This is a guest post from author Vern Marker.

For many people, graduate school is something that you decide to enroll in after a few years of “real life” following up college graduation. Most people find that spending some time working, traveling or doing other activities has given them a new perspective on life and work and they decide to return to school with a renewed purpose.

There is a lot to be said about working for a few years directly after college.  College is, for many students, a time to indulge in studying what one wants to study, as well as a time for forming important personal relationships and developing social skills and one’s own identity.  However it is also true that college may not prepare you as much as one would hope for the rigors of the working world.  Many people just out of college are dismayed and confused by how difficult the college-to-work transition can be.  They find that the subject areas they studied did not lead them to the career they want to have, or they learn that the career that they thought they wanted is not as desirable as it first seemed.  For many people, this perspective, while jarring, is also beneficial. They are able to reassess what they want and decide that possibly their careers could benefit from further study.

When transitioning to graduate school it is important to remember that your studies at the graduate level will take on a very different tone than your studies at the undergraduate level did.  For one thing, your focus is not wholly academic and the work that you do will be a great deal more intensive.  No longer is school a place to socialize, it is a place to work.  When you take graduate level classes, you will likely be with students in a range of ages who have decided to return to school. Many people say that the young people who are just out of college are at the greatest disadvantage as they do not have the benefit of a working-adult perspective, and are somewhat naïve when it comes to many of the discussions that their older classmates can engage in with ease. It is also to be expected that at the graduate level your coursework will be far more intense than it was in undergrad.  What makes this difficult is that very few people can afford to go to graduate school without working, so students are very often cramming their studying into already full days which contain a job and hopefully, some aspects of a social life.

It is this packed-solid schedule that makes graduate school so challenging for many people, and makes it even more critical that they be able to able to manage their time effectively.  In the very beginning of the school year, it is wise to reserve as much time as you can for your schoolwork.  If you find, as people often do, that some classes are harder and more time consuming than others, you will be free to switch things around.  Another good idea is to get to know your professors on a personal level.  This may help you navigate your classes and the often-tricky waters of university politics much more easily.  The more relationships you build within the school, the more resources you will have to seek help, guidance and advice when the time comes to make important decisions.  In addition, these relationships can help you to make connections within your field, which can help get you the job that you want.

About the Author

Vern Marker is a freelance writer interested in psychology, mentoring college students, and the ins and outs of time management. Marker has an industrial psychology degree and recently obtained a psychology masters degree.

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