Advice from UBC Students

Diana Canals Hernaez

Don’t isolate yourself in your research. It is very easy to get absorbed by your research and put everything aside for “just a few years”, but grad school is tough enough and you’ll need a network of people to support you so that you can excel....

Lucas Zhang

Graduate school is quite different from undergraduate life. You have experienced and learned a lot up to this point in your life. Hence, having a positive outlook, strong mental capacity, resilience, and accountability are the necessities in...

Tarique Benbow

Try to have a holistic experience during your graduate studies. Become involved in outreach programs, graduated student societies, and clubs to enrich your graduate school experience. UBC has many student organizations to help you get involved...

Jialin (Lydia) Chen

To open yourself and welcome the new environment. Be positive, and talk with your friends, things will be better!

Ahmed Elashry

Work on developing new friendships among your colleagues, always ask for advice and remember that the answer is always no if you don't ask. Professors are always there for you, extracurricular activities are a great way to be involved and to meet...

Joseph Ogbede

Prepare your mind, set a target, get ready for rewarding opportunities, and network with people you meet. Importantly, be inspired by a purpose.

Philipp Kreyenmeier

Find something relaxing to do for times when grad school becomes stressful and frustrating.

Matthew Hickey

Don’t be afraid to take risks and try new things. You’ll be surprised what you can learn about yourself if given the chance.

Karen Rose Thomas

Find a supervisor that you connect with. Be honest with them about your needs, and never tell the determined voice in your mind to be quiet.

Cheryl Inkster

Take it one day at a time and take advantage of the services offered at UBC to support you. Go walk down to the beach before or after class and take time to rest. Balance is important, and seek help if you are not sure how or where to start.

Kelsey Yamasaki

One piece of advice that I have for new graduate students is to establish a healthy work-life balance. Graduate studies may be very intensive and you may find yourself devoting most of your time to research and coursework - which is a part of...

Robbie Knott

Take time for self-care. Graduate school can be overwhelming at times and it's important to listen to your body and find a healthy work-life balance. I find that habitual exercise and healthy eating allow me to stay energized and also bolster the...

Yeeun Lee

My best advice, for now, is to be proactive and persistent! Graduate student life is pretty much independent. If I don't push myself to be active and keep myself engaged, it is easy to be lost and lazy. At the same time, facing multiple failures...

Jessica Schaub

Take time for things that you enjoy doing to avoid burning out.

Scott Ramsay

Keep pushing yourself to learn and ask lots of questions!

Bonnie Tulloch

Make time to develop friendships with colleagues in your program. The challenges of graduate life are easier when you have people to navigate them with. Also, it is important to celebrate each other's progress! When we help each other succeed we...

Hazel Hollingdale

To recognize that pursuing a graduate degree is difficult, but often in ways that aren't fully understood until you're going through it. I have found the research itself to be the most enjoyable and least stressful part of my time at graduate...

Mohamed Essa

Accept new challenges. Be patient when you try new research ideas. Don’t be alone. Make friends and socialize.

Balsher Singh Sidhu

Graduate school, although daunting at times, is the perfect place to search for and engage in things you are really passionate about. There are countless opportunities around, all you have to do is be proactive and take advantage of all the...

Jolande Fooken

Hang in there! But if you are truly miserable it is ok to look for an alternative career path. Grad life should be fun (for the most part) and you should be passionate about what you do.

Mohammadreza (Sam) Pakyari

I think doing research in any field has two important aspects. One is being able to ask good questions and generate hypotheses. Another is learning how to troubleshoot during the course of research and doing the experiments. Both demand a lot of...

Samuel Adeyanju

I will advise new graduate students to enjoy all that graduate studies has to offer. They should be deliberate in their actions and ensure they are making the right choices and connections that will be useful in achieving their future aspirations...

Maria Angélica Guerrero-Quintana

Know that the process will have all kinds of stimulating stages. Stay true to yourself at the same time as keeping an open heart and mind to the new challenges. Be humble with your knowledge and learning as you stay tuned-in with the fact that...

Federico Andrade-Rivas

Be creative in finding ways to make the experience at UBC unique. It is fascinating to see the number of clubs, activities, and programs that would help you to feel passionate and balanced. Do not think about these activities as low-priority ones...

Ashleigh Rich

Grad school can often be all-consuming and sometimes overwhelming. Take time to focus on keeping up with friends and family, spending time with partners, etc.- you will need them. At the same time, grad school is an important time to grow and...

