Students explain grad school from 3 levels of experience
Episode 2 – What is grad school really like?
It is interesting how universities put out so much information about their graduate programs, yet they often fall short of capturing what is truly important to incoming and existing students. Will getting another degree help me with my career goals? What should I expect my life to be like during grad school? How will grad studies be different from my undergrad degree? What should I know about grad school before making this decision?
To answer these questions and to make progress towards demystifying grad studies, it is important that we give a voice not only to those who are asking the questions, but to those who have experienced it already. In this article, I interviewed students from three different levels of familiarity with grad school and compared their expectations and experiences to get a clearer picture of what grad school is all about.
Level 1 – Undergraduate Student
Clara Argentino is a third year undergraduate Student at McMaster University working towards a BSc. In Honours Chemical Biology Co-op.
Why are you thinking about doing grad school?
Clara: “I want to go into grad school so I can gain more qualifications and experience in a field I am passionate about. I think there is still a lot one can learn after their undergrad and grad school is a great way for me to do so. I am not 100% sure of the exact specific career I want to pursue and I genuinely just enjoy being a student. [I] don’t really see myself graduating and “entering the real world” just under 2 years from now.
What are your biggest questions about grad school? Are you worried about anything?
Clara: “I feel like there is a lot about grad school I don’t really understand, including how you apply/how the application process works, and how you find a supervisor? For example, it’s unclear to me if you apply to a school you’re interested in, and THEN find a supervisor, or is it the other way around?”
“My biggest concern about grad school is probably dealing with “imposter syndrome” which is something I struggle with even now. I hope I can gain confidence in grad school and get over this feeling.”
What do you think of the work-life balance of a grad student? How many hours a week do you think you will work?
Clara: “I think it is a challenge to have a good work-life balance, but it is doable. Even now in my undergrad I have trouble with it sometimes, so I imagine its difficult as a grad student. From what I’ve seen I think a lot of grad students work more than 40 hours a week”
What expectations do you have for grad school?
Clara: “I expect that it will be very challenging and that I will learn a lot. I expect to enjoy it as well and hopefully make some really great connections whether it be with professors, classmates, friends or employers/coworkers.
Level 2 – Graduate Student
Alejandra Espinoza is a second year PhD student (soon to be candidate) in Chemical Engineering at McMaster University, she received her BSc in Chemical Engineering at the University of Sonora, Mexico.
Why did you decide to go into grad school?
Alejandra: “I decided to go into grad school because it was a pathway to the types of jobs that I want in the future, like R&D, technology development, and innovation. I consider myself a very curious person, and I enjoy learning new things. So, I thought that grad school was the best option for me.”
Does your experience with grad school differ from your expectations?
Alejandra: “Yes and no. On one side, I expected it to be hard work, lots of ups and downs in your results, and a lot of teamwork – which it is. On the other side, I was not expecting to have this intellectual freedom and independence. I guess this has to do with the type of supervisor you have, but I like it since it teaches you to be an independent thinker and problem solver.”
What surprised you the most about grad school?
Alejandra: “It surprised me the amount of funding available for research. At least in my country, there is not as much support as here. It makes me feel optimistic. Another thing that I didn’t expect to learn here is about project management. Being involved in the internal operations like purchasing, maintenance, being the chair of meetings, has helped me develop leadership and organization skills that I didn’t expect but I’m very grateful for.”
Would you recommend grad school for someone in your field? Do you think it will be beneficial to your career?
Alejandra: I think it will be beneficial - otherwise I wouldn’t be here - since it will help me get the skill needed for the type of jobs I would like to have, like R&D, innovation, or maybe teaching. I would recommend it to someone from my field if they enjoy research and they are highly curious. If you are not into these things, grad school may not be the best.
What do you think of the work-life balance of a grad student? How many hours a week do you typically work?
Alejandra: “Your work-life balance depends a lot on how you organize yourself. It can be very easy to lose that balance if you are not able to organize your project and get overwhelmed easily. It depends on the week, but usually I spend around 40-44 hours a week in my research.”
What are the best and worst parts of your experience with grad school?
Alejandra: “The best parts are meeting and working with so many great people, enjoying the process of learning, and getting that feeling that I am doing something good for the future. But the worst parts are trying to keep a good work-life balance, dealing with impostor syndrome, and missing your family and loved ones.”
Level 3 – Post-doc
Dr. Regina Ding is a post-doctoral research fellow at the Sprott School of Business (Carleton University), she previously completed a PhD in Population Health and Medical Geography from McMaster University.
Did your experience with grad school differ from your expectations?
Regina: “As someone who went into grad school straight out of undergrad, I think I expected it to be a more intensive version of undergrad. But I found grad school to be different all together. There were fewer courses, but they were more in-depth, complex, and nuanced, with a focus on knowledge epistemology and examining which voices have been present and absent. Overall, I found the learning and research process in grad school to be a lot more critical and nuanced than I expected coming in.”
What surprised you the most about grad school?
Regina: “There is a lot of self-learning you have to do. I had to teach myself new methodologies, analyses, and theories. I don’t think I realized how unstructured grad school can be and how much is up to you. Your supervisor is there to support you when needed, but they won’t hold your hand. I was also surprised - in a good way - at thoroughness of the research ethics process. Because my research is on human subjects, there was emphasis placed on the trade-off between harm to participants and knowledge gained.”
What do you think of the work-life balance of a grad student? How many hours a week did you typically work?
Regina: “Work-life balance is definitely there, but you have to actively prioritize setting boundaries because its easy to overwork. The “work” aspect of grad school encompasses so many different activities that it can be very overwhelming at first. But a PhD is a marathon, not a sprint, and preventing burnout means protecting your personal time. Your work-life balance is entirely what you make of it! I typically worked anywhere between 30-40 hours per week, sometimes more if there was a major deadline. I found that consistently working more than 40 hours per week was not conducive to my productivity nor motivation.”
What were the best and worst parts of your experience with grad school?
Regina: “I loved going to conferences. It’s a rewarding end result to your research, as well as giving you perspective to the big picture and why you conduct research in the first place its also a good opportunity to network with industry professionals and other academics. [The worst part is] the opportunity cost of grad school. My PhD took 5 years to complete so not only am I entering the workforce older than most new grads and with less formal work experience. In those 5 years, I’ve watched friends start and move up in their careers, travel, move, and change careers. It can be an alienating experience.”
Wrap-up
Thanks to the perspectives of Clara, Alejandra, and Regina we got a look behind the curtain of grad school, seeing what real students go through rather than just what your university marketing team shows you. But this is just the beginning of our deep dive into what grad life is really like. While these interviews gave us some answers to the motivations and expectations of grad students, they also opened new questions like “how do I manage work-life balance?” and “how do I deal with imposter syndrome?” that are important for us to take time and answer in the future.