Hot Tips for New PhD Students: The Full Series

One of my goals as a Concordia University Public Scholar was to share a series of tips for new and continuing PhD students based on my own grad school experiences. Over the last 12 months I have shared 10 pieces of advice—a long but incomplete list of things I have continually needed to remind myself of while navigating my way through grad school. Some of these tips are common and shared by grad students from various disciplines, whereas some may be a bit more unique to my personal experience. I certainly can’t take sole credit for any of them—I’m deeply indebted to the generous folks who came before me and recognize that many of my tips are building on the advice I, myself, have received from various individuals over the years. That said, this list reflects the idea that: the more we talk about the potential obstacles of navigating academia, and the more folks discuss their shared and/or unique experiences, the less scary it might be for those who come after us.

I hope these little ramblings might be helpful to someone out there, or that they might resonate with folks who have had similar experiences. I could likely keep adding more tips as I continue progressing through my program, and I’m sure there are excellent pieces of advice out there that I’ve missed. For now, I’m capping it at the 10 items listed here.

Tip 1: You Belong Here!

You applied, you got in, you absolutely 100% earned your spot. Imposter syndrome is REAL and so many students find themselves feeling overwhelmed by the seemingly high-stakes environment that is the PhD-level classroom. Your colleagues might be quoting scholars or theories you've never heard of, some may have already published multiple peer-reviewed articles, and others might have a CV full of teaching experience. You feel like a fish out of water amongst all these brilliant people.

This. Is. Normal.

It's common to be intimidated, and it's likely that others are also intimated by you and your accomplishments. We all take different paths into our PhD programs. We all bring specific pieces of knowledge and certain experiences with us from our previous lives. We were all admitted to our program because we deserved to be. Most importantly, we're there to learn! No one expects you to be an expert on your first day, and if I'm being honest, a big part of the PhD (for me, anyway) is discovering how much you DON'T know.

It's ok to be intimidated, it's ok to not know all the answers, it's ok to feel out of place at times. Just don't let it stop you from making the most of the early stages of your PhD journey. Not matter what you might think, you deserve to be here!

Tip 2: You're on no one's schedule but your own.

This advice was given to me during my undergrad, by the person I was dating at the time. While that relationship was short-lived, this statement has always stuck with me. It might actually be the best advice I've ever received and has been an important reminder in basically every area of my life.

Sure, there are deadlines you'll need to meet. Yes, there are limits to how long you can take to complete a degree (though there are usually extensions and other work-arounds available to mitigate these limits). The important thing is to not compare yourself to the pace at which others are moving through their own journeys. I took around 8 years to complete my undergraduate degree but completed a course-based MA program in 1 year. I'm on track to complete my PhD in 5 years but who knows what will happen between now and my dissertation defence--it might end up taking longer. Some of my peers published solo-authored articles well before I did, some have been focused on goals that are entirely unrelated to publishing. Some members of my PhD cohort are in their mid-20s, others are much older. Life happens, obstacles come out of nowhere, we all work at our own paces and reach program/career/life goals at different times. Despite what society might tell us, there's no age or time limit on reaching milestones.

It doesn't matter when someone else accomplishes one of their goals, even if it's the same goal you're working towards. Whatever your destination is, you WILL get there in your own time.

Tip 3: Apply for every opportunity you're eligible for. Get rejected? Apply again.

Apply to everything you have the capacity for. Seriously. Grad student stipends are often below the poverty line. The more funding you can secure, the better your quality of life will be during your time as a PhD student. Financial motivation notwithstanding, the opportunities for training and mentorship that accompany many grants and fellowships are often invaluable. And hey, the extra line on your CV doesn't hurt either.

Apply for a big award and get rejected? It happens to most of us, myself included. I was rejected by SSHRC twice before winning a fellowship on my third attempt. Many folks I know have had similar experiences. Your ego may be a little bruised, but deciding to apply again is truly the best way forward. The next iteration of your application WILL be stronger. In many cases, you'll have a whole year's worth of knowledge and new ideas under your belt during the next application cycle.

Pro tip: get feedback from everyone you can before submitting your application. Your supervisor, committee members, peers and colleagues, other professors, people outside your field...the more eyes on your proposal, the better.

Tip 4: Failure and rejection are inevitable. Treat them as learning opportunities

This one builds off my last tip: apply for everything you’re eligible for and reapply if you get rejected. While my third and fourth entries in this series might seem to overlap, I wanted to go a bit deeper into how rejection and failure can actually benefit you and lead to stronger, more insightful work.

