Finding a Place to Live

Once the euphoria of acceptance has worn off, the practical concerns of graduate school will come into focus. If you are facing a move of any significant distance, then finding a place to live is going to be the first and largest challenge you face. Many students (especially first gen students) pursue undergraduate studies close to home, so this process may be new. There are a few broad options to consider as you begin thinking about living arrangements. First, do some research on university housing. While living in a dorm-style arrangement may be less than ideal, some schools offer considerable discounts to graduate students for on-campus housing. Still others offer subsidies or other discounts for serving as an RA or in a living learning community. These policies vary by campus, so don’t rely on your existing knowledge of how campus housing works. Many schools also have policies specific to graduate students, so you may need to search housing websites and graduate school websites for more information. Living in university housing may sound less than ideal, and it often can be, but you’ll be spending a lot of time on campus as a graduate student. It also could be comparably priced to other options, and may be superior due to decreased commute and on-campus amenities.

Getting in Touch with Other Students

Your biggest logistical resource in graduate school is your cohort and other students that started the program before you. Students that are already in the program have experienced their first year, and have acquired a significant amount of practical knowledge about the campus and the area. You will be asking these students for advice on a range of issues once you get to campus, but you can make attempts to start the process early. After you receive word of your acceptance, you can contact the graduate coordinator or director and ask for resources related to relocation. One such resource would involve getting in touch with current students that could offer advice about the move.

There are usually advanced students in a program that are more than willing to mentor new arrivals. My PhD program had a student email list service, so new students with housing inquiries had their concerns forwarded to all grad students. The list typically exploded with advice and potential housing. Many students collaborate on things like housing. For instance, when I had graduated from my PhD program, I was able to send along details of my rental house months before I knew I was leaving. It was affordable, and only a few minutes walk from campus. My landlord also did not list the property with any real estate agents, and only offered the rental through word of mouth. This kind of arrangement is common in my experience, so asking for help from current students can unlock a favorable set of housing options. Landlords are also more willing (usually) to work with graduate students, who are a bit more responsible than standard undergraduate renters. The properties where I​ have lived have always asked me to recommend other responsible tenants before departing.

Moving to a new area is difficult. You can research many aspects of living there, but it’s hard to know if you are potentially moving to a good neighborhood or not. Google maps is a good tool, but commute information is hidden or unreliable. What looks like a short distance on google maps can be much longer in real world conditions with traffic. Current students can steer you toward the most ideal areas where other students in the program are living. Most universities in graduate programs will be in cities (small to large), so you should have options in choosing the right place.

By far, the easiest method is to try and find a group of students looking for roommates. You will be responsible for less money up front, and you can pool furniture for common areas/kitchen items, so you move will be less complicated. The first semester of graduate studies can be hard and lonely, especially if you are moving away from home. Living with others can be a great remedy to these feelings, and reduce the stress level of your first year. If your roommates are super annoying, you can always opt to spend more time on campus (grad students can often book a special, private area in a library called a carrel) to get some privacy and study time. Depending on the program, you may also have access to an office.

Deciding on a Move-In Date

If you are on a graduate assistantship or fellowship, you will most likely be paid at the end of every month for each active month of the semester (so no summer or winter pay). This poses a problem for moving early in the summer. You may have money saved to pay rent, but perhaps not. If you are working in your home town/city, you should continue working for as long as you can to save money for your move and relocation. Most students move in as close to the start of the semester as possible for these reasons. There also won’t be a tremendous amount of stuff to do beforehand because of this. Finding summer/winter jobs in cities with large graduate student populations can be very tricky as there is a large group of people all looking for summer/winter work at the same time. I wouldn’t bet on moving to an area in early summer and finding a job. Sharing economy apps can be helpful, but don’t present options for reliable income.

Reading

Very soon, you’ll be responsible for completing a near inhuman amount of reading in short periods of time. Some people choose this period to finish up their non-academic reading. That can be sound advice. You’ll need hobbies as a graduate student, but some people (myself included) did so much reading for school that cracking open a book after class was unbearable. In any event, it might be helpful to begin reading some professional texts. Search using keywords on Amazon for books related to your area of interest and consider picking up a few. It can help to ease you into a life that will be built around reading. I think the one question you should ask to any professor is about their reading list. You could ask former professors about one book they would recommend to an aspiring graduate student, and then start working through those.

Visiting Friends and Family

Graduate school is really hard. It’s likely going to be one of the hardest things you ever do, and it’s not particularly easy to break away from graduate school to visit family. You will, depending on your program, have summers and winters off, but that’s not as straightforward as it sounds. Funding packages in graduate school often do not cover summer and winter breaks, so you might need to find work very quickly. This might pull you uncomfortably between visiting your family or working to survive during breaks between school. It’s a good idea to visit with and discuss these realities with your family before leaving for graduate school. Living away from family is hard, but it’s often a part of working in academia. Talk to friends and relatives about this before you leave, and be sure to visit any older/ailing relatives.

Tidying, or Simple Tenets of Minimalism

I’ve moved cross-country 5 times now. Three of those times were as a graduate student and 2 were as a faculty member. The process is very similar, though the amount of money available is a little different. The law of moving is that the less stuff you bring, the less expensive the trip will be. Most students are on a strict budget, so this is critical. The side effect of moving with much fewer things is that the move is invariably less stressful, so that’s another important reason to begin thinking about your stuff.

Now that you’ve successfully tackled the insanely complicated process of applying to graduate school, you can apply the same project management practices to moving. Create a schedule in which you critically examine different sectors of your stuff. Before my most recent move, I capsuled my wardrobe, which is a process of condensing and coordinating available clothing. I was able to pack all of my clothes into a single suitcase. I now have 1 pair of jeans with 4 shirts for casual wear, and 1 pair of suit separates with 4 dress shirts. Add two pairs of shoes, some socks/undies, and some accessories and that’s my wardrobe. There are millions of youtube videos about capsule wardrobes and other methods of getting rid of stuff, in addition to several good Netflix shows. Moving works best with lots of preparation, so start early and organize.

If you are relocating for an MA, err on the side of minimal when packing. Your degree will be over very quickly, so don’t pack excessively. You’ll be packing and moving all of the same stuff again in a short period of time.

Begin Considering Publication Avenues

I routinely encounter undergraduate students that have produced something important during their studies, either as a course paper or a capstone project. If you completed a capstone/undergraduate thesis, in particular, you should begin investigating options for publishing. Campuses across the country are now feverishly investing in so-called “high-impact learning practices,” which is a jargon term for stuff that helps students do well in college. One of those practices is undergraduate publication. When undergraduates produce and publish work, they do better as students and seem to do better after they graduate. In response to these investments, all sorts of venues for undergraduate work have cropped up. There are now many undergraduate-only research journals that are devoted to publishing shorter works written by undergraduates. There are also multiple undergraduate research conferences. If you are on the cusp of attending graduate school, one of the most important things you can do for yourself is to get some experience with publishing. Research undergraduate journals in your field and see if any recent papers (or a capstone/thesis) would be appropriate for the journal. If you think it’s even tangentially appropriate, then find the submission guidelines, follow those guidelines carefully, and then submit. If your paper ends up getting rejected, then welcome to the club of writers. You have at least gained experience with submissions, which is vital. If it’s accepted, then great. You’ll get experience moving through an editorial process. Undergraduate publications can make you move competitive for research fellowships later on. The most important thing you will gain is a familiarity with the publication process. That’s going to prepare you for publishing larger and more sophisticated work later.