Many colleges and universities have begun, or will soon begin, classes for the fall semester. If you are about to begin a graduate degree, this article is for you. I hope it will be helpful to see what I learned during my program.

Let me also share that I attended the VCU Masters of Social Work (MSW) Program. It was a two-year program, though they have a one year advance track for folks with a certain GPA and a Bachelors in Social Work. By no means was the work entirely difficult, but those 2 years were the most difficult in my life for other reasons. So here is a bit about what I learned...

1. Time management

You remember in the very first class of any semester your professor goes over the syllabus? As a Type-A, organized person (hello, I wrote an article about planners), I always flipped through them to see when assignments would be due. Murphy's Law seemed to be accurate every semester: huge papers in every class were always due within the same week or two. This meant my old procrastination habits had to be kicked because four 12-page papers would not write themselves in the span of 24 hours before they were all due. So I learned quickly to take advantage of the slower weeks to knock out at least some of the bigger assignments, even if they were not due for another month or longer.

2. Reading

It's physically not possible to read everything the professor assigns between classes. I remember not really doing a whole lot of reading in college but in graduate school, you have to play this Russian-roulette type game where you read what you think may be most important and hope for the best.

3. Coffee

Life-saving goodness.

4. This is not the same as undergrad.

I went from a small school in Farmville, VA (yes, Farmville does exist in real life) to a giant school plopped in the middle of Richmond, VA. It was a bit of a culture shock even though I grew up right outside of Richmond. But beyond the adjustment in culture, graduate school is so vastly different from undergrad. You really are there for the education, not the entire "college experience" again. More is expected of you in your quality of writing, engaging in discussion, and conducting yourself as a real adult.

5. You will be so proud of yourself for achieving this degree.

I remember before beginning school, my dad (who has a master's degree as well) said I would be so much more proud of this degree than my bachelor's. Little did I know how right he would be. It was such a great experience and when my friends and I got to walk across that stage to be hooded, we all got to celebrate together the blood, sweat, and tears we put in to the previous year or two. That was a very surreal moment and will always be a day I look back on and smile.

6. Putting letters behind your name is legit.

I remember getting my first business cards at my first adult job that said "Kathleen Carey, MSW." I had letters behind my name! I knew that moment would come but it was so neat to actually see it on paper.

If you are one of many students beginning an advanced degree, congratulations and good luck to you! I wish you all the best in your program of choice. If you are going to VCU's MSW program, leave me a comment - I would love to connect about it!