Hello, my friends!

So, myself and a lot of other people on the interwebs have been celebrating the fact that we’ve survived our first quarter/semester of grad school! Oof! It was quite an emotional rollercoaster, that’s for damn sure. In addition to celebrating, some of the lovely people on Tumblr are also using their first semester experiences to share some insider’s perspective on what those first few months will really be like. I wanted to do the same! (And also wanted a reason to look up gifs in my spare time).

So, below are 10 things that I observed and experienced during my first quarter of grad school! I hope this gives some perspective to those prospective grad students (see what I did there?) who soon be joining in our misery adventures!

Enjoy!

1. You will quickly learn the valuable skill of finding all the free food/alcohol/coffee on campus

2. Over-achieving goes out the window when all you want to do is pass your grad classes

3. There will always be a group of first years crying over NSF and other fellowships. Join them. Commiserate with them. Cry with them.

4. Non-grad school friends are great to have, but they just don’t always understand what you are going through

5. Therefore, your cohort is the best support system you can have

6. When you finally find a research group, it’s like the equivalent of finding a home

7. No one expects you to know what you’re doing yet. So chill the hell out.

8. BTW Imposter syndrome is a thing and you should be aware of it for the sake of your sanity

9. Also, you will undoubtably question why you decided to go to grad school

10. But those little victories along the way will remind you why you’re here.

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Anything to add? Leave it below in the comments so these prospectives know what they’re in for! ❤