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Volume 3, Number 3, September 2005
CAREER Center
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First-year hurdles
Make the most of your initial year in graduate school
In the first days of grad school, a lot of students have the feeling that they somehow fooled their school into admitting them and they're never going to match their peers. Psychologist Julie Quimby, PhD, calls it the "imposter syndrome."
"It's really common among high-achieving people: lots of self-doubt, fear with the first challenging experience that they're the only one having trouble, and a genuine sense that they don't belong," says Quimby, who teaches counseling psychology at Towson University in Maryland.
Indeed, first-year students can be overwhelmed with how much they have to learn, says University of Wisconsin–Madison cognitive psychology professor Art Glenberg, PhD.
"They worry whether they're going to measure up to the other students who are very, very bright--especially the advanced students who seem to know so much more," Glenberg says. "You have to keep in mind that you were specifically selected for your intelligence and your skill and with the expectation that you're not going to be at that advanced level right away, but you'll get there."
But just how do students navigate that first year of "getting there?" Professors and advanced students advise first-year students to learn to manage coursework, make the most of adviser and peer relationships, get started on research and take care of themselves.
"I tell my students to not look at grad school as a hurdle to overcome, but an end in itself," Quimby says. "If students are invested in learning and make a point of getting involved in the program, they begin to naturally take on the appropriate professional identity."
Handing
coursework
 Use
a divide and conquer approach.
The amount of work can be daunting,
but it becomes less so when you
take it step by step, says counseling
psychologist Lewis Schlosser,
PhD, who teaches counseling at
Seton Hall University in New
Jersey. He suggests finding students
in your cohort whose academic
ability you trust, dividing up
some of the readings and taking
turns teaching each other the
ins and outs of a topic or a
new skill.
"People have different personalities and strengths, and if you figure those out and work with them, you can help each other immensely," says Schlosser, who finished his doctorate in 2003.
Remember
there's more than coursework.
Once students hit the graduate
level, priorities shift, Glenberg
says, particularly for students
in research disciplines who are
launching themselves into academic
careers. "Some
students come in with the undergraduate
idea that the most important
thing is classwork and grades,
but the most important thing
is getting integrated into your
major professor's program and
establishing a line of research
for yourself," he says.
And for students in counseling and clinical disciplines, the focus should be on the skills you are learning, says Schlosser.
"Students shouldn't be getting all Bs, but for the most part, grades do not matter: It is not going to say 'just barely' on your diploma," he adds. "You're developing a skill set you didn't have before, so there's much more to it than grades."
Be
open to new ideas. First-year
classes will ask you to look
at your own biases and open your
mind about other cultures, says
fourth-year clinical psychology
student Ken Liberatore at Alliant
International University, Los
Angeles.
"I entered grad school very much unaware of some flagrant biases I carried as a member of the dominant culture," Liberatore says. A yearlong multicultural course helped knock some of these biases down and increased his cultural sensitivity, he says.
Also be open to new thoughts on what you want to research, Schlosser says. "You will pick up a lot of information along the way," he says. "It may refocus your research interests for you, or it may send you in a totally different direction."
Connecting
with your adviser
Read
up. Before you get
to work with your adviser, make
sure you know his or her body
of research, Glenberg says. For
example, go the library and read
a large selection of your adviser's
published papers or talk with
an upperclassman about your professor's
work. It'll get the ball rolling
early for collaboration.
Develop
a relationship. Your
goal should be to cultivate a
meaningful professional and personal
relationship with your adviser,
so make sure to spend time with
him or her--be it on a research
team or just chatting at department
functions, Schlosser says. Ideally,
not only will you be very engaged
with your adviser's research,
but the adviser will take a personal
interest in your professional
development.
Understand
an adviser change is possible. Students
who want to change their advisers
often feel that they're about
to commit political suicide,
Schlosser says, but changing
advisers is common in most psychology
programs. Switching makes particular
sense when your research or practice
interests change and working
with a different professor would
better suit your new interests.
Being aware of your department's
politics by querying more advanced
students can help you navigate
a change without alienating anyone,
Schlosser says. For more on advisers
and mentors, see the January
issue of gradPSYCH.
Getting
started with research
Invest
the time necessary. Glenberg
says doing major research in
psychology is more than a full-time
commitment. "To be
successful in a research institution
in a psychology program, you've
got to be putting in 60 or 70
hours a week," he says. "You
have to make sure that you love
your topic because then those
hours are a joy."
Second-year personality psychology student Jennifer Sweeton of Stanford University in California has encountered the more-than-full-time commitment Glenberg describes.
"Now I realize success isn't as easy as coming up with good ideas," Sweeton says. "It requires pushing through the mundane tasks, staying up late redoing that Excel spreadsheet you made an entry mistake on, running subjects even when you know that you'll end up not being able to use their data and writing and rewriting that proposal that has been covered in red lines by your adviser."
Make
it approachable. For
students in counseling and clinical
disciplines, getting involved
with research may feel daunting,
says Schlosser. So, keep it manageable:
Take on small responsibilities
within a research team to get
a feel for the work and, later,
consider getting more involved.
Look
inward for research ideas. Consider
a research topic that you personally
care about, Schlosser says. "It
gives you a passion for the topic,
which will keep you going during
the more difficult times in the
research process," he
says. "And what happens developmentally
is eventually the topic becomes
interesting in its own right,
not just because you had a personal
experience with it." That said,
don't pick something that hits
so close to home you'll be uncomfortable
thinking about it everyday, he
adds.
Avoid
tunnel vision. Choosing
one research topic and planning
to stick with it through your
dissertation may be an attractive
idea, but, at least in the beginning,
you are better off looking at
a broad range of topics, says
third-year cognitive psychology
student David Havas of the University
of Wisconsin–Madison. "It's
more important to gain a breadth
of research experience than it
is to design your career," he
says. "Consider your first-year
research as a time for developing
your identity, not as a topic,
but as a scientist."
Taking
care of yourself
Develop
a strong network of friends.
Find people both within your
program and in the community
to spend time with, says second-year
counseling psychology student
Christine Williams of the University
of Akron. "We try to adopt as
many nonpsychologists as we can
to balance the shop talk," Williams
says of her pals. For more on
self-care, see the March 2005
issue of gradPSYCH.
Consider
therapy. Therapy
can help you understand yourself
better and manage the stress
of the first year, Schlosser
says. "It's amazing that counseling
and clinical students can be
really reluctant to see a therapist," he
says. "But that's a mistake.
Therapy can be a really beneficial
source of support."
Get away.
Because there are fewer classes
in grad school than in an undergraduate
program, there's more flexibility
in your schedule, Sweeton says.
Use that time to make room for
activities that will provide
you with an enjoyable outlet
for stress. "For me that's sitting on a beach for a week," Schlosser says. Sweeton takes a gymnastics class.
"For others maybe it's getting to yoga once a week. Going to the gym. Sitting down to eat," Schlosser adds. "Life doesn't stop because you're in grad school."
—BRIDGET MURRAY
LAW
gradPSYCH Staff
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