I finished my first semester of graduate school a couple weeks ago, and by the end I had endured one of the most challenging periods of my life to date. In this post, I hope to recount my difficulties, and communicate the ways I dealt with them. Some of these solutions took many weeks to figure out, and even still aren’t perfect. Additionally, I am in a STEM field, so the same difficulties may not apply to other fields.

One of the hardest things to gauge going into graduate school was the revelation of how time consuming your first semester classes were going to be. You hear things from the second and third graduates of how much work they are, but it’s hard to fully appreciate their words until you experience them yourself.

It took me about a month into the semester to realize that the three classes I was taking would be equivalent to six classes in undergrad. Homework took many hours, and were often assigned weekly. I often found myself scrambling to finish my assignments on time, which equated to a degradation in the quality of my work.

The pace of each class was also faster than anything else that I’d experienced before. I would regularly fall behind on note-taking, and would have to rush to finish writing down the material before it was wiped clean from the board. By the end of each lecture, my head would be flying in seven different directions.

Finals week was particularly upsetting for me because I mismanaged my time so bad that I ended up bombing a final badly. I was concerned that the damage would cause me to fail the class (<C is failing in graduate school). Maintaining a 3.0 GPA is very important in my graduate program, considering that anything lower risks academic probation, and an eventual abolishment of funding.

Finding time to do research was also demanding. Research is already inherently difficult, and getting even remotely close to any answers takes a lot of time and effort. I also always stressed over my bi-weekly meetings with my advisers, each time wondering when they would say things like “Why haven’t you gotten more research done?” They never really asked that(thankfully), but it didn’t stop self-doubt from settling in at times.

All these issues were foreign to me before grad school. It took a while to adjust accordingly, but by the end of the semester I had at least addressed my problems to reach most of my semester goals. The following things helped me a lot during the course of the semester, and resulted in the improvement in my productivity. Some of these things may seem like common sense things to do, but it’s easy to forget in real-time situations.

Expand On Your Time Management Skills:

During my undergraduate career, I developed loosely structured time management skills that ensured all my work would get done in an comfortable amount of time. In grad school, I found that the methods I used in undergrad would not work, so I needed to create a more structured methodology.

I bought a calendar so I could keep track of when things were due and when meetings were scheduled. I also wrote down daily goals that I wanted done by the end of the day, and if they weren’t done, they would be completed during the next day.

I also started to keep a systematic routine for how long I would stay at the office. In the beginning of the semester, I found myself staying on campus to crazy hours, which was eating away at my sleep time. I made sure that I would arrive and leave at a certain time each day so I could get personal tasks finished.

Do Not Procrastinate:

In undergrad, I could get away with procrastinating my work and get away with a decent grade on my assignments. The opposite is true in grad school. Classes go at a much faster pace, and assignments are much more ferocious. I frequently found myself buried in my Twitter feed instead of using that valuable time on homework assignments. Before I knew it, the due date was only a couple days away, and I barely had anything done. I learned to become much more self-conscious on how my office time was being used. I had to break the habit of logging onto social media, spending time on useless activities, and cut back on wasting time talking to colleagues.

Cutting down my procrastination was also important to my research. The time I didn’t spend on homework became extraordinarily valuable for research. I was able to stick to my daily goals in a way that was impossible when procrastination leaked into my daily routine. By the end of my semester, I was happy where I was going with my thesis work.

Get Enough Sleep:

I was not getting enough sleep, especially during the first half of the semester. It was affecting my ability to focus on work in the morning, and caused me to crash sooner than I wanted at night. It severely cut down on my productivity, and probably led to much of my procrastination and difficulty note-taking. Make sure you know how much sleep you need to properly function. Caffeine should not be used as a substitute for a good night’s sleep, but rather a compliment to it.

Use Your Advisers:

I was always self-conscious about disappointing my advisers, and frequently questioned my ability to get my research tasks done. I quickly learned that my mindset would not get me anywhere. Your adviser should not be viewed as the disgruntled boss your scared to talk to, but rather a team leader that’s meant to guide you along your path. Talk to them often! If you have questions that you can’t solve, and you think they can help answer, do not hesitate to ask them. They are a reservoir of knowledge and experiences that you can use to your advantage when you fall on situations that you need help handling.

However, there is an expectation that you maintain a large degree of self-fulfillment. Your advisers are there to serve as guidance, not to be your textbook. Make sure you attempt to solve a problem yourself before seeking assistance from your adviser. Also, do not overextend your personal life into your conversations. They are there to help you professionally, not personally.

Have Fun:

It’s very easy to overwork yourself in grad school. It’s important to get your work done correctly and on time, but it’s also to not over-extend yourself. I often found myself working on the weekends, instead of taking my mind off things for a bit. Make sure you leave some space in your schedule to give your brain a break, and enjoy life a bit. You are likely surrounded by a bunch of like-minded people that you will get along with very well. Hold a game night a couple nights a month, or pledge to go out on the town with friends every once-in-a-while. It’s a good way to clear the mind, and prepare yourself for the next challenges you will have to face.

I hope that sharing my struggles with help someone else down their path. The solutions I came across are not perfect by any means, but it was able to get me to my semester goals.