How do you plan to spend your summer in a more productive manner?

[ProAtOverthinking]

Congratulations to those who got admits already, and good luck for them who are still waiting for results. 

It just came to me to have some suggestions about how to spend the summer for prepping oneself for graduate school, in terms of brainstorming and self-studying for coursework, or just looking for housing accommodations, etc?  Please feel free to pitch in any thoughts/ideas/suggestions for the same, irrespective of which program you have applied to-you can mention it tho. ? 

Take care, everyone. ? 

[Liquirizia]

7 hours ago, ProAtOverthinking said:

Congratulations to those who got admits already, and good luck for them who are still waiting for results. 

It just came to me to have some suggestions about how to spend the summer for prepping oneself for graduate school, in terms of brainstorming and self-studying for coursework, or just looking for housing accommodations, etc?  Please feel free to pitch in any thoughts/ideas/suggestions for the same, irrespective of which program you have applied to-you can mention it tho. ? 

Take care, everyone. ? 

This is a great post; thanks ProAtOverthinking!

My current rough plan is:

• Reading as much as I can in my field - research (articles/books/etc.) as well as Italian lit. 
• Trying to write in Italian everyday to get back into thinking in it.
• I need to learn a 3rd language so I've been studying French now to alleviate the burden later.
• Once I know what courses I'll be taking in the fall, I plan to reach out to those professors for the syllabus and start reading things ahead of time.
• During the pandemic, I figured out what type of routine best fits me now - I like to workout in the morning, start working soon after, work until dinner, and then my evenings can be spent however I need. I think big meal preps on the weekend have been helpful to keep my weekdays productive - not losing time to cooking. If people haven't figured out their ideal routine/lifestyle, the summer would be a good opportunity to experiment.
• I plan to move 1 month prior to starting school. TBD still.
• I've been digitally tidying - cleaning up my computer and getting it organized. Creating good systems of organization for school.
• I start drafting a CV - not much on it, but hey, it'll be easy to add to in the future now.
• I took the Coursera course "Learning How to Learn" so I might revisit that. I also plan to look into Coursera courses on writing and hope to take something to help improve my writing.

That's all I can think of for now. 

You mentioned looking for housing, and my general plan for that is:

• Figure out what neighborhoods I want to be in. (Talk to current students/professors to assess this.)
• Check out Craigslist.
• Check out the Facebook page for students searching housing at my uni.
• Find out the realty groups and check out their listings.

[ProAtOverthinking]

14 hours ago, Liquirizia said:

This is a great post; thanks ProAtOverthinking!

My current rough plan is:

• Reading as much as I can in my field - research (articles/books/etc.) as well as Italian lit. 
• Trying to write in Italian everyday to get back into thinking in it.
• I need to learn a 3rd language so I've been studying French now to alleviate the burden later.
• Once I know what courses I'll be taking in the fall, I plan to reach out to those professors for the syllabus and start reading things ahead of time.
• During the pandemic, I figured out what type of routine best fits me now - I like to workout in the morning, start working soon after, work until dinner, and then my evenings can be spent however I need. I think big meal preps on the weekend have been helpful to keep my weekdays productive - not losing time to cooking. If people haven't figured out their ideal routine/lifestyle, the summer would be a good opportunity to experiment.
• I plan to move 1 month prior to starting school. TBD still.
• I've been digitally tidying - cleaning up my computer and getting it organized. Creating good systems of organization for school.
• I start drafting a CV - not much on it, but hey, it'll be easy to add to in the future now.
• I took the Coursera course "Learning How to Learn" so I might revisit that. I also plan to look into Coursera courses on writing and hope to take something to help improve my writing.

That's all I can think of for now. 

You mentioned looking for housing, and my general plan for that is:

• Figure out what neighborhoods I want to be in. (Talk to current students/professors to assess this.)
• Check out Craigslist.
• Check out the Facebook page for students searching housing at my uni.
• Find out the realty groups and check out their listings.

That's really a well-organized routine. Thank you for sharing it in a detailed way ! 

Yeah, I agree, morning hours are ideal for working out for me as well.. It somehow just shakes out the morning blues! haha. 

