Dear Future Graduate Student,
First of all, congratulations on graduating with your undergraduate degree! That is a HUGE accomplishment. Your countless hours of studying, completing assignments, and preparing for class have paid off. Now, a university has acknowledged your hard work and has confidence that you will do well with a Master's degree program. And now, you are about to enter a whole new level of your education! I will not lie and tell you that your Master's will be easy. Adjusting to graduate school was a different level of hard that I wasn't really prepared for. So I thought I'd write a letter of encouragement to help prepare you for the road ahead.
How is a Master's program different you ask? Well, you have more assignments and more demands for your education. You are no longer just expected to know the material you are learning, you have to be able to apply it in various scenarios. If you don't understand the information presented in class, you have to do more outside of class to make sure you do understand the information. You have less time, and not just for completing assignments but for your social life too. If you want time to be social, you have to set that time aside. You have to be very intentional with the things you do both in and out of class if you want to have time to do things you enjoy. And you pretty much have to make time to destress or your mental health will definitely take a toll. You have to take care of yourself! Also, grad school is EXPENSIVE! So you have to use your money efficiently as well. You can't necessarily continue the lifestyle you had during your undergrad. Your money will vanish quickly if you aren't intentional. A job may be a necessity to make ends meet, and if you have to work while you go to school, you can expect even less time.
Now, don't let me scare you off. So far, working on a Master's degree has been worth it! And I know it will be worth it when I finally get my degree and can enter the workforce doing a job that I love. While it is hard, it is possible! It can be a great experience if your heart is in it and if you put your heart and soul into it! It took me a while to get into that groove, so don't beat yourself if you are struggling.
My first semester in my program was VERY hard. I never saw my classmates outside of class time and my roommates were not in the apartment very often. As an extrovert, that was hard for me to have my frequent social life drop to hardly any social time. Class assignments also needed an adjustment. Every time I would finish an assignment, there would be another due in a few days. My time disappeared, even the time that I had set aside for social interaction. I also had to adjust to commuting and waking up earlier than I had in the past since I hadn't lived off-campus before. It was very hard and many tears were shed but I go through and you can too! The next semester wasn't as bad once I knew what to expect and with more people back in my college town to make social interaction more accessible.
With all that being said, here are some tips from a second-year graduate student to help you survive grad school too:
1) You will have time for what you make time for. So know your needs and schedule time for those things. Even schedule studying! Do you know you can't function without social interaction? Schedule a time to meet up with a friend a few days a week. Will you not be able to function without a good workout? Then make sure to add that into your schedule! You get the idea.
2) Find a good community. Maybe that is a campus ministry, maybe it's a local church, maybe it's in your classmates. Wherever you find community, make sure to lean on that community. Humans are social creatures and we are not meant to go through this life alone. You will find more peace and comfort if you confide in friends and if you build memories outside of school with those friends.
3) If your professors tell you to read the textbook, read the textbook. It may make you miserable, but it really will help you understand the material more. The more you review material, the better. Read the book, listen to the lecture and take notes, and then rewrite the notes, and make your own study guides for exams. Repeat, repeat, repeat!
4) Save money anywhere you can. Eat at home more often than you eat out. Rent books or buy books and resell them. Make a budget. Split rooms with people you trust to make rent cheaper. Split the price of groceries with your roommates.
5) Make prayer a lifestyle! Pray as often as you can. Pray when you wake up, before you go to bed, on the drive to work, in the shower, etc. Just rely on the Lord in prayer and I promise you will see fruit.
6) Make thanksgiving a lifestyle! And no, I don't mean eating a feast daily, I mean thanking the Lord daily. Comparison is the thief of joy, but a spirit of thankfulness can serve as a burglar alarm. You are exactly where you are supposed to be. God has placed you in your program for a purpose, trust in that plan. You have the experiences you have for a reason and you have the relationships you are in for a reason. Don't kick yourself for not being in the same stage of life as your friends or classmates. No one else in the world is like you and that's how it should be. You are on God's time, not society's. So, don't let the pressures of the world's definition of success tear you down.
You are entering a wonderful stage of life, a difficult one, but a wonderful one. Relish in it! And remember, you are not alone! You got this! Have faith in yourself!
"And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him." Colossians 3:17
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