Self-Management Tools · This week you learned about self-management. You were introduced to techniques that will help you grow as a graduate student. Reflect upon your learning this term to define where you feel you will be successful as a graduate student. What obstacles do you feel you might face as a graduate student? What methods will you use to help overcome the obstacles? What self-management tools will you use to promote success as a graduate student?   Minimum of 150 words. Your work should be in your own words and should include research to support your response. Be sure to avoid Wikipedia as a resource as this is not a reliable source. Include your resources at the end of your response.  Please utilize article below: The 5 Virtues of Successful Graduate Students By Thomas H. Benton SEPTEMBER 05, 2003 "It doesn't matter where you earn your degree, how much you publish, or how well you teach," I tell my students who are going to graduate school. "Nothing you do is enough to guarantee a tenure-track job in the humanities." As I noted in the first two columns in this series, only about 50 percent of Ph.D.'s in English eventually land tenure-track jobs, and the same holds true for most other fields in the humanities. Some of the remaining 50 percent will have prestigious degrees, distinguished advisers, substantial publications, and luminous personalities. That's just the way the academy is today. "So, point taken," an undeterred student might say, "there are no guarantees. I'm going anyway. But how can I maximize my chances for a tenure-track job?" Besides raw intellectual ability, graduate students who eventually get tenure-track jobs seem to share five "virtues" (though in varying proportions): Discipline: Work every day if possible. Do not believe in the myth of the romantic artist, who produces a masterpiece minutes before a deadline. If you work less than 20 hours a week on your writing (in addition to coursework, teaching, and other responsibilities), you'll probably never build up a respectable publishing record, much less finish your dissertation. I find that it is best to write for three or four hours every morning, when my energy level is high and my mind is relatively clear. Don't be a perfectionist, delaying publication until all interest in a topic has passed (including your own). Publish as much as you can, and if some of your work is unsuccessful, move on, and dilute it with better publications. Sooner or later, you will attract positive attention. Ignore those who encourage younger scholars to produce less work because of the glut of scholarly publications and the shrinking of university presses. You can be sure that most hiring committees and your competition will also ignore that advice. There are new electronic publishing venues emerging even as the old paper ones decline; in some respects, there has never been a better time to be a writer. Networking Ability: Contrary to the myth of professorial introversion, .

1. Self-Management Tools
· This week you learned about self-management. You were
introduced to techniques that will help you grow as a graduate
student. Reflect upon your learning this term to define where
you feel you will be successful as a graduate student. What
obstacles do you feel you might face as a graduate student?
What methods will you use to help overcome the obstacles?
What self-management tools will you use to promote success as
a graduate student?
Minimum of 150 words. Your work should be in your own
words and should include research to support your response. Be
sure to avoid Wikipedia as a resource as this is not a reliable
source. Include your resources at the end of your response.
Please utilize article below:
The 5 Virtues of Successful Graduate Students
By Thomas H. Benton SEPTEMBER 05, 2003
"It doesn't matter where you earn your degree, how much you
publish, or how well you teach," I tell my students who are
going to graduate school. "Nothing you do is enough to
guarantee a tenure-track job in the humanities."
As I noted in the first two columns in this series, only about 50
percent of Ph.D.'s in English eventually land tenure-track jobs,
and the same holds true for most other fields in the humanities.
Some of the remaining 50 percent will have prestigious degrees,
distinguished advisers, substantial publications, and luminous
personalities. That's just the way the academy is today.
"So, point taken," an undeterred student might say, "there are no

