GradHacker

I'm not sure if this Grad Student phenomenon has a name yet, but I'll give it one - "The mid-degree crisis". You are about two years into your degree, but still two (or more) years away from finishing. Most of your structured requirements are finished, but you've done less than half the work that you'll need to do for your degree. And one day… you can’t remember why you pursued your PhD to begin with.

When doing research, sometimes it is easy to forget about the actual research project as you jump through all the hoops to get your IRB approved, find your subjects, honing in on your questions, etc. For those of us doing more qualitative work, there can be another huge layer of work involved interviewing subjects will be a part of your study. I wanted to look closely at some other factors that can help prepare interviewers beyond the simple adage of "don't ask close ended questions!"

Right now I am in the midst of the I-haven't-washed-my-hair-in-a-week, merciful-heavens-when-will-it-be-over, end-of-semester rush: a state to which I suspect a few Gradhacker readers can relate.

Pinterest is the latest social media network to hit the interwebs, and has done so with a flurry. The tool itself is simple: when you find something you think is interesting, you "pin" it to a topical Pinterest board that you have created. This reveals a collection of "pins" about different topics or themes. For the most part, its early success has been linked to shopping: people create boards that include fashion items they want to get, ideas for their wedding, interior design, or recipes and food they'd like to eat. Pinterest is heavily visual, so these types of objects are tailor-made for "pinning".

Graduate school can make you feel “less than,” but every step of grad school (and venturing beyond it) requires the knowledge of your unique advantages. When suffering from imposter syndrome or some other discouragement, take a lesson from Business and count your assets. Otherwise known as counting your blessings, listing your assets can help you feel better, come to a better knowledge of yourself, and—best of all—it only takes a few minutes (no accounting required!).

From Thursday morning to Saturday night, I have been (and will continue to be) reporting live from the Society for American Archaeology 2012 conference in Memphis, TN. I am currently a second year PhD graduate student in Anthropology, with a focus on Archaeology. Conferences are important, regardless of your discipline. As a grad student we can easily settle into our departments, but the real world is much more diverse and is a reality we need to learn to face. Not only are the people attending your academic conference the same individuals who shape the discipline, they are also your peers.

Being "well" covers all sorts of areas often ignored by busy grad students. Often we are very concerned with avoiding germs in order to chug through our semester, teaching loads, comps, and writing. This is especially apparent when we are in the final weeks of the semester. No one wants to get sick during a period where you have to deal with not only your final exams, but also grading the exams of others. Students are dropping left and right from sickness, both faked to avoid finals and real from too many all nighters. Grad students become obsessed with avoiding the finals flu. But beyond just having an arsenal of Airborne or Emergen-C on you at all times, what does it mean to be well?

When I started graduate school, I lived with a girl who owned a sweet-natured and protective black lab who bonded well with me. When my first roommate graduated, I happily accepted a new roommate who owned a miniature pomeranian and a Persian cat. Unfortunately, this did not work out quite as well as the previous living situation, as the pom took to relieving himself in my bedroom while I was at class, and the Persian exhibited a depression so severe that she sat unmoving on a chair for days at a time. These situations underscored some of the advantages and disadvantages to owning pets in graduate school.