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The following are valuable lessons I learned during graduate school. I wish I had known them before starting since it would have reduced the amount of pain and uncertainty I experienced.
I define “graduate school” here as a doctoral program consisting of a coursework portion and an original research portion culminating in a written thesis. Lessons here also apply to post-Bachelor's Master's programs, which may or may not include a research and written thesis component. Post-Master’s Doctorate programs will have a reduced course load and of course require research.
These lessons reference my own experience in attaining a Doctorate in Theoretical Physics in Quantum Information Theory, but they are applicable to other fields of study too, and even more closely in STEM fields. They are roughly ordered from start to finish, but not strictly so. I will also include my own personal context at the end of each lesson to enhance them.
1. Intrinsic Interest Must Be The True Reason
Graduate school will be one of the most difficult and memorable undertakings of your life, and there’ll be plenty of internal turmoil and external problems.