2. guarantees. I'm going anyway. But how can I maximize my
chances for a tenure-track job?"
Besides raw intellectual ability, graduate students who
eventually get tenure-track jobs seem to share five "virtues"
(though in varying proportions):
Discipline: Work every day if possible. Do not believe in the
myth of the romantic artist, who produces a masterpiece minutes
before a deadline. If you work less than 20 hours a week on
your writing (in addition to coursework, teaching, and other
responsibilities), you'll probably never build up a respectable
publishing record, much less finish your dissertation. I find that
it is best to write for three or four hours every morning, when
my energy level is high and my mind is relatively clear. Don't
be a perfectionist, delaying publication until all interest in a
topic has passed (including your own).
Publish as much as you can, and if some of your work is
unsuccessful, move on, and dilute it with better publications.
Sooner or later, you will attract positive attention. Ignore those
who encourage younger scholars to produce less work because
of the glut of scholarly publications and the shrinking of
university presses. You can be sure that most hiring committees
and your competition will also ignore that advice. There are
new electronic publishing venues emerging even as the old
paper ones decline; in some respects, there has never been a
better time to be a writer.
Networking Ability: Contrary to the myth of professorial
introversion, social networking is necessary, even for the most
individualistic professional activities. Opportunities to publish
often emerge from direct solicitations from editors and
publishers who recognize your authority and availability.
You have to be known in at least one field.
Reaching such a position requires a difficult phase of
unsolicited and unpaid submissions, and it also requires making
personal contacts at conferences and seminars. On the level of
the job search, strong qualifications (publications, teaching
experience) are necessary but insufficient. There are dozens,

3. often hundreds, of qualified applicants for every academic
position. Personal connections often differentiate one equally
qualified candidate from another. Individual members of hiring
committees can be concerned about the impact of their choices
on professional relationships.
You need to cultivate the respect of senior faculty members
(both within and beyond your graduate school) who will be
willing to write letters and make phone calls on your behalf. If
you have a shortage of people who are willing to stake their
reputations on you in the form of strong recommendations and
offers to publish, it is a sign that you are considering the wrong
profession.
Mental Health: More than any other factor, mental stress (often
combined with physical symptoms) prevents the majority of
graduate students in the humanities from completing their
degrees. The academy has become so hypercompetitive that it
seems difficult to succeed except by the exclusion of all other
motives, activities, and social interactions.
Graduate school can be characterized by intellectual confusion,
a lack of social support, and intense feelings of powerlessness
and even worthlessness. It can be more like a shark tank than a
symposium. You will probably find for the first time in your
life that you are not the smartest person in the room -- and that
you are possibly the dumbest.
You may not make a single genuine friend with whom you can
share your feelings. Intemperate confessions to supposed
friends have a way of becoming public gossip. You may also
find yourself at the mercy of an unchallengeable adviser whose
disapproval can decisively end your academic career.
Grad students sometimes alleviate their stress with alcohol or
drugs; it is a tradition of writerly romanticism that destroys
one's capacity for steady work. The best method of relieving
stress is to keep a sense of perspective; try to have a meaningful
life outside of the profession. Do not accept depression and
physical decline as components of "academic macho." Guard
your health: Eat a balanced diet, get enough sleep and exercise,

4. and make friends with people who are not academics.
Flexibility: Consider every plausible job opening in your field;
do not turn your Ivy League nose up at a military academy in
the Ozarks. It might be your only chance. The majority of
academic job seekers cannot afford to be selective about their
first tenure-track position. You must be willing to live
anywhere and teach anything remotely related to your field. You
should be willing to teach at any kind of college or university,
including junior colleges and small, liberal-arts colleges with a
teaching load of four or five courses each semester.
Once you have a job, your other "virtues" should eventually
make it possible for you to move to a more congenial location
and institution.
Do not put down deep roots if you wish to advance in your
career by moving around. Avoid buying property or becoming
emotionally entangled with other academics. It helps if you are
single and childless, or have a partner who is willing to
subordinate his or her career to yours. Dual-career academics
face almost insurmountable problems unless they are already
academic stars.
Patience: Graduate school in the humanities will take at least
five years; it is more likely to take eight years. You will then,
in all likelihood, spend one to three years in a poorly paid,
postdoctoral position before landing your first tenure-track job.
Each year will be more stressful than the last. You'll find that
it's not always the "best" candidates who get hired, but the ones
who were selected by a seemingly random process; invisible,
unarticulated variables trump "qualifications" every time.
If you finally find a tenure-track job (remember that 50-percent
probability), you will work even harder for six more years
before you are finally granted tenure, itself a decreasingly
secure institution. Overall, the direct road from college graduate
to tenured professor will take a minimum of 12 years, and
possibly as many as 20. If you are a typical graduating senior,
you probably will be in your 40s by the time you have tenure.
Meanwhile, you will watch your nonacademic peers (many of

