New Graduate Student Checklist
The transition into graduate school is as large or larger than the transition from high school into undergrad. Graduate students must take more responsibility for their own learning (fewer quizzes, tests and extra credit), have different roles to balance (student, teacher, mentee) and, oftentimes, have families or at the very least, are no longer under someone else's healthcare plan.
If you wish to ask a current graduate student about their experience at IU, please visit The Graduate Student Emissaries Blog.
To help you with this transition, the GPSO has put together a short checklist of things to do to get settled in Bloomington and at IU.
STEP ONE: Orientation to the community
- Read: The GPSO's How to Thrive in Graduate School
- Attend the GPSO New Grad Student Orientation
Thursday, August 28rd, 2008
Wells Library
2:00 - 4:00 p.m.
(see map)
The only campus-wide orientation for graduate and professional students. This event will provide you with valuable resources and information needed for a successful graduate education at Indiana University, as well as some free stuff! Registered attendees will have the chance to win the annual GPSO Book Scholarship. It is also an opportunity to socialize with other new graduate students from different schools and departments, and a chance to hear from returning students about what they wish they had known. - Attend the GPSO Cook-Out
Sunday, August 31st, 2008
Bryan Park, Woodlawn Shelter
Serving from 2:00-4:00 p.m.
Families and friends welcome!
We will provide "main dish" food.
Blankets, chairs, frisbees and other park toys encouraged! - Attend the University Graduate School Wine and Cheese Reception
Friday, September 5, 2008
Neal-Marshall Center, Grand Hall
(Corner of 7th and Jordan)
(see map)
Meet The University Graduate School staff and other graduate students.
Sponsored by: The University Graduate School - International students: also attend the International Student Orientation
STEP TWO: Settling into Bloomington
- Find a place to live
Don't forget to browse the GPSO Housing Board - specifically created for IU graduate and professional students! - Set up your major utilities
Gas:
Vectren - (800) 227-1376
Electric:
Duke Energy - (800) 521-2232
Water/Sewer:
CBU - 812-349-3930 or 349-3655, http://bloomington.in.gov/utilities/
The city of Bloomington's information for students.
Familiarize yourself with city parking, trash removal and regulations.
- Explore your neighborhood
- Open a bank account
- Register your car and bike at IU with Parking Operations
- Learn how to use the IUB and Bloomington bus systems
- Around town on Bloomington Transit
- Around campus on the Campus Bus Service
- Carpooling
- Register to vote
Print out a voter registration form and mail it in or sign up at the GPSO New Graduate Student Orientation.
- Register your car with the state of Indiana
- If you have a family - find child care
- Take a look around town
STEP THREE: Becoming a part of IU
- Attend your school or department's orientation
- Contact your academic advisor
- Visit your departmental office and meet your grad department secretary
The graduate secretary in your department is a good person to get to know. S/he often knows the system better than your advisor and can sometimes help you cut through the red tape. - Get your IU username
Once you receive your admissions letter, follow the directions to get your network ID - your username on IU's computer systems.
p.s. Setting up your username won't work until you've received that letter because the letter is sent out after you are officially entered in IU's system. If your letter did not contain directions, contact your department for that information. - Explore online and technology resources at IU
How to access e-mail, online course materials, your financial accounts and student records, as well as many other IU services. - Get your Student ID card
Have your card made at the IMU, located on the Mezzanine Level next to Delights snack shop, or from the Campus Card Services Office located in Eigenmann Hall at 1910 E. 10th St., once you get your student ID number. - How to use your Campus Access Card
- Check out the IU library system (http://www.libraries.iub.edu/)
Take a stroll through both the main library (The Herman B. Wells Library) and (if you have one) your school / department's library. This will save you time when classes begin because you'll be more comfortable digging into your classwork and research. - Get involved with your graduate student government
Surviving Graduate School
Being a graduate student is like becoming all of the Seven Dwarves. In the beginning you're Dopey and Bashful. In the middle, you are usually sick (Sneezy), tired (Sleepy), and irritable (Grumpy). But at the end, they call you Doc, and then you're Happy.
-- Ronald T. Azuma, from his online guide "So long and thanks for the Ph.D."
How to Thrive in Graduate School
From the 2004 GPSO Moderator
Being a graduate student is like being an Olympic athlete
I. To thrive, it is helpful to understand and appreciate the mythology of graduate school:
- There will be times when you think everyone else is smarter or more confident than you are. Don't you believe it. You were clever enough to get in. Getting through graduate school is more about persistence than about being a genius.
- And there will be times when you think everyone else has a better advisor, better ideas or more money than you do. Don't feel discouraged. Graduate school is a struggle to balance work and school, research and teaching, etc.. it takes everyone time to adjust. Get to know the different hats you are being asked to wear (student, peer, teacher, friend, researcher) and take time to understand the boundaries of each role.
- Stay professional. The faculty and students you interact with will someday be your colleagues. Don’t let yourself get caught up in “departmental politics."
- You can't read it all. This might be difficult for those of you who were super students in undergrad, but in many programs, you will be asked to read and understand more material than it's possible to read. Learn to figure out what is being asked. You may need to know details in one article, but only the general concepts in another.
II. A positive graduate school experience is like a good relay team:
- Relationships at grad school can truly be the lifeblood of your experience – you may have to exert a little initial energy to develop the relationships. Believe us, it is worth it. The academic and emotional support that comes from these relationships can’t be measured.
- Peers and colleagues
- Supportive faculty - don't be afraid to find a mentor other than your assigned advisor/mentor. The graduate school experience is in part what you make of it. If your mentor is serving more as an advisor, that's okay, but find someone who you can talk to about your career path, current struggles and your future.
- Departmental secretaries - these folks often understand the system better than anyone else in the department. Get to know them and give them respect.
- Fellow AI’s and research assistants
- The GPSO - being faculty is not just about being a researcher and teacher, but also about service. The GPSO is not only a way to be connected to graduate student issues on campus and to meet other graduate students, but to learn how universities work on all levels.
- Find a friend. Even just one will do.. someone to jump the hurdles with.
Tip: Sometimes it helps to find a friend outside of your department, because you might want to take a little time off from graduate school when you're being social. When you hang out with other graduate students in your department, you'll find that the discussions always revert to "talking shop."III. Like winning the all-around, a successful graduate school experience requires sticking the landing – in other words, keep yourself grounded:
- Graduate school is not the end all or be all – never forget this.
- Don’t allow the pressures of graduate school to rob you of the things that you know keep you balanced – family, friends, spirituality, volunteering.
- Graduate school could take every minute of your day and sometimes our failure to acknowledge the mythology of graduate school propels us down an unhealthy course. But, you will be successful if you remember to stay grounded and to self-evaluate your own balance.
The fact you are here means you can succeed in graduate school. Shoot for success as defined in your own terms, invest in the community around you, and hold onto those anchors in life that ground you.
Best of luck and congratulations,
The Graduate and Professional Student Organization
Inspiration and Humor
- Graduate Student Life (blog)
- Piled Higher and Deeper - online comic about graduate students