This time of year can be tough. You’re halfway through the academic year, winter is here in full force (depending on where you reside), holiday celebrations have wrapped up, and there are new deadlines on the horizon. You know what to expect from your PhD program now and have probably experienced both high and low points since you began in September. On top of this, the results of many scholarship competitions and conference proposals will be delivered in the coming months. It's easy to get caught up in the competitive nature of academia, and completely normal to be disappointed when you’re not selected for an awesome opportunity—especially when that opportunity has funding attached to it.

This piece of advice is one that may not resonate until you’re on the other side of it, but please know that everyone—literally everyone—experiences rejection at one point or another. It can be as big as losing out on a prestigious fellowship or as small as receiving unexpected criticism on a final paper (which often feels much bigger in the moment). I don’t mean to diminish the feelings of failure associated with these experiences; being disappointed is totally valid! Take the time you need to process those feelings, and when you’re ready, try to think about how you might leverage this “failure” for future success.

What I mean by this is: don’t let failure or rejection stop you from revising that paper or re-applying for that scholarship. Like I mentioned last time, I was rejected by SSHRC twice before winning an award on my third attempt. And that third application was MUCH stronger than the first two! Similarly, a first draft of a paper or article is rarely (more like never) perfect. It can be disheartening to open a graded paper or a reviewed journal submission and find a sea of corrections and comments, but I promise you those comments usually come from a good place. Read them closely, think about them critically, and incorporate those that are constructive into your next draft (note: you don’t have to agree with or address all critiques!)

At the end of the day, remember this: get comfortable with rejection. Embrace it, even! Failure often leads to better ideas, stronger arguments, and bigger wins.

Tip 5: Build relationships within and outside of academia.

This one is so important. You need people in your corner to get through this journey. Your supervisor, committee members, other professors, fellow students, academics from outside your institution, etcetera, all play a vital role in creating a positive PhD experience. While I am very much a live-in-the-now-go-with-the-flow type of person, as I get closer to the home stretch of my PhD (sorry, what?!), I am becoming more and more aware of how the relationships I’ve built along the way have really shaped my experience for the better. It’s also becoming clear that the relationships I’ve fostered may lead to exciting opportunities in my post-PhD life.

I don’t mean to say you should look at building relationships as a means of getting something you want and/or as a way to secure a future opportunity. Meaningful and reciprocal relationships are the goal! The doors that open from those types of connections will be greater than any that arise from relationships built on ill-intent.

Now onto personal relationships. These are crucial for survival, at least for me. I need the people who knew me as a directionless undergrad, the ones I’ve connected with through work and sports and other areas of life, the ones who are building families, the ones who are my go-tos when I need to let loose, the ones who can sit in silence or run errands with me, the ones who have absolutely no idea what I’m working on. These are the people that ground me and, oddly enough, the ones who keep me most invested in the work I do. They are a reprieve from the chaos that is grad school, a window into the “real world” outside of academia. They are my heart and soul and I truly couldn’t do this without them.

Both types of relationships are important, and what this looks like for you may be entirely different than it does for me. The most important thing is to not abandon your people to focus on your PhD. You need them, and your work will be better because of them.

Tip 6: Collaboration > Competition

A rising tide lifts all boats. A win for one is a win for all. Someone else’s success does not equal your failure. These phrases may sound like clichés, but—and I truly cannot stress this enough—you are not in competition with your peers. In fact, the folks you might usually view as competition could be your most important resources.

Academia can feel toxic, cutthroat, and overwhelming. But it doesn’t have to. I have been lucky to not experience any sort of toxic competition throughout my degree programs, and—based on what I’ve seen from my peers, mentors, and others—I’m hopeful that we’re in the midst of a collaboration > competition paradigm shift.

It’s not unusual to feel like you’re being pitted against other students, especially when you are often applying for a lot of the same opportunities. Instead of looking at these instances as opportunities for others to “beat” you or take something from you, think about how you might work together to ensure that you are both submitting the best applications possible. Also think about how you might support each other through your individual journeys and how you might work together on various projects—co-authoring a paper, organizing events, venting to each other about the ups and downs of grad school…

At the end of the day, there is room for everyone at the table. The opportunities you get are the ones that are meant for you. Your research is yours alone, and even if you are working in the same field as a peer, you are approaching your work from various perspectives. Collaboration is always a positive—your work will be stronger and your grad school experience far more enjoyable.

Tip 7: Take care of your mental health.

We tend to neglect our mental health when life gets overwhelming. Our plates are full. Deadlines are around the corner. The end of the semester is in sight…but there are a ton of hurdles to navigate before taking a much-needed break.

Grad school is demanding. Grad school is exhausting. The optics of traditional grad school life leads us to believe that, in order to succeed, you need to struggle.

I cannot stress enough how incorrect this is.

Don’t get me wrong. Grad school, among many of life’s challenges, is mentally taxing. It’s a grind. It’s years of your life working on what is likely the biggest project of your career thus far. The stakes are high! But it doesn’t need to be toxic, and it doesn’t need to wreak havoc on your mental health.

