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Dear first-generation graduate students: I’m thinking of you today. Here are some things that I wish someone had told me when I started graduate school. /1
a. Every encounter from here on out is a professional encounter. Be prepared and walk into your classes prepared to act like a future colleague. It is your job to show your advisors that that is what you are.
b. At the same time, you are also a student. Find a mentor to whose you can ask the difficult questions. Sometimes that mentor is another graduate student who is more advanced than you. Look for the person who is willing to admit their defeats, who will demystify the process.
c. Your job is to become bilingual in the process of class/educational transformation while remaining grounded in the knowledge and experience you bring to your writing and research and teaching.
d. Do not be intimidated by how many second-generation academics are in your classes. Watch them and learn from their entitlement; grill them for knowledge. Your graduate colleagues will become a network that supports you throughout your life. Cultivate it.
e. Have a second plan for your career. Use the resources of the university to cultivate that second plan, whether it be a journalism program, a museum, a community-engagement project, or any opportunities to get parallel degrees paid for. Occupy the institution to your own ends.
f. At the same time, be an institutional actor and builder. Show up for talks, show up for your cohort and friends and the people in and outside of your department. Learn where the money is and put on programming that is meaningful to you and your intellectual communities.
g. Learn where the money is.
h. Learn where the money is.
i. Repeat after me: you are not in your program by accident or out of charity. You earned it. You traveled farther and paid a higher cost. Be proud of that. You are already more excellent than you can even understand. Which leads me to this:
j. Make friends with your imposter syndrome. Literally make that voice in your head a person whose presence you welcome and utilize. Oh hey Imposter Me: welcome to the table again. You get five minutes and then I have to get back to work.
j, still: Make your internal imposter the friend who will never let you become mediocre. Make your internal imposter the voice in your head that makes you get outside of your work and hear it from another point of view.
j, still: Make your imposter the critical voice that will make room for a new university. Which brings me to,
k. Don’t complain: build. When you need something more or better from the institution, research solutions and go in with alternatives to present to the people with resources. Then build those solutions. If you can’t find resources, co-op and share where you can. Which brings...
l. When you need something from people with resources, one good way to get those resources is to ask for advice. Everyone loves to give advice and everyone loves to help someone who will do the work but needs their insight. For instance:
l, still: “I was thinking that minority students need someone to come in & talk about the job market from the pt of view of someone doing X studies, but I’m not sure how to make it happen. I’d be happy to do all of the footwork but can you help me find resources?”
m. back to, find the money
n. make sure to master the various modes of academic writing, from the email asking for money to the grant application. make use of office hours, internal support mechanisms and senior grad students to master those genres. if that doesn’t exist, build it.
o. find a therapist, take care of your body. you will never have this much time again.
p. people with children: it’s ok if the job you are doing is imperfect. the job everyone is doing is imperfect. learn to skim, take copious notes in class, and look up the reviews for every book you read. cut corners. everyone does.
q. women, queers, sexually vulnerable people: develop a network of peers who will give you the institutional skinny on who is safe to work with and who is not. before you commit to working with anyone, ask around carefully, learn about their habits, temperament and reputation.
r. Here is another real thing: you will know the people you study and work with FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE. study and understand the strange animal that is academic sociality. you must have networks to flourish and to do good work because you need interlocutors.
s. learn how to give good feedback; start finding people who will tell you the truth about your work. do not be afraid of challenging teachers. you want to work with them, you really do.
s. sorry i blathered so much! keep adding so I can learn from you, too.
s, still: please correct, tweak, change any of the above. I’ve been out of grad school for a long time and I’ll bet some of this is dated.