I have been working as an intern for an online education platform, and learning/practicing French on DuoLingo. I just completed two certification courses too.  I need to start brainstorming on research papers, like you mentioned. It would be really an ideal way of starting.  I have this guilt addiction to stationery, I spend good amount of time on arranging/rearranging my notebooks/pens/etc.. for no particular reason. LOL. 

Also, I think most of the universities/individual programs, have their courses listed out already, isn't that so? It might be different in your case. But good luck with that. 

Oh, okay. Thank you for the advice on housing accommodation. I will be moving countries.. so it's a leap and I am skeptical about everything. 
 

[Liquirizia]

8 hours ago, ProAtOverthinking said:

I have this guilt addiction to stationery, I spend good amount of time on arranging/rearranging my notebooks/pens/etc.. for no particular reason. LOL. 

I don't know if you feel the same way, but I love organizing/reorganizing. It's an oddly satisfying activity for me.

Sounds like you're doing lots of good productive things before school starts! ☺️

I tried to look into courses at the university I'm most likely going to, but there was nothing I could find. I only know one required seminar I have to take in the fall.

Lots of well wishes for moving countries! I've only ever moved abroad for short living experiences, nothing as long as grad school. I know it's always a long, tough, stressful process with visas, finding housing, etc. Depending where you move in the US, the housing process can be easy. It's the big cities that are often a bit more complicated with application fees, etc. Smaller cities you can find places with ease. I'm sure current students in your program can help you figure out which neighborhoods are best to live in.

[ProAtOverthinking]

23 hours ago, Liquirizia said:

I don't know if you feel the same way, but I love organizing/reorganizing. It's an oddly satisfying activity for me.

Sounds like you're doing lots of good productive things before school starts! ☺️

I tried to look into courses at the university I'm most likely going to, but there was nothing I could find. I only know one required seminar I have to take in the fall.

Lots of well wishes for moving countries! I've only ever moved abroad for short living experiences, nothing as long as grad school. I know it's always a long, tough, stressful process with visas, finding housing, etc. Depending where you move in the US, the housing process can be easy. It's the big cities that are often a bit more complicated with application fees, etc. Smaller cities you can find places with ease. I'm sure current students in your program can help you figure out which neighborhoods are best to live in.

Yeah, I can relate. It really relaxing to organize/reorganize things. 

Haha, thank you. Hopefully!

Oh, okay. But since you're already doing your self-study on your potential-research topics, that's great. 

Yeah, it's daunting, big time. I have a tad complicated background, I was born in the US, then my parents moved back to India, which is where I have been since then. So, basically I'm a domestic applicant, I'm officially waived off visas, and other formalities, which is great, but no legit domestic-related attributes like housing and stuff. lol. 

I will be doing that, once I finalize with my admits. I am yet to hear from two universities, after which I can call on a decision. 

Wish you luck with journey to grad school- not trying to make it sound daunting, haha. 

[Dr.EJM]

On 3/10/2021 at 2:27 AM, ProAtOverthinking said:

Congratulations to those who got admits already, and good luck for them who are still waiting for results. 

It just came to me to have some suggestions about how to spend the summer for prepping oneself for graduate school, in terms of brainstorming and self-studying for coursework, or just looking for housing accommodations, etc?  Please feel free to pitch in any thoughts/ideas/suggestions for the same, irrespective of which program you have applied to-you can mention it tho. ? 

Take care, everyone. ? 

I love this question! (Where were you to ask it when I was getting ready to start my program???  ) 

I don't at this point have too much to add, I spent a lot of time reading books for fun. Being outside and looking at what I would have to prioritize to keep in my life and what I would drop. It's funny to look back and say that I learned to finally meal prep only after I started my doctorate, but for the first time I knew I had to do that to have any time with friends. It's something I keep doing now to be able to go for a run (friends are hard with the pandemic), and have any thing really selfish in my life. Seeing as how I don't have summers off anymore because of school if there was one thing I realize I miss it's going to the beach (sometimes to just read for fun), I did a lot of it the summer before but not with intention. I'm working on figuring out how to do it now with the little bits of time I still have available to me. 

Awesome question! thank you for asking!

