Being involved in academia yields a yearly reflection around the end of August as the warm summer months cool into the beginning-of-the-school-year fall. As yet another year ticks off the calendar, I realize that I have been in school for 19 years. A long, long time if you ask me. Many things have changed along the way, most noticeably in my friend group. Several friends took the plunge and got married, one of my closest friends is having a child, and several others have finished up and moved on to other institutions.
I'm feeling old.
But, slowly I have begun to accomplish things as well. Working on getting my first publication out as well as taking a major milestone exam on my birthday this fall. I am also now head of our graduate student organization, training for marathons, and possibly moving to Europe in the spring. Life is busy.
I guess my year of distraction is ending, I am beginning to focus on what I want out of grad school and life in general. If you are just starting out in grad school, there are many blogs and books written about a successful PhD or masters experience. However, in my experience and witnessing my friends triumphs and tribulations, I can tell you that each experience is unique. Seems like a cop out answer, but the experience you have in grad school depends on department, location, advisor, friend group, research focus, etc.
If you are looking for broad advice, the best you are going to get is that the experience will surely challenge and try to break you. A balance between personal issues and academic will continuously be challenged. Overall, if you enter grad school directly out of undergrad, you will experience many pains of growing intellectually as well as just simply maturing into your mid-twenties. If you come back after entering the workforce, you have to strike a balance between advancing in academics and starting a family. The pursuit of a degree is highly time consuming and at times, mentally exhausting.
So why do it?
Because I am in the process of publishing a paper, prepping for a marathon, and maybe moving to Europe shortly. In essence, it is a part of me now, and I would not change my experience, the good, the bad, and the ugly, for anything in the world. Once you reach that peace, you know you are where you are supposed to be.
