1. You will fail (and it is totally fine) - Everybody fails in grad school, we fail again and again. It’s not about whether or not you fail, because you will, it’s about how you recover from failure.

  2. Have multiple plans - It’s not enough just to prepare to go into one career path (for example, academia) make sure you are thinking about what you will need to be a successful applicant to many kinds of jobs.

  3. Skills not projects - Grad school is focused around projects or thesis chapters but a healthier way to think of it is as a gaining a set of skills over 5 years. Try to design your projects based on the skills you want to learn along the way. Then, even if your project “fails” you will still have the skills you developed.

  4. You are an employee - For those graduate students who have had the opportunity to work before grad school, you probably don’t need to hear this, but for students who have never held a real job, being an employee comes with responsibility but also rights. You are valuable to your employer (the university, your PI) and that give you power.

  5. Invest time to learn the “soft skills” - Take advantage of the offerings at your institution for professional development. These will not only smooth the way during your degree, but will also help after you leave. You may never have a department of Career Services again. Take advanatage of their expertise and resources!

  6. Learn to advocate for yourself - It’s easy to feel like an impostor in graduate school - don’t let impostor syndrome keep you from getting the credit you deserve and the protection that you need. My personal trick for this is to imagine one of my mentors or a more senior person whom I admire and ask myself, “What would they do in this situation?”

  7. Invest time to figure out the best way to communicate with your advisor. Then do it often. - Advisors are only human and many have never been trained in management. This often means that they might be lacking in some typical skills one might want in a boss. Sometimes you may have to make up for that by “managing up”.

  8. Be your own best collaborator - In grad school, you are your closest collaborator. You will spend your graduate career working on projects that you decided on early when you didn’t know very much and when you didn’t have very many skills. That’s okay. But knowing that, you’ll want to try to be the best collaborator you can be. Keep copious notes, come up with alternative plans, keep in mind that your vision of your thesis now will be different from what your thesis actually is.

  9. Take risks - Grad school is one of the few times when you have the opportunity to take risks and leave your comfort zone without facing many consequences for failure. Take advantage of this to learn new skills or start projects that you might otherwise be intimidated to try.

  10. Make friends - Take the time to make friends not only within your institution but also outside of it. These will be your support network during grad school and beyond.