Grad Life in Focus

Imagine if your day today looked like this: Not too bad, huh? There’s plenty of free time to get stuff done, and you can complete tasks in any order. Want to work out before class? No problem. Hang out with friends all day and work…

One of the most challenging aspects of graduate school is the sheer variety and number of projects and responsibilities you have to manage on a regular basis. Things might be a bit calmer in the first year as you focus on classes and only start…

Graduate school is a massive time commitment; you’re in for about 5 years, give or take. If you’re familiar with the American education system, you know that the financial commitment to getting a Ph.D. is just as enormous. If you’re not aware of the costs…

To say that I was anxious about my first graduate class is an understatement. What will my classmates be like? How will instructors teach? What are homework assignments like? Are the course memorization-heavy? Will I be bored to death by lectures again?.. With all these…

After a 13-hour bus ride from New York, I had only two things on my mind: food and passing out in my bed. As I was dragging my (not so big) suitcase through the downtown of my new home base, my eyes came across a…

When I was searching for Ph. D. programs, I basically knew three things: during my program, I will take courses, do research, and teach or assist faculty members to get funding if I’m lucky. I was pretty fuzzy on the details. For anyone who’s considering…

I decided to start this blog after I’ve spent a little over 4 years in my graduate program. Throughout my Ph.D. journey, I had a lot of thoughts about life in academia - especially from an international perspective, as I am originally from Russia. Life…