Graduate & Postdoctoral Studies

Grad Students' Words of Wisdom

Portrait of graduate student Caleb Sawh (MSc, Marketing & Consumer Studies) in the atrium of MacDonald Stewart Hall at the University of Guelph

Caleb Sawh

About being a grad student at Guelph...

Being a graduate student was a great experience! UofG supports its students in making the program accessible to people of all capacities. I found myself engaging with people from different countries, stages of life, and experience. I really loved the different perspectives that was brought to my classes each week since the people in my program came from all walks of life.

U of Guelph Integrative Biology grad student Kayley Head

Kayley Head

Advice for a prospective grad student:

My advice for someone who would like to follow in my footsteps is that if you have a passion, have the science mould around your passion as opposed to moulding your passion around the science. For example, my main passion in science is aquatic Species at Risk conservation and ecology, while prior to my thesis I had no interest in molecular biology. It was only when my passion could only be obtained through the lens of molecular biology that DNA became exciting to me!

Also, I recommend one to take every opportunity as it presents itself and to continuously seek out new opportunities. Every relevant job, course, and volunteer work that I have had in my academic career has provided connections and experience for the next opportunity. If you work hard and are passionate about what you do, your day job feels a lot less like work ;)

Portrait of Amanda Avison

Amanda Avison

Words of wisdom for a prospective grad student...

 You get out of your education what you put into it.

Portrait of graduate student Minhajul Haque Minar

Minhajul Haque Minar

Advice for Prospective Grad Students...

If any student wants to get research experience, he/she should get into this graduate school. The University of Guelph has unique and fully equipped laboratory facilities. Any grad student can take a long step on their desired research path. Meanwhile, coursework will also help students for learning the different disciplines.

Jennifer Jolie

Jennifer Jolie

Words of wisdom for prospective grad students...

If you’re considering pursuing post-secondary education but maybe aren’t sure you can do it, especially if you are a first-generation university student, don’t count yourself out. It’s easy to talk yourself out of it because you may not think your voice matters or that you have anything important to contribute—but nothing could be further from the truth. Your own unique life experience and perspective will be your biggest source of strength and learning. No one in the world thinks or creates things like you do! 

Brendan Laframboise portrait

Brendan Laframboise

Advice for Prospective Grad Students...

To any undergraduate student that wants to pursue graduate school, my best advice would be to study hard, celebrate your academic victories, and don't get caught up on your failures. Everybody has a story of a course they wish they did better in, or a midterm/exam that was an unexpected curveball, but as long as you learn from your past and keep pushing forward, things will work out for the better.

Portrait of Gabriella Salvadore

Gabriella Salvadore

Click here to see Gabby #InTheField studying lemurs in Madagascar.

Some words of advice...

I advise prospective grad students to network with as many interesting people as possible. Networking is key to finding research opportunities and gaining experiences. Even simple conversations can stimulate new ideas or help solidify original ones.

Portrait of graduate student Abdul-Rahim Abdulai

Abdul-Rahim Abdulai

Advice for Prospective Students...

The University of Guelph is a small family in itself with a lot of support to facilitate different types of lifestyles. My ability to feel safe and learn without worry is something I have admired.

MSc Tourism and Hospitality at the University of Guelph graduate student Zhehao Zhao

Zhehao Zhao

Advice for Prospective Grad Students...

Smart or slow, doesn't really matter in the end, the point is everyone has their own time zone, all you have to have is your own balance of work, play, and all other stuff, the others don't really matter.