The most rewarding thing about being a graduate student and one who gets the opportunity to teach in my department is getting to help others learn about the passion of food science & nutrition from someone who is not at the professor level. It’s sometimes hard especially in your undergraduate years taking on so many tasks, being able to balance it all and stand out to professors so you can get into the graduate school that you want. Here are a few tips from a second-year graduate student on how you can stand out to your professors and excel towards that graduate level.
Make Yourself Available
All I wanted to do as an undergraduate student some days was show up to my classes and get back to my dorm so I could just study and have whatever “me time” was left in the day. Although this is important and great, there are probably many opportunities during the week to be involved in your department (club events, study sessions, etc.). In my senior year of undergraduate, an email was sent out to all the nutrition students who would be interested in sitting in on interviews for the department. I thought to myself, what a great idea to show my support as a student and give my insight to our professors holding these interviews on what the department could use in terms of teaching styles and specialties. The bottom line is, if you have the time and unique opportunities present themselves, put yourself out there, your professors will be impressed too!
Get Organized
A lot of what I see when I am teaching labs is the ability to get organized and have an attack plan for the week of what needs to be accomplished. It consists of me explaining assignments multiple times, reiterating due dates and sounding like a broken record of “Any questions?” The silence kills me because I know that even though I spoke clearly and thoughtfully there will be emails the day before saying well this was never explained. My advice to you my undergraduate student, get organized. Get a planner put those classes in and figure out when the time to work on assignments is, create your 8 – 5 pm schedule. Maximize your time to the best of your abilities Monday – Friday and then you can have that time to relax and unwind on the weekends.
Ask Questions
I always tell my students to ask questions in class, out of class or after class. However, you do it, make sure it fits your comfort. I’ve seen that so many students can be intimidated to ask a question, but nine times out of ten a lot of the students have the same basic questions. Don’t be afraid to ask, you are here to learn and succeed.
Know Your Limits
Burnout is something I am all too familiar with, sometimes I feel like I never have enough hours in the day to get done all that I need to do. In reality, we all need downtime and being a student does not mean that your life is over, and you are chained to the computer. Know your limits, when it’s time for a break, take a break. When you feel stressed create a list, what are some easy tasks you can accomplish today that can free up tomorrow for me to accomplish a bigger task. Learn to delegate your time wisely and learn to say, “I’ve done all I can do for today and that is enough.”
These are a few simple ideas that will get you through what feels like the toughest couple of years of your life. Set yourself up for success, make yourself known to professors who love to see when students go above and beyond and create that professor-student relationship. By doing this, putting in the hard work, and showing your professors how hard you work this will get you far.