Social/Personal Life

1)      Going back to school while still living your real life (whether as an employee, parent, significant other or friend) means that you are going to have to make some changes in what you continue to do and what you learn to let go of. This is different for every person. Take a step back, look at what you do and determine what you HAVE to do (i.e. go to work or take care of family obligations,) what you WANT to do (i.e. work out or get 8 hours of sleep) and what you need to distance yourself from (i.e. too many social or volunteer obligations.)

      2)      Learn to say no. People respond well to the phrase “I’m sorry I’d love to but I’m back in grad school and my time is not my own.”

3)      Determine what you need to do to keep yourself healthy and then do it. For some people, it’s exercise, for others it’s 8 hours of sleep or a healthier diet. Juggling multiple demands on your time is physically stressful and you won’t get anything done if you’re sick.

4)      Explain to your family and friends exactly what you need from them in order to succeed in your graduate experience. Do you need to be left alone from 6:30-9:10pm every Wednesday and Thursday for class? Do you need dinner picked up on those nights?  Do you need to arrange carpools for a child for an afterschool activity?

      5)      Realize that you are going to have to say no to some things that you want to do. Also realize that sometimes other things are more important than school. Only you can decide that.  It is                   helpful to let a professor know ahead of time that  you have to miss class. The  plus side of  being a  DE  student is that you can watch class playbacks on Centra.

6)      Make an effort to get to know your fellow DE students through the various channels available to you (Yahoo group, local cohort, text chat, Facebook.) You are able to build relationships with people you only know in the virtual sense.

7)      A trick to “knowing” your virtual classmates is to open the photo galleries from orientation (located at http://www.sis.utk.edu/gallery) to see the faces that go with the names.

8)      Use the “people search” option on the main UT website to find emails for fellow SIS students if you’re not in class with them, and they’re not in your address book.

9)      It’s OK to get a “B.” With adult responsibilities outside of the classroom, sometimes you have to accept this. It’s OK.

10)  Try to balance your course load with your other responsibilities. If you’re single, taking 9 credits per semester may be fine. If you’re married w/kids, it might be a stretch. Consider taking the summers off or taking a lighter load then.

11)   Don’t feel like you have to reinvent the wheel. Take advantage of the tools alumni and current students have developed such as the comps wiki and the SIS Guide Wiki.

12)   Expect that you’ll need some time to switch from “school” mode to “regular life” mode. I need about a ½ hour to switch from “being inside my head” to being physically and mentally present for my family. I explain that it’s not them, it’s me.