Our theme for the month of March is “How to.”
I’m halfway through my last semester of graduate coursework (praise the Lord). Usually this would mean I’ve finished five semesters of classes, or maybe eight or nine if I’d done one previous master’s degree. But because I’m [redacted] and did two grad programs before starting PhD, this is my twelfth time rounding the midsemester bend as a graduate student. Once for each day of Christmas, disciple of Jesus, or LP the Beatles released in the UK.
There’s a nearly infinite amount of grad school advice flying around the internet: where to apply, how to write a personal statement, how to stay sane and still get stuff done (ha), why you shouldn’t ever consider going in a million years so help us God (haha). Here’s my unasked-for contribution to that pile—the stuff I probably wouldn’t say at an official department event but am happy to preach to the internet. With lots of exclamation points to adequately communicate my lighthearted earnestness!
Don’t do all the reading!
This is crucial. First of all, you just can’t. You’ll die. But second, skimming something and faking a halfway decent understanding of it is literally one of the most important skills you can develop. That’s not supposed to be snarky. For all the pious academic talk about deep and careful reading, our fields run on quick glances and hurried skims. I promise it’s not a sin. (And good academic writing is skimmable writing!)
Take weird classes!
The Anthropology of the Super Bowl? A Historico-Critical Investigation of Our Aging Librarian’s Favorite Fourteenth-Century Manuscript? Literary Approaches to American Chocolate Bars? Take them all! They’re way better than your required theories and methods class, I assure you. (My schools sadly haven’t offered any of these, but they have had paleography, post-liberation political theology, and bibliography—not bad substitutes.)
Take classes with people you know!
Sometimes the only thing that makes a bad class bearable is being able to gripe about it in good company. If you go in with a friend or two as a united front, nothing can break you. And vent sessions standing around in a parking lot are, no joke, some of my most treasured grad school memories. (On the flip side, a good class is only made better having someone to mutter puns to.)
Bother professors when necessary!
I, like many other grad students, have an innate talent for the deferential email: “if it’s not too much of a problem,” “if there might be some possible way,” “if it does not impinge on your sacrosanct responsibilities,” and of course the indispensable “no worries if not!” Phrase things however you’re most comfortable, but don’t be afraid to be a little bit of a bother. Send the email! Ask for the recommendation letter, then ask again! Demand feedback (nicely)! It’s literally their job.
Do something else!
Coursework can’t be your whole life. You’ll—I repeat—die. Join an orchestra or band or dance troupe or book club. Bake or cook or run or swim or bartend. Resist the urge to turn everything you love into a research topic. There are other ways to get to know the world. A few of them (brace yourselves, fellow historians) don’t even require the Chicago Manual of Style.
Josh Parks graduated from Calvin in 2018 with majors in English and music, and he is currently a PhD student in religious studies at the University of Virginia. When not writing, he can be found learning the alto recorder, watching obscure Disney movies, and making excruciating puns.
