The Journey Through Graduate School: Flourish and Be Happy

By Linda Marcuccilli PhD RN

The Journey through Graduate School: Flourish and Be Happy aims to invoke understanding and inspiration along the graduate journey and beyond via short stories and poems, portraying times of joy, sadness, even tribulations experienced along the way. Presented with compassion and wit, each story resonates with an understanding ''nod'' of experiences to which many of us can relate.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: Apr 26, 2018
• ISBN: 9781543923728

Book preview

What You Need for Your Graduate Journey

While befriending several amazing peers throughout my educational journey, discussions were always filled with experiences of our journey through graduate school. From projects to ongoing paper rewrites, gatherings were always very supportive with much needed laughter and ‘’a shoulder to cry on." However, we all agreed that there are some very critical components in order to be successful in graduate school. These are, in no particular order, as follows:

Support

A Plan

Reflective Journal

Determination and Passion

Support

From our human to animal friends and the bonds we create with them, it is crucial to share your highs and lows during your educational journey. Let me give you an example when I worked full-time as a registered nurse. The workload was very heavy at times which led to many late nights to complete my work. Sleep deprivation became a new normal to me, as I was in the process of completing my master’s degree and just accepted into the PhD program. Given all these life factors, I became very concerned about how I was going to survive doctoral studies on a full-time basis. A conversation was in order with my then future husband. It was his unwavering support and encouragement that continued to fuel my passion for pursuing my doctoral studies full-time, even all my endeavors in life. Support is absolutely vital to be able to let your creativity flow. Studying with a clear mind and knowing that you have unwavering support will help you to build the bridge towards your goals and dreams.

Next, I would also like to stress here the importance of keeping in close contact with your advisor, mentor, and/or doctoral chair. Don’t be afraid to ask questions. The journey through graduate school can be intense or even overwhelming at times. Keeping the lines of communication open with them will help to ease the stress and help you understand what is required as you progress through your graduate journey.

Finally, your school has many resources available to help you navigate through your graduate journey. From orientation, completing the required paperwork, achieving benchmarks in your program, to writing and library resources, these resources are plentiful and created to help you succeed in your program.

A Plan

When you decide to embark upon a life-changing journey such as graduate school, you need a plan. Continuing from the example of support, my then future husband and I carved out a life plan to meet our needs. From finances to household maintenance, a simple sheet of paper listed all the possible life tasks that needed to be addressed. One by one, we listed the pros and cons of each item on the list, categorized each life task, then developed a plan which best suited our needs. After reviewing all the possibilities and potential outcomes, the decision was made to leave my job and pursue graduate studies full-time. Having a plan to envision our goals to keep track of what was needed or what we could live without helped us to create a manageable and satisfactory life plan while pursuing the graduate journey.

Determination and passion will drive your success through life’s continuum

(Linda Marcuccilli, Christmas Eve, 2016)

Reflective Journal

I prefaced this section with a quote to help inspire you as you embark upon, or begin thinking about starting a journey that will change the way you think and reflect upon your life. You will read a lot of literature – I mean, a LOT and will meet so many new people; it will be such an amazing journey in your life that you will want to embrace every minute of your experiences and learn and grow from them. How can you learn and grow from each experience? One of the ways that you can harness the power of your graduate journey is through