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  • Going on the Market? Time to Get Started on those Applications

    Back to school is almost back. Soon, it’ll be time to put away the sunscreen and dust off your research. Time to fold up that beach umbrella and pull out those freshly sharpened pencils. With the start of a new semester, you may find yourself busy to bursting with things to do—new classes to prep and new deadlines to meet—but now is also a great time to get ready for the academic job market.

  • Teaching (and Learning) Beyond the Classroom

    For many Illinois graduate students, the classroom is just one avenue for teaching and learning. We asked three graduate students to reflect on their experiences working with programs that served middle school, high school, and incoming graduate students. Although their research interests and programs differ, they shared a common outcome. Through mentoring, they’d learned as much as they taught.  They shared their thoughts with Grad Life.

  • Broadening the Reach of Comedy in CU

    Stephanie Brown always thought she’d go back to grad school to get her PhD “eventually,” the winner of the 2018 Graduate Student Leadership Award said. But a few years working in the entertainment industry in LA and New York convinced her that the time was right. It would be several years until the #MeToo sexual assault awareness campaign took off in late 2017, but for Stephanie, enough was enough. 

    Stephanie is a PhD candidate in the Institute of Communications Research at Illinois. This semester, she’s wrapping up her dissertation and plans to defend this summer. When she’s not exploring issues of gender in comedy for her research, she’s living them. Stephanie founded and runs Broad Comedy, a local comedy group in Champaign-Urbana that is dedicated to diversifying voices in the local stand-up comedy scene.  

  • Post-It notes on a desk.

    How to be Ambitious Without Getting Trapped by Perfectionism

    "Giving up perfectionism does not mean giving up ambitious goals. It means reframing our approach to ambitious goals so that we meet them without experiencing burnout."

  • Graduate students stand with their mentor during the doctoral hooding.

    What is a Mentor? Reflections on the Mentor-Mentee Relationship in Graduate School

    Claire Baytas (PhD, ’23; comparative literature) reflects on lessons she learned about the mentoring process during her time in graduate school: from thinking about the nature of a mentor in the context of grad school to busting the myth of the "super mentor." 

  • Exploring Career Pathways

    Exploring Career Pathways while in Graduate School

    Exploring your career options can be intimidating, but it doesn't have to be. Hear from recipients of the Graduate College's Career Exploration Fellowship about their time as fellows.

  • Finals playlist cover image

    We've Got a New Study Playlist!

    Kamau Grantham curates this year's finals study playlist to keep you grooving.

  • A business card sits on a table. Text reads: Ask Me Anything.

    Ask the Grad College: On Reading Teaching Evaluations

    The last time I read my teaching evaluations, I dealt with some complex emotions. Some of the feedback felt constructive, but a lot of it felt mean. How do I sift through the comments and find what's helpful within them?

  • A business card sits on a table. "Ask me anything" is written on the card.

    Ask the Grad College: On Taking Time off from a Busy Schedule

    haven’t seen my parents in two years, and I would like to plan a trip home. I have an RA in a lab with year-round research. How do I approach taking time off for this trip?

  • A business card sits on a table. "Ask me anything" is written on the card.

    Ask the Grad College: On Changing Career Plans in Graduate School

    I started my program thinking I wanted to go into academia, but I feel less and less interested in an academic job. I’m committed to finishing, but I don’t know what kinds of jobs I should look for. What do I do?