(I hope more people answer, I'm looking forward to reading and being inspired)

Edited April 7, 2021 by EJM
no edit, just noting to myself that this is my 100th post :)

[ProAtOverthinking]

9 hours ago, EJM said:

I love this question! (Where were you to ask it when I was getting ready to start my program???  ) 

I don't at this point have too much to add, I spent a lot of time reading books for fun. Being outside and looking at what I would have to prioritize to keep in my life and what I would drop. It's funny to look back and say that I learned to finally meal prep only after I started my doctorate, but for the first time I knew I had to do that to have any time with friends. It's something I keep doing now to be able to go for a run (friends are hard with the pandemic), and have any thing really selfish in my life. Seeing as how I don't have summers off anymore because of school if there was one thing I realize I miss it's going to the beach (sometimes to just read for fun), I did a lot of it the summer before but not with intention. I'm working on figuring out how to do it now with the little bits of time I still have available to me. 

Awesome question! thank you for asking!

(I hope more people answer, I'm looking forward to reading and being inspired)

Haha, I wasn't aware that I was capable of initiating such awesome topics too. JK.  

Beach walks.. I miss them already, cause I haven't been able to go to the beach since the pandemic took a swing. 

I am glad you could relate on how your priorities might have changed after entering grad school. It can get really tough, and it would be rather interesting to know more on your perspective of balancing work/personal life- something which most of us are speculating about a lot. 

My plan for now is: I am going through courses I would like to take, reading about it as much as I can, attending webinars organized by the university, virtual seminars, but also cherishing "me time", lol.  

[Dr.EJM]

On 4/8/2021 at 2:34 AM, ProAtOverthinking said:

Haha, I wasn't aware that I was capable of initiating such awesome topics too. JK.  

Beach walks.. I miss them already, cause I haven't been able to go to the beach since the pandemic took a swing. 

I am glad you could relate on how your priorities might have changed after entering grad school. It can get really tough, and it would be rather interesting to know more on your perspective of balancing work/personal life- something which most of us are speculating about a lot. 

My plan for now is: I am going through courses I would like to take, reading about it as much as I can, attending webinars organized by the university, virtual seminars, but also cherishing "me time", lol.  

I think that sounds great! 

this sounds too simple to me even in writing it, but I am trying to find and hold onto me time, and going for a run, and having non school related conversations with people I care about when doing something fun. unlike my masters I don't find that I have a lot of time to do more. When I can combine a couple of things its what I most prefer, conversation with a friend in the park, taking my laptop to the botanical garden to write for a couple of hours, it's not what I would call balance, but because I am in a place in life where school and basics is a real positive for me I feel more balanced then I did when I was in my masters and had more time. Keeping up with everything is impossible, so I just prioritize me and do all I can in the remaining time. I'm on break for 3 weeks after next Friday and I'll probably be doing the same things but reading for fun. and maybe going further out of the normal area I cover for some green spaces. 

[ajak568]

Brushing up on linear algebra, going to look up some (i.e., Coursera/EdX) to learn a bit of Python (for data analysis purposes). Maybe brush up on STATA. Been using R and LaTeX recently on a small paper I'm working on, just trying to sharpen up for going back to school.

[rainestorm]

I'm mostly excited to quit my job and do nothing. I've spent the last 3 years working and conducting research non-stop, I could really use a break before starting graduate school! And by "nothing" I mean binge-watch TV shows and try out new restaurants! I was able to figure out housing pretty quickly and already signed a lease. I might have to study a little bit sometime in August to brush up on cell bio, genetics concepts and neuroanatomy but other than that, I want to relax ?

[Sigaba]

4 hours ago, rainestorm said:

I'm mostly excited to quit my job and do nothing. I've spent the last 3 years working and conducting research non-stop, I could really use a break before starting graduate school! And by "nothing" I mean binge-watch TV shows and try out new restaurants! I was able to figure out housing pretty quickly and already signed a lease. I might have to study a little bit sometime in August to brush up on cell bio, genetics concepts and neuroanatomy but other than that, I want to relax ?

Congratulations on your admittance to Michigan.

Please be careful with this plan of action. It can be hard to get up to pace from a full resting stop.