@AcademicChatter @OpenAcademics I just finished my PhD in Psychology and I'd like to offer current grad students and incoming students some tips that might make their lives easier in grad school. #phdchat #AcademicTwitter #gradschool A thread:

I came into grad school with essentially no knowledge of what my work would end up entailing. I know a lot of people think they should prepare going into grad school, but honestly, just enjoy your last time off for a good long while. A masters/PhD is a full time job.

More generally, I think it's incredibly important to view a PhD as a full time job- if possible, avoid working outside of the program. I know this isn't possible for a lot of people who might be in unfunded programs. The way I did it was to treat mine as a 40-50hr/week job

When you're working, be sure to take time for yourself. It isn't going to kill your productivity or put your work in jeopardy to take a weekend off. During my time in school, I aimed to have 1-2 days per week where I'd blow off all school related stuff and just do things I enjoy

Realize that overall, grad school is a incredibly tough experience and some may have some mental health issues crop up. My depression got a lot worse during my first year due to a lot of things, including impostor syndrome. Reach out to your department/uni for resources.

For those dealing with impostor syndrome, just tell yourself that a) you're there because you're talented and b) you deserve to be there. I guarantee you your peers around you are likely feeling the same way you are. Even some faculty still deal with this on a daily basis.

Reach out to your cohort. I made some incredible friends during my time in grad school (looking at you @_hmlindsey) that helped me through the things I was feeling and dealing with. Your best resource are those going through the same things you are.

More practically: Keep notes. I did a lot of coding in R/bash/latex during my time in school and I kept copies of everything I wrote to refer to later. This really helped when I ended up needing to redo analyses.

Open-source resources are your friend! I host all of my code on @OSFramework and it helps me stay organized and direct others to my work who may be encountering similar problems to what I did in the past.

Be open with your PI/advisor about expectations. Some of the stuff I had problems with early on was determining what was expected of me. Sit down with your lab and talk about this kind of stuff. You might assume you're responsible for something you're not.

Get to know your department staff. My program coordinator was invaluable in helping me navigate the often obfuscated nature of some requirements in the program. There were some things I didn't know about that she helped me navigate.

Network whenever possible! I went to lots of conferences/talks just to meet people doing stuff I was interested in. It ended up helping me find my postdoc.

This has largely been a stream of consciousness, and I may add more later. Overall, take care of yourself and your mental health during school. If anyone has questions, please reach out! Forums like twitter are an excellent way to find supportive colleagues.