summer students.

Q. What is the process for finding an articling position?
A. Many of the big firms don’t do any external recruitment, which means they only rehire some or all of their summer students to fill their articling positions. There are lots of firms that only hire articling students, but those are generally smaller practices.

So now you’re going through the articling recruitment process, which is very similar to the summering process. Students send out their applications, and three weeks after the deadline find out at 8 a.m. on a Friday whether they have any interviews, as firms (hopefully) call you.

The interviews are scheduled on Monday through Wednesday, with 5 p.m. on Wednesday as the time that firms call to make job offers – for articling positions that start nine months later. Once again, students try to avoid talking about articling for fear of mentioning it to someone who doesn’t yet have a position.

[S]tudents who haven’t yet secured a position then try to spend their third year of law looking for an articling position. The Law Society is actually fairly helpful, with an articling registry set-up for firms to post their positions on, which law students have access to.

Q. What do law students do for fun?  It seems like there is a lot of studying involved!
A. In order to not go crazy, there are a lot of extracurricular things organized and there is a pub night every other week. There are tons of sports teams and clubs that help students unwind.

Also, due to the small class sizes, you inevitably know people who are having a party any given weekend. In first year, there are also a lot of non-drinking or laid back events organized, such as games night, so that students can still wake up the next morning and get some readings done.

Danielle’s Grad School Update: Month 3

7 December 2010.  TalentEgg Incubator.

Three months in, and I’m starting to get a hang of thingshere.

But November was still a very difficult month to be a (relatively) new graduate student.

Sleep became negligible.  Insanity may have ensued.  On one of my students’ papers, I left a comment saying, ‘Good fork.’

For some of my peers, both in my program and others, November was an awful month: they questioned why they were in grad school, why they were in their programs, or if completing a masters was what they should even be doing in the first place.

November was the month when graduate advisers saw a lot of tears.

Thankfully I didn’t have those kinds of doubts about what I was doing, but other things came up regardless.

In addition to dealing with the stress of friends and classmates, there were threats of three unions on campus potentially going on strike, including the one I am part of as a teaching assistant.   There was also a debacle about student fees that was publicized in national media.

It was also Movember.   Facial hair is pretty distracting.

So although I had a good handle on my school work and continued doing well grade-wise, it was still a stressful month.  Being a TA proved to be a steep learning process.

My students handed in their first papers this month, and that was definitely an experience I was not prepared for.   Each paper was around four pages each and took me an average of 20 minutes to mark.  I had 49 papers to mark, which according to a conservative estimate took me slightly over 16 hours.  In actuality, I think it was closer to 20.

It really felt sometimes like there weren’t enough hours in the day to mark, eat and do my own work.  Sleep became negligible.  Insanity may have ensued.  On one of my students’ papers, one of the comments I left was, “Good fork.”  I found a new appreciation for the people who had to mark anything I ever submitted.

I expected that I would feel much different about marking papers than I did.  Not only was it  incredibly time-consuming, but there was no cathartic ending to the ordeal.  Although there was the power-trip element (mwahaha!), when my students earned low grades I felt terrible.

Luckily, one of the second-year masters students in my program gave me a great piece of advice: we’re graduate students because we were the keeners in our undergraduate classes.  What was considered an acceptable grade for us may have been an outstanding grade for others.

Despite this, I still felt bad giving marks I would not have been pleased to have received myself.  At the same time, it isn’t fair to give students an A for Effort.  Apparently I’m a bit of a hard ass. But I hope that creating a clear marking rubric and a detailed list of expectations will allow my students to do better on their next papers.

Speaking of papers, I’m starting to write my own.  My term papers, in fact: 20 pages of well-researched arguments that will hopefully change the world. Or if that isn’t feasible, at least get me a good grade.  My bedroom is a mine field of book towers among a few piles of unwashed clothes.  But who needs clean clothes?

Although I am a huge nerd who actually likes school, sometimes I think the best part of my program is the people who are in it.  I have made friends with the people in my program, and many of us are going through the exact same things (research frustration, fighting with our sleep patterns).  We hang out before and after classes as well as in our free time.   My personal cohort is especially amazing, but the second year masters students and the PhDs are pretty cool too.

Other programs on campus are jealous of our camaraderie.   And at this point, I’m happy to rub it in their faces a little bit.

Danielle’s Grad School Update: Month 2

17 November 2010.  TalentEgg Incubator.

You know that old adage, “Time flies when you’re having fun”?