Erika Siren

Use your first couple of years to get out of your comfort zone—attempt challenging experiments, work on your weaknesses and try to get involved with an array of the great extracurricular opportunities for grad students that UBC has to offer. You'...

Pamela Mackenzie

I would recommend establishing a community of peers inside the university for academic support, but also trying not to neglect the broader cultural and natural environment of Vancouver and the surrounding areas. Maintaining work-life balance has...

Lindsay Richter

The most important piece of advice I have for new graduate students is to challenge yourself. Challenge yourself academically, professionally, and personally. You will be surprised at how much you can accomplish when you take a chance on an...

Grace Nosek

My general approach to grad school has been to find community, be kind to myself and others, and never say no to a dance party.

David Champagne

In my opinion, the pace, intensity and range of possibilities of scholarly research can be overwhelming. Often, we may feel like we are not up to the task, notably in terms of writing. In the face of this dilemma, I found that writing daily,...

Jungsoo Park

My best advice is to work your hard and attend as many conferences, research symposiums, poster sessions as possible! We are always presenting our work to a diverse range of people. Having the ability to communicate effectively is very important...

Hooman Esfandiari

Be open and accept new challenges. The grad life experience and the soft skills you acquire are as important as the technical knowledge you learn over the course of your program.

Andrew Perrin

Be patient. Research is about breaking new ground and pushing boundaries. Sometimes you're the first to go somewhere new and that can be frustrating!

Colin Dring

Pace yourselves, learn very quickly to establish clear boundaries between work and self-care, and establish strong networks of support both in academia and outside.

Sumreen Javed

Just hang in there. Don’t ever lose faith in your Creator and yourself. There is a reason behind everything that happens in our lives. Focus on the lesson from the event and move on. Sometimes, it’s ok not to be at the top or be number 1, but the...

Jennifer Grenz

The best advice I could give to graduate students is to make sure that you are working with people that inspire and challenge you and that you feel are your biggest cheer leaders for your success. If you have a supervisor and committee that can...

Gillian Vandekerkhove

Read – read often, read extensively, and read outside your area of expertise now and then.

A. Saskia Wolsak

Take advantage of all the resources offered to students to help you navigate the system. Starting any program includes a huge learning curve -- there is a lot of new terminology, platforms, systems to conquer before you can even begin to study....

Antonin Lacelle-Webster

My advice for new graduate students will be to take their time and explore different opportunities before beginning a graduate degree. The experiences that I have accumulated outside academia have all contributed in different ways to my approach...

Randip Gill

I would advise new graduate students to find what best works for them to strike a balance between their academic work and enjoying other aspects of student life, whether it is in nature, through clubs/sports/recreational classes, or whatever it...

Sarah Lachance

Getting overwhelmed with work is made easy by the rather unstructured nature of the tasks involved in graduate studies. Don’t push yourself to work so much as to neglect your social life and your health. Outdoors activities and physical exercise...

Giulia Del Gobbo

Take care in finding a supervisor/lab in which to do your research – ensuring that you are passionate about your graduate research and that you have a supportive supervisor and lab environment is so important; you could be there for a few years...

Amber Moore

In my first year, I wasted a lot of time worrying about whether I had made the right decision to return to school. I missed my students, and imposter syndrome really set in. My advice would be to make a point of enjoying this unique time in your...

Kate Kysow

You can't do everything at 100%. If you want to still enjoy your life outside of graduate school, it's a better bet to aim at 85% or pretty good. The clinical psychology program at UBC takes 6 years plus an internship to complete--that's a long...

Beverley Larssen

Don’t forget to take time for yourself to re-energize and maintain a healthy work-life balance. Whether that is playing outside or getting involved in an extra-curricular activity that you enjoy, Vancouver has a lot to offer.

Shunya Yagi

Finding a good way to release your stress is important for your success.

Michelle Coombe

Develop a good network of colleagues and classmates--this make your time as a graduate student enjoyable and helps to provide support for when you need advice.

Xining (Linda) Yang

Make your plan and follow it. You may not achieve great things in one shot, but keep going step by step. Experiences are of great value.

May Luu

Embrace the realization that in general, we do not know very much. Opening yourself up to this notion allows you to enjoy your curiosity and the uncomfortable state of not knowing the right answer. If an answer to your question is not easily...

Adam Howe

Figure out what times/hours of the day you work most productively, and use those hours to do your 'heavy lifting' (i.e. writing). Save the emails and CV updates for other times. Take weekends off!