We talked with a graduate student to get the behind the scenes look at how life really is before and during graduate school. Take a walk in the shoes of graduate student Suzanne Stambaugh.
Suzanne Stambaugh is a Counseling Psychology Doctoral Candidate at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. She is also the West Area Graduate Assistant for UT Housing.
Q: What degree are you pursuing?
A: I am a Ph.D. student in Counseling Psychology at UT. I am in my 6th year in the program and hopefully this will be my last year.
Q: How did you decide on your major?
A: I decided in high school that I wanted to go into psychology. I had a great teacher in high school who taught psychology, and I enjoyed learning the subject from him. I did have a dilemma though. I knew that I wanted to go to graduate school; however, I did not know how I was going to finance graduate school.
Q: How was the graduate school application process?
A: Getting into graduate school was quite a challenge because graduate school in psychology is so competitive. That’s part of why I came to UT, because I was fortunate enough to get accepted here and receive an assistantship here. So, I knew that I could not pass that up. I researched helpful tips, and I tried to do those things that would help me get into graduate school. I applied to about 13 graduate schools, so it was a lot of work.
Q: What advice do you have for undergrad students pursuing graduate school?
A: Make sure you are budgeting your time so that you can apply for all your desired graduate schools. Also, it is important to be conscious of building relationships during your undergrad years with people who can and will give you letters of recommendation. This is very important at a big university, where it is hard for professors to remember students. This is where work experience is helpful also, because you can get one-on-one interaction with your supervisor. If your grad program includes interviews, utilizing Career Services for a mock interview is also helpful.
Q: Is it difficult balancing both work and school in grad school.
A: It is hard. You wear many different hats, and you have to meet different expectations that sometimes conflict with each other. It helps to keep a realistic approach about it. You cannot please everybody all the time. So, you have to prioritize things.
Q: Compared to undergrad, is graduate school more difficult?
A: I think it is, because I feel like I play a lot of more roles than I did in undergrad at the University of Florida. Even though, in my undergrad I had similar responsibilities, such as work and school, I think that, in graduate school, the expectations are higher. Unlike the big classes in my undergrad, graduate school contains smaller classes. There are more expectations and the environment is more competitive. You are just under more scrutiny, because there is more expected of you, and you can’t blend in or hide in small classes.
Q: How did you learn about the different ways of financing graduate school?
A: When I was first thinking about graduate school, I did not really know about graduate assistantships. I minored in mass communications and did some internships in the PR area during my undergrad years, because my plan was to work in PR and go to graduate school part-time. However, as I did more research, I realized that you had to go full-time for Ph.D. programs in psychology and you get this thing called a graduate assistantship, and that’s how you pay for graduate school. So, that was helpful to learn.
Q: How did you utilize your Career Services to help in your graduate school transition?
A: Being a psychology major as an undergrad, I was frequently asked: “So, what are you going to do with this degree?” I knew needed to be able to support myself. So, I did utilize the services my undergrad’s Career Center offered, such as the What Can I do with this Major? I utilized its resources and went there to talk to the counselors. I also did a mock interview there, where they recorded my interview and gave me feedback. That was helpful because I realized how I sounded during an interview.
Q: What advice do you have for students who want to go to graduate school but are hesitant because of the lack of finances?
A: I would advise them to talk to some of their professors who are in their field. I would also suggest that they speak with students in their field and drop by Career Services for additional help. I would recommend they ask students who are in the graduate programs they are interested in and ask how they pay for school. I think it also helps to think about your bachelor’s degree and what kind of career you are pursuing, what you are expected to make with a bachelor’s degree and compare it to what you would earn with an advanced degree. I think it helps to think about that cost-benefit analysis, when considering graduate school.
For more information and resources on graduate school, visit our website at career.utk.edu.
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