5. them not half as smart, ethical, or hard-working) rise in jobs
that pay several times your income.
"Are you sure this is what you want?" I ask my students who are
headed to grad school.
"Remember," I repeatedly advise, "you can do everything right
and still fail if your goal is to get a tenure-track job. But I think
you are at least less likely to fail if you cultivate these
'virtues.'"
I don't mean to offer some kind of Franklinesque success
strategy for grad students. The academy has never been a pure
meritocracy. But can anyone deny that the relationship between
graduate education and academic employment has become
seriously out of balance?
If you are one of the few who made it to the tenure track, you
undoubtedly had to work hard and make many personal
sacrifices. You undoubtedly possess many of these "virtues."
But, if you are honest with yourself, you will admit that you
were also very lucky.
Do you not have an obligation to be honest with those who seek
your advice?
Thomas H. Benton is the pseudonym of an assistant professor of
English at a Midwestern liberal-arts college. He writes
occasionally about academic culture and the tenure track and
welcomes reader mail directed to his attention at
[email protected] You can find an archive of his previous
columns here.
http://chronicle.com Section: Career Network Volume 50, Issue
2, Page C3
How a graduate student is like a caterpillar
Print version: page 9
I write this column while in transition to a new position as the
incoming head of APAGS. As I pack my boxes and move to

6. Washington, D.C., I've been thinking about the many moves and
transitions APAGS members and other psychology students
make throughout their careers. In my new role, I hope to help
APAGS members identify ways to smooth these transitions.
What to expect
Like a caterpillar transforming into a butterfly, as a psychology
graduate student, you face a variety of transitions throughout
your career. Common ones include:
· Becoming a graduate student. The transition to
graduate school involves adopting a more participatory role in
one's learning, as well as a more personal relationship with
faculty, particularly in smaller doctoral programs. As a graduate
student, you may also face a significant increase in your
academic workload as compared with what you came to expect
from your undergraduate courses. The transition may require
you to move across town, state or even country. For me, the
most difficult part of the transition was moving from Los
Angeles to upstate New York, where I attended Binghamton
University, the State University of New York.
· Becoming a professional trainee. As a graduate
student, you are likely to take on the roles of teacher, scientist
and clinician. In these new roles, students learn to work under
supervision and to work more independently. You'll become an
expert collaborator, and you'll sharpen your critical thinking
and writing skills as you critique projects or clinical situations
and pen studies and clinical reports.
· Becoming an early career psychologist. As you
prepare to enter the field, you will apply for predoctoral
internships, defend your dissertation, locate appropriate
postdoctoral positions and secure your first job. You may feel
significant anxiety at this stage—I know I did.
Managing transitions
Luckily, you don't have to face these new roles alone. To handle
these transitions, you can:
· Tap your support networks. Identifying people who
can lend a hand or an ear is crucial to any grad student's

7. success, particularly if you've had to move for one of these
transitions. Fellow students or interns are an ideal support
system, but be sure to maintain relationships with your old
friends. Like many of you, I like to use Facebook to keep track
of my far-flung friends.
· Seek out mentors. A trusted and experienced
colleague can give you invaluable professional guidance. You
may find a mentor from among the ranks of your university's
faculty or your supervisors, or you may find one among your
program's advanced graduate students. Graduate students can
also find invaluable mentors in the wider psychological
community, through APAGS and in their community.
· Manage your anxiety. Even happy transitions can be
stressful, so take steps to curb your angst. This may take the
form of applying to a few more grad school programs or
postdoctoral positions to make yourself feel more confident
you'll be accepted somewhere. When I applied to grad school, I
reduced my anxiety by completing my applications a week
before the deadlines. The move saved me money by not needing
to use overnight delivery and allowing me to rest earlier. For
more resources on easing your transitions, check out APAGS
listservs at www.apa.org/apags/members/listserv.html—ideal
forums for posting questions about transition challenges you're
facing. You may also want to read the "Ethnic Minority
Survival Guide" and "Succeeding in Practicum: An APAGS
Resource Guide," available from APAGS.
As I transition to my new job, I know I will be tapping my
support system and many other resources. I wish you luck and
success in all your transitions as well.