Well, it flies when you’re in grad school too!

In October, I noticed my academic work started to kick up a bit.

Homework in the average week consisted of 100-150 pages of reading for each of my seminars, 5-10 pages of French translation, up to 75 pages of reading for the students I TA for, and planning lessons for my students.

In total, this takes me between two and three days to complete.

I was also given my first large assignment, which was the proposal for one of my term papers.  It needed to be between six and eight pages, and consisted of my research objectives, a review of literature, an explanation of the theoretical framework, a description of the methodology and methods, and a provisional outline of the paper.

Almost the entire time I was worried that I wouldn’t do very well, but when I got the proposal back, I did fine.

Except for the part where I spelled methodology wrong.  Oops.

As part of my degree program, students have to pass a language translation test in French or an indigenous language.  Since my knowledge of Ojibwe and Mohawk is rudimentary, I decided to enrol in a translation class to try to remember the French I learned in Grades 4 through 10.

Unfortunately my program only offers the test twice a year.  I decided to take the test anyway, because the worst thing that could happen was me failing, and I would be able to write it again in the spring.

For the test, you are responsible for reading a French academic article and writing an abstract in English.  You are given two hours and can use a dictionary.

I chose (we were allowed to pick one article out of three based on the topic they were about) “Éléments de Pensée Politique Autochtone Contemporaine” by Dalie Giroux.  For some reason I didn’t think the article was going to be as long as it was, and I definitely was not used to reading a text that was anywhere near this complex (we were reading much simpler stuff in my French class).  But I wrote my abstract, and submitted it for marking.

A couple of days later I found out I passed!  I then promptly dropped the French class that helped me pass.  I plan on keeping up with reading in French, but I can’t seem to get a copy of La Stratégie Ender (but I to do try to read French news online!).

Not everything that happened this month has been academically-based, though.  I attended meetings for the council and caucus I sit on, and helped plan two separate Halloween parties.

I was also fortunate enough to see The Honourable Justice Murray Sinclair, one of the commissioners for the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, speak about the impact of residential schools on Indigenous people in Canada.

My partner came for a visit, so we decided to act like tourists.  We took a tour of the Parliament Buildings, went to the Royal Canadian Mint and lifted a bar of gold (they’re really heavy!), looked at the National War Memorial, the Valiants Memorial as well as the Champlain Statue, and went to Gatineau to go to see the Canadian Museum of Civilization.   It was all a lot of fun.

What’s up next?  November means (even) more work and marking papers for the first time.  And, knowing me, probably an adventure or two of some sort.

How To Deal With Moving Away To Grad School

3 November 2010.  TalentEgg Incubator.

Now that you’re starting your master’s degree, you have to get used to a new campus in a new city, make new friends, find your classrooms, and get used to your department.

It’s almost like you’re an undergrad all over again. (Of course, this doesn’t apply if you are doing your master’s at the same school you did your bachelor’s degree).

Once you’re settled into your new place (which can be in residence or off-campus), you should take the spare time you have to orient yourself to your new surroundings.

Check out campus

Most of your time over the next year or more will be spent within the confines of your school’s campus, and it is best to find out what is available to you before you need it.

For example, looking for an on-campus location that serves coffee at 1 a.m. is much easier a) if you know which places on campus sell coffee, and b) which of the said locations are actually open at 1 a.m.

Some graduate student associations may offer tours of the campus, but if they don’t, arm yourself with a map and start wandering around.

Go to orientation

The purpose of your orientation is to acquaint yourself  with the campus, the school and your program, but also to meet other graduate students.   You will have the opportunity to meet people who are in the same situation as you – this is your chance to meet new friends early in the year.

If your school offers a graduate orientation week, go to the events. They will help meet people, get used to the school and see the city.

Explore the city

Almost every university town has a bunch of different hot spots: awesome places to eat, pretty green spaces, interesting history and a variety of cafés to get your caffeine fix.  Check out tourism websites or the local tourism office, or ask locals and fellow students what you should see.   Hop on a bus, grab your bike or set out on foot and start investigating.  You never know what you will find in a new place!

Expect to be home sick

If you’re moving away from home for the first time, it is normal to feel homesick and to miss your family, friends, pets, and even the barista that makes your 2 p.m. Wednesday latte.

If you already lived away from home, you may experience homesickness again.  Alternatively, you can also miss the school and the campus you left behind.  In nearly all cases, these feelings will start to pass once you get to know your surroundings better.