There will of course be times where you need to resort to the “power through” mentality. But you can’t exist in this space forever. And you shouldn’t have to. Burn out is real and it will catch up with you eventually.

Caring for your mental health looks different for everyone. For some it might be scheduling your time and treating your PhD journey like a 9-5. Maybe you commit to taking weekends off when you don’t have a pressing deadline. It can include various self-care practices, adequate sleep, visits with friends, drinking lots of water and eating nutritious food, committing to a regular exercise routine. For some it includes therapy and other medicalized supports.

Whatever works for you, commit to it! Listening to your body and mind and giving them what they need to thrive (if and when you are able), will pay off in the long run.

Tip 8: Rest is necessary. Rest is productive. Progress isn't always tangible.

The first semester of my MA was so busy that I literally had zero downtime. I remember feeling like an unexpected head cold or stomach flu would completely derail me, and that there would be no coming back from the delays something like that would cause. At the time I didn’t have much choice but to stretch myself so thin. I was a full time grad student in an intense one-year MA program, had continued to work about 30-hours per week at my off campus job because I needed to in order to survive, was TAing and RAing because I knew these were important to have on my CV, and amid all that, was also trying (and failing) to prioritize my mental health, eat well, exercise, keep up with friends and family…there was simply not enough time in the day for everything I had on my plate.

I look back at that time and truly don’t know how I made it through in one piece. It was exhausting. I don’t think I could live a similar lifestyle right now, and certainly wouldn’t be able to sustain it for the duration of a PhD program.

I still struggle with taking on more than I can comfortably handle, and I’m working towards being more comfortable with saying no. I operated with the mentality of needing to say yes to every opportunity that came my way for so long, and it’s difficult to break out of that habit. But I’ve realized that it’s extremely necessary—for both my own well-being and the sake of my various projects. I’m slowly learning to say no, to take more breaks, and to listen to my body and mind when I’m starting to feel like burn out is looming. Through doing so, I’ve also learned that I do some of my best thinking when I’m not actively “working.” To my great surprise, I have come up with some of my better ideas, and unintentionally worked through difficult problems in my head while running outdoors and walking my dog. I’m fairly certain I wouldn’t have come to the same conclusions if I had been forcing myself to stay at my computer until the task was “finished.”

It might not always feel like you’re making tangible, concrete progress. And that’s ok. Progress is also measured in the time it takes you to regroup, in stepping away when you need to, in the moments between structured work sessions where you make unexpected breakthroughs. You may not always see daily evidence of progress on the screen or page in front of you, but if you zoom out to look at the broader picture you will see that it all contributes to your end goal: finishing your PhD in one piece.

The sigh of relief shouldn’t wait for the dictated breaks of the academic calendar. It might sound cliché, but you truly can’t pour from an empty cup. The grind mentality might work for a while, but it’s not sustainable. You WILL burn out if you don’t take care of yourself.

Listen to your body, listen to your mind, put your wellbeing ahead of your work. Doing so will inevitably translate to greater long-term success.

Tip 9: Go with the flow.

This tip is perhaps more of a reminder to myself and should be taken with a grain of salt. A casual “go with the flow” mindset absolutely has its limits and isn’t always conducive to hitting deadlines and program milestones. There are certainly times when you need to buckle down, make a plan, and commit to sticking to it. That said, it’s important to remember that things won’t always go to plan and that many things change over the course of a PhD journey.

As someone who lives with anxiety, I often need to remind myself of the things I cannot change and encourage myself to lean into the discomfort that comes with an unexpected shift in plans. A PhD spans 4+ years of your life—of course things will end up going differently than you first imagined they would. Usually, these twists and turns lead to good things. If for some reason they don’t, there’s always another opportunity to pivot and redirect.

Grad school brings many opportunities for derailments—many of which we can’t anticipate or avoid. Oftentimes these derailments are synonymous with growth. Allow yourself to go where the project leads you.

Tip 10: This is YOUR project and YOUR grad school experience!

The last tip of the series! This one might seem self-explanatory but it’s important, nonetheless. You need community and support to complete your PhD. You need thoughtful feedback and constructive critiques. You’ll make mistakes, you’ll need to redirect. You’ll get amazing advice and advice that doesn’t quite fit the intent of your project. The amount of information you take in from peers, professors, readings, other scholars, etc., can feel overwhelming.

Always remember that this is YOUR project—you know it better than anyone! How it unfolds is ultimately up to you. You are not your PhD, but it is up to you to make the best of it. Jump at the opportunities that call to you, pivot when needed, and take care of yourself as much as you can along the way.

Remember why you started your degree, keep channeling that passion, and enjoy the ride!