Graduate Life: An Oxymoron?

By Magamet Borlakov, Summer 2011

Being a well-rounded student is an idea drummed into many of us growing up. This meant striving for straight A’s, playing a sport (or several), playing an instrument, being in a school play, and for some, participating in student government. It was overwhelming yet invigorating and gave life variety and diversity. Many students keep up a similar pace in college and continue to balance full academic, personal, and professional lives.

Graduate school on the other hand can be a game-changer. It's a place where most first-year students struggle to keep up with coursework and research. A lack of time and energy forces students to make brutal choices about how to spend their “free time.” Just as we start to wrap our swollen brains around the fact that life, as we know it, has changed, we are reminded to practice self-care.

As budding psychologists, we are reminded to recharge our batteries and take time out for ourselves. The question is, how?

Most of us begin graduate school with interests and hobbies, but not all of us maintain them. Playing soccer in the park on Sundays, yoga class, journaling, and nighttime soap operas become a distant memory. I was surprised to find out how many of us manage to keep up with an extra-curricular activity.

One G1 PhD student, Daniel Van Beek, has been a competitive fencer for the past nine years. He practices Kendo, which is Japanese fencing, and is currently part of the San Francisco Kendo Club in Japantown. Maintaining an identity other than “student” helps Daniel keep a positive self-image.

“Graduate school can be infantilizing and having a part of your life where you’re the expert feels great,” he said.

It may require giving up that last precious hour of television or getting a little less sleep, but we can manage to keep up with some of the activities and interests we enjoyed before starting the roller coaster ride toward graduation. Succeeding in graduate school does not mean you have to give up being a well-rounded person. In fact, we are reminded to practice self-care, right?