Planning & Support for Soon-to-Be Graduate Students

Conferences
There are many sites online that can provide you with lists of conferences to consider attending and
submitting proposals for. Here are some examples:
Type of Attendee Link to Site Maintained By
For Humanities
students
http://www.h-net.org/announce/group.cgi?type=Conferences H-net Online
For English
students
http://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/ University of
Pennsylvania
For Science &
Technology
students
http://www.wikicfp.com/cfp/ Wiki account
For Business
students
http://www.conferencealerts.com/topic-listing?topic=Business Conal
Conference
Alerts
For Education
students
http://cetl.kennesaw.edu/teaching-conferences-directory Kennesaw State
University
For Library and
Information
Science students
http://lcp.douglashasty.com/ Douglas Hasty

If you plan on attending a conference, you should also talk to your graduate school and department to
see if you can obtain funding to help pay for itwhile there is less funding now than in the past, there
are still funds available for those who ask.

Jobs
There are many places for grad students to look for jobs. Here are just a few:
Assistantships/fellowships that are granted upon your acceptance
o Teaching assistantships, graduate assistantships, research assistantships, residence
assistantships
On-campus employment
o Work study, part-time
Employment at local restaurants, malls, stores, etc.
Its important to weigh your class schedule against your available time. Often times, its not
recommended that full time grad students work, though many do. Having an on-campus job is
preferable as youll be on campus and can build connections there.
Planning your Schedule
With all of the things grad students have on their plate, its important to create a schedule to help
balance everything and keep track of important dates. Schedules can take the form of Google calendars,
Excel documents, actual physical planners, calendars, or even Post-It Noteswhatever helps.
Step One
Break down your activities into fixed and flexible activities.
Fixed activities are ones that you have to do/are regularly scheduled, like classes, work,
projects, getting food, etc.
Flexible activities are ones that you dont necessarily have to do on a set schedule and
can be moved around, like sleeping, working out, going out with friends, taking you
time to relax, etc.
Step Two
Schedule some open blocks of time for studying and stick to it! Youll thank yourself for this
later. If you can schedule out even small chunks of time every day for your readings,
assignments, research, and other class-related things like meetings for group projects, youll
have more time for other things in your schedule and can at least attempt to keep up or work
ahead of your work load.
Step Three
Make sure that you schedule time for the following:
Sleep! Studies have linked a poor sleep schedule/poor sleep habits with decreased
brain/cognitive functions and the ability to do well in class.
(http://studentlife.umich.edu/parents/article/successful-students-tend-sleep-more,
http://www.aasmnet.org/articles.aspx?id=659, and
http://www.psych.umn.edu/sentience/files/Lowry_2010.pdf for example)
Eating and Exercise you want to make sure that youre taking care of yourself.
Remember the Freshman 15? That can easily reoccur in grad school (and then some).
Fun/You Time I cant stress the importance of this enough. Make sure that you take
at least a few minutes every day for yourself. You can burn out easily if youre not.


**A neat resource to check out: The Time Management Calculator
https://www.baruch.cuny.edu/advisement/time-management-calculator.html

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