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.
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.
Make sure you need grad school for your future career before you do it. Reach out to other grad students while you're in undergrad; most people will be more than happy to share their experiences.
Choose a supervisor who makes you excited about your project. There will be times when your project does not go as planned and reminders of that enthusiasm and why you are doing the work are crucial to continuing through the hurtles.
My advice to any prospective grad student is to not rush into graduate school without some self-reflection about your passions, what you love doing and what you would like to study. This is because grad school can be a challenging place but also incredibly rewarding as it teaches you how to read critically, learn systemically, and think deeply. As such, I invite potential students to engage in some introspection and self-reflection about your motivations, desires, and commitments as this is a weird (but wonderful) experience distinctive from both undergrad and from other jobs so its important to not rush into anything without thinking.
Be patient with yourself. As a student your job is to learn, and by necessity, fail. Solving the problem and having the right answer isn't always the same thing.
When an airline asks you to sign a waiver for your guitar just scribble quickly in hard to read handwriting "no thank you" and hand it back. Later if they damage your equipment you can claim you did not understand why they handed that waiver to you.
