Get involved in the community. Grad school is more than your research project; expand your contributions beyond your field of research and into the community where you are working.
My advisor was more like my mentor. He is very open, honest and helpful, which made me very comfortable to express my ideas and also to discuss different issues concerning my academic life.
See graduate school as an opportunity to grow in many different ways. UofG has plenty of wonderful research opportunities, and a big part of being a researcher is the chance to communicate your research to different audiences. Graduate school is an awesome opportunity to become a more well rounded person from developing problem solving skills as a researcher to sharpening communication skills, all of which are crucial for any walk of life you end up travelling down.
I lived in Ridgetown as this is where my research was conducted. Although Ridgetown does not have much infrastructure in comparison to the City of Guelph, it has large acres of land for research in agriculture. I sometimes enjoyed a tour on the vast land with various research work going on. Personally, I think Ridgetown may be the town with the kindest people I have met, and I know the same is true for the City of Guelph.
Being a graduate student at U of G is a wonderful opportunity. There is a fantastic support system here to help you progress and succeed in research, made up of faculty, support staff and other graduate students.
Think hard and explore the options of different pathways you can take in graduate studies. Make the best out of grad school, be social and go to events to meet others in your program. Enjoy your time here, it goes by extremely fast.
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.
TAKE initiative. REACH out. LEAD boldly. This program affords you opportunities and connections that you will not receive anywhere else and if you take advantage of these you will become “that” person. “That” person who helped you, “that” person who was proud of you, and “that” person who you wanted to be.
