Professional Development

Bronwen Grocott

Don't let anyone else tell you what your experience in grad school will be! So much of this program is what you make of it and the work can really take over most of your life if you allow it to. Work-life balance isn't always easy to maintain but…

Thea Brain

I have two main bits of advice. The first is that it is important to have a big-picture idea of what you are wanting to achieve by pursuing your graduate degree. These big picture goals should guide your decisions around course selection, saying…

Sara Hosseinirad

1. Be flexible and accept the fact that you may not know everything and learning and gaining some skills take time
2. Be patient and persistent to be able to reach your goals and meanwhile
3. Find a right community to get…
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Faeze Keshavarz

I would like to tell new graduate students to try and have a work-life balance to increase their efficiency and avoid burnout. I also think it is important to know that not all endeavours will yield success, but they should never give up. It is…

Katie McCloskey

Avail yourself of opportunities to meet other researchers and faculty and let them know you're keen. You never know what opportunities might open up to you.

Haley Hrymak

I always remind myself to not worry about creating things that are perfect- there is no such thing.

Brook Hadwen

My advice would be to seek out as many opportunities to learn as possible. Don't wait for learning opportunities to fall in your lap. If you see a project you'd like to help with, reach out and ask! If you have the opportunity to be a part of…

Jonathan Doucette

Read papers from other fields, and try to connect them to your own research. If you are struggling with figuring out how to solve something, there is a good chance somebody else has struggled with the same problem! Similarly, dedicate lots of…

Asad Hasan

My advice would be to try not to compare yourself to others. You will often find exceptional people in academia, particularly here at UBC, and impostor syndrome runs rampant among graduate students. Instead, focus on carving out your own path and…

Bronte Johnston

Graduate school can be very overwhelming at times due to the large number of things that need to get done. To help keep focused and motivated, I find it helpful to break things down into feasible tasks I can accomplish in one day, and then take…

Aleria McKay

For distance students, I would recommend taking the time to develop and get in the habit of following a schedule for yourself. Online courses take a different type of motivation and self discipline, and creating a schedule for myself that…

Juri Kim

Unexpected situations can occur during the graduate program that may cause disruptions and stress. I hope you won't be overly burdened by circumstances that are often beyond our control. During the early stages of my doctoral program, I, like…