I've learned a lot since starting grad school at the University of Minnesota - Twin Cities. Needless to say, it's brought me a lot of knowledge, but not just that in textbooks. Here are some of the things I've realized about grad school over the course of my first two months.
1. Getting into grad school seems like the easy part. Surviving isn't.
I thought getting into grad school was going to be the difficult part of the process. "Once I get there, I'll just study and things will go well," I thought. Boy, was I wrong. It's a humongous task to balance studying, cooking, doing research and taking care of my own physical health. You can pretty much only accomplish two of these things in 24 hours.
2. Everyone in grad school is amazing.
Graduate school finds the students who really want to push their own boundaries and dive deeper into the subject about which they're passionate. To do that, you need to exceptionally motivated. Luckily, everyone around you is.
3. What comfort zone?
There is no comfort zone here. You are learning things you have never even heard of before, using foreign software, applying abstract mathematical techniques...the list goes on. These strange concepts and challenges that would have stumped you as an undergrad become trivial daily rituals for you and your classmates in grad school.
4. What are you doing? Assignment. Eating. Sleeping.
I was talking to one of my friends and she said that whenever her mother calls her and asks her what she is doing, she only had two answer choices: doing assignments or eating lunch/dinner. Obviously, you don't talk on the phone when you are sleeping, but you get the point. Grad school can be simplified to eating, sleeping and studying. Now repeat.
5. Every Masters student is, like me, poor.
Nobody has money. No grad student lives extravagantly, we eagerly flock to free food, regardless of what it is. Even the PhD students are suffering. No one's paid enough for what they do and you're probably still paying off your student loans from your undergraduate years. Just take my money.
6. You have to do everything yourself. Every damn thing.
I lived with my parents until I went to college. Even in grad school, I still have difficulty performing everyday tasks. Waking up at fixed times becomes extraordinarily difficult. When I lived at home, my mother used to wake me up every morning. Here, I struggle to "adult" - to cook, clean, do laundry and wash the dishes. Just keep at it. I have a shred of faith that this stuff will get easier.
7. Thoughts like, "What did I do in my undergrad?" are all-too frequent.
Nearly every grad student I've talked to has felt this way. They think, "I should have known this stuff before coming here, right? I shouldn't be struggling with these seemingly trivial concepts!" Yeah...I don't get it either. Grad school is an entirely different beast.
8. You have to be able to handle pressure and stress. A lot of it.
During my undergraduate years, everyone said the "real world" was even harder than college. But, I'm hoping that what I'm going through now is something I'll look back on and think, "How the hell did I make it through grad school?"
9. You get to study what you love
At least in my case, we used to have so many compulsory subjects in my undergraduate program. I was never interested in them and never wanted to study. This becomes rare in graduate school. You study only the subjects relevant to your subject and/or research project. I'm glad I've finally had the opportunity to pursue my passion.