Volunteering and trying out different career experiences is essential to knowing what you like/what you are good at. I often volunteer my time to entomological societies or writing blog posts for the public so I can gain more skills in scientific communication. Practicing your skills is what helps build them up.
Guelph offers great graduate programs for students that may or may not have research experience. What I have found is that faculty members are very willing to meet with students, and are available to talk about their research and to provide insight about what graduate school encompasses. In addition, getting to meet with current graduate students to talk about what their research is about is definitely an option here at the University of Guelph. I have found that many students are afraid to contact faculty members, but I found it to be very easy and helpful to reach out to the Faculty at Guelph. The University of Guelph definitely has the support system to help students get of glimpse of what graduate school has to offer.
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.
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!
Identify your passion and reason(s) for wanting to become a graduate student. Write them down, type it up, post it large and visibly on your desk or wherever you do your work so that it remains a constant reminder of why you are doing what you are doing and will motivate you through the hard times that every graduate student has and does go through, so that you can always see the light at the end of the tunnel.
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.
Remember that research never goes as planned and to not let failed experiments or unwanted results keep you from working hard on your degree. No one gets through graduate school without failed experiments and huge changes in their project plans.
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.
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.
