Category: Grad School

  • How to become an expert

    How to become an expert

    Ever wondered why sometimes you attend a lecture at university and the instructor seems brilliant but you walk away not learning a thing?  Often times Instructors have lost conscious awareness of 3 elements to becoming an expert and may neglect them from practice. When obtaining a graduate degree, we are working towards becoming a master…

  • Academia and Parenthood: Work life balance?

    Academia and Parenthood: Work life balance?

    Watch a 30 minute talk from Christine, sharing her experience as a new mom and a 5th year PhD Candidate at Carleton University. In this talk you will find a discussion on academia and parenthood, including barriers, challenges, recent literature, and strategies to manage pursing a life in academia as a parent. As a social…

  • A love letter communicating boundaries, from a PhD student

    A love letter communicating boundaries, from a PhD student

    Dear loved one, Thank you for continuously inviting me to outings even though I often take a rain check. I wish I could be there more but my PhD is quite demanding. Thank you for asking me what I am studying, even though you have asked me before. I know it’s a lot to wrap…

  • PhD and Pregnant

    PhD and Pregnant

    As I write this, I am currently 6 months postpartum. I wanted to take a moment to reflect back on my time when I was pregnant and trying to move forward with my PhD. At the time of pregnancy, I wasn’t up for much reflection, it was mostly survival. I struggled with morning sickness for…

  • 10 ways Motherhood is a lot like a PhD

    10 ways Motherhood is a lot like a PhD

    These past three months as a new mom have been a roller coaster ride to say the least. I’ve been reflecting on the challenges and the joyful moments and I look forward to putting them into a longer post about the newborn stage and completing a PhD. Until I find a moment to write that…

  • How I Stayed Motivated During Pregnancy

    How I Stayed Motivated During Pregnancy

    A common question I get asked is “how do you stay motivated during pregnancy”? Often new grad school moms are reaching out because they have just become pregnant but are either distracted by pregnancy or too exhausted to work the same amount of hours. I get it. I experienced both. My first trimester (and even…

  • 10 personal reflections of a 4th year PhD Student

    10 personal reflections of a 4th year PhD Student

    After each year of my PhD, I have spent some time reflecting on the past year and writing up these reflections in blog posts. You can read my reflections from my first year here, my second year here, and third year here. After a really difficult third year, my fourth year has become one of…

  • 30 Day Writing Challenge

    30 Day Writing Challenge

    Who is ready for another writing challenge? I know I am. I have to get a solid first draft done for a published chapter, that I am working on in a team – by the end of August. I thought a writing challenge would be a great way to motivate me and hold me accountable.…

  • Lessons after multiple rejections

    Lessons after multiple rejections

    Last week was a rough one for me. I received two rejections in one day. And one of those rejections was for a SSHRC doctoral award, which is an award that I have been working to earn for the past four years. It was a personal goal that I wanted to achieve in my PhD,…

  • Losing motivation after a major milestone

    Losing motivation after a major milestone

    A pattern I’ve started to notice in my PhD is that every time I finish a big milestone, such as completing coursework, my qualifying exam, and now my proposal, I often lose motivation after it is complete. At first, I shrugged this off as me needing to take a break and nothing more. And I…