What excites you most about grad school?

[LeatherElbows]

While we anxious historians are waiting to hear back from programs, release some pressure. What are you all looking forward to the most about graduate study? It doesn't necessarily need to be something deeply academic or profound. (Just what your mind wanders to while you refresh your inbox every 3 seconds.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ironically, two of the things I am the most excited about seem rather trivial. I've spent a few years working abroad since undergraduate and ... I missed JSTOR access heaps. Also am quite stoked about reemerging as a member of the college town cafe/coffeeshop clientele.

[Sorawit]

Going to grad school this time for me is special, I'll be stepping into the field of policy for the first time. I've done some research work which natually based on the government's policy direction, but it's not the same thing. I'm super stoked to be around peers who come together to address environmental/sustaibility development issues. Also, I'll be in the US, where I already have so many friends there  

[kyjin]

I'm excited about moving back to the States!  I've been an international student for three years now (one year in Japan, and the last two years in Canada,) and I'm ready to be done with it for a little while.  Also just excited to live somewhere warmer than my current location.  So tired of winter weather.

[AKACaz]

I totally hear you on missing JStor, LeatherElbows - I've tried to use it a couple of times for work purposes, and the fact that both it and my alma mater's library have been off-limits to me since last June has been horrible! I'm also really looking forward to being able to use the State Papers Online collection for my research, which I didn't have access to in undergrad.

 

I also can't wait to get back to an 'academic' lifestyle, or at least an academic schedule. I thought a year in the workforce would be good for me, but the routine of 9-6 has proved boring to the point of suffocation. I'm impatient for classes, walks around and across campus, grad lounges, being able to take a break from my work whenever I want to, and not being chained to one specific desk in one specific room day after day after long, long day. 

 

Oh, and getting my summers back! Ahhhhh.... (I probably just sound very lazy, in truth, which isn't far from the mark - but hey ho.)

[czesc]

Beyond the pleasure of engaging in academic reading/writing, the schedule is definitely a big part of it for me. I don't have to be in my office right at 9, but I work more overall hours than people with 9-5s (at any time of day on any day, thanks to a Blackberry), and I have to keep track of everything I do in tiny increments for billing purposes. And there's pressure from different sources either to maximize the hours I can bill to clients or minimize them, and different projects to juggle, and the stress of possibly being fired for messing up any of these one things. Take it from me, don't ever turn to law if grad school doesn't work out! Stability and freedom with my time will be great.

Edited February 18, 2013 by czesc

[Katzenmusik]

I'm looking forward to the feeling of possibility that goes along with being a full-time student.  Your ID card gives you access to infinite library stacks and databases.  For the most part your days are filled with reading and writing and absorbing new ideas.  Possibly you have access to an aesthetically pleasing campus with every sort of convenience at your doorstep.  You're part of an academic community, with events and workshops and speakers who come from all over the world to share their research.

 

Of course, there are downsides to prolonged studenthood -- in the words of Joan Didion, "it is distinctly possible to stay too long at the fair" -- but in general graduate school is preferable to any other occupation I've experienced.

 

With the transition from MA to PhD, I'm mostly looking forward to being around scholars and fellow grad students who will challenge my thinking and push me to do better work.  (My MA program was excellent, but there I was a short-timer.  The PhD will be a more intense experience for sure.)

 

By the end of the program, I will have produced something that is more or less a book.  And that is pretty exciting to think about.

Edited February 18, 2013 by Katzenmusik

[LeatherElbows]

I'll echo the sentiments about feeling good about returning to an academic lifestyle. It was something I took for granted as an undergrad. But coming from a koala who spent a few years in a pine forest ... my cordial invitations for fall to come all the faster.

 

And to Kyjin, I'm with you on the weather. I know I shouldn't choose a program based on average winter temperature, but anything over 50 comes with some serious bonus points.

[LadyRara]

The resources is perhaps the most exciting aspect. Plus getting to work with great people. I love meeting new people and I look forward to making great friends while I'm there. Also, I have these ridiculous dreams of getting some of my work published while I'm there. On a less fulfilling note, I am looking forward to a county where you can buy alcohol too. I know it sounds terrible, but I am sixty miles from the nearest (legal) liquor store. I live in a dry county and am bordered by dry counties.

[History Time]

I've been going to school in MN and living in WI my whole life, so being somewhere warm is one of the big factors for me. I'm also really excited to get away from the undergraduate crowd at my university. This school is especially notorious for attracting seedy and irresponsible students. I enjoy drinks as much as anyone, but I'm really tired of people who only like drinks and aren't interested in anything intellectual. 

[benedicite]

I'm excited about daily access to ridiculous op-eds written by undergraduates in the student paper.

[Andean Pat]

I have been working AND studying for a long time. What I am excited about is being focused on ONE thing: academics. I cannot wait to get immersed in a thriving department, read and write all the time, exercise a lot and GROW. I am also happy about JSTOR access!!!  

[CrazyCatLady80]

I would say the best part of grad school is the schedule. I don't start my work day till 11AM and finish around 9 or 10PM. If I have an appointment, it is easy to work it out, because I am the boss of my own schedule. I love it and a huge perk of being an academic. 

[theregalrenegade]

Research......I love delving into old, dusty archives in a dim-lit room, amid the mists of the past.

[Wicked_Problem]

Being able to attack something with intensity and focus under circumstances which support such behavior.