10 Exhausting Things Grad School Will Teach You

Grad School, spending  almost two years running on mass amounts of coffee, little sleep and little money to get a piece of paper that should change your life. Right? Now only one semester away from graduation I have realized I have learned a lot during the past year and a half.

1. Coffee is your best friend.

Miswell go ahead and become a loyalty member at every coffee shop within a 10 mile radius to get some perks out of the hundreds of dollars you will be spending to stay awake, study and function day-to-day.

2. When coffee stops working, PRE-WORKOUT!

You think I’m kidding, but one semester away from graduation coffee no longer does the trick. Pre-workout is the only alternative I have found that is (1) legal and (2) will give me the kick of energy I need in the morning and afternoon, and evening when I am sitting in my four hour night class. I guarantee my participation grade went up a few points when I made this switch.

3. Group work sucks.

You may think group work will allow you to not do as much work and sail through the semester. WRONG! Group work means doing your work, while fixing the wrong work everyone else does in order to salvage a good grade, Also, working around other people’s schedules besides your own. But, you do finally learn how to bite your tongue when all you really want to say is, “Why are you such a moron?”

4. You can bullshit pretty much anything.

Give me half an hour and Google and I can guarantee you I can slap together a convincing presentation about why the grass is green. Grad school taught me how to whip together a kick-ass presentation in a matter of hours that convinces the teacher that I have spent a week preparing. Say everything with confidence and its half-way believable.

5. Find a hobby outside work and school.

If you don’t I can guarantee you will go mentally insane a semester and a half in. Guess why I started this blog? Bingo! If you wrap yourself up with work and school you will not only age 10 years, never see the light of day and become socially awkward due to your lack of interaction with the outside world. It’s true, seen it happen.

6. All that matters is you pass.

You may begin your program thinking you are going to get a 4.0 and graduate with honors. Truth is, all that matters is that you get that piece of paper at the end and put it on your resume. No employer is going to ask you what your GPA was in graduate school. So, don’t stress the B’s and get your beauty sleep.

7. Schedule Fun.

65% of the things in my planner are weekend trips I have planned. Living in Orlando there is so much to do and I want to take full advantage of it all before I prepare to potentially move again after graduation. Groupon, Cheap Air Fare sites (Allegiant Air is my personal favorite that takes me back to KY all the time super cheap) and even last minute cruise deals has allowed me create weekly adventures.

8. Eat healthy and workout.

If you don’t it will be easy to pack on the pounds during grad school when you are constantly under stress. Take some “me time” out of each day to go workout, even if that means bringing your flashcards to the gym with you. Eating healthy is essential too, you have to feel good in order to perform well.

9. EVERY THING IS FREAKING RELATIVE!

Never before had I thought about this or had it put into perspective. Everything depends on something else or the way you look at it or the way the wind is blowing. Someone might think glitter is the best thing after sliced bread, but someone else may think its god awful, it all depends. It is all relative.

10. Have a “Just Do It” attitude.

No matter what you want to do, you have to take the first step. Having a Just Do It attitude means stop over thinking everything and just do it. What do you have to lose? When you start thinking like this you start having less regrets and more opportunities arise. With this in mind I have begun my job search and began my “life after graduation” plan. Already have had several interviews and opportunities for when I finally receive my diploma. Now I just have to wait for that day to actually get here. 121 days, but who’s counting?