By: Alicia Luthy

Hello all! Here I am writing my last blog of graduate school. Graduation is now just a little over three weeks away. We just have one paper to finish and a presentation for this semester. So, for my last blog article I decided to write about my experience as a graduate student at SIU and to give advice to the new incoming graduate students.

Graduate school started out with summer semester. I had no idea what I was about to get myself into.  I do not recommend working two jobs and attending summer school. When I was not working, I am pretty sure that I spent every waking hour in studio. I got the brilliant idea to change my design halfway through the semester. I do not recommend that at all, but then again the hard work made me happier with the final design. I also spent long hours in the wood shop, but the outcome was rewarding. (NOTE: Do NOT remove the clamps from the woodshop).  Next, we had fall semester which was no cake walk either. Instead of just one class, you now have a few more to juggle. The semester project had both group and individual components. Working in a group is always a challenge. However, with hard work and dedication we pulled together a design we were all be proud of. The professors said we would probably not sleep until December; they were pretty well right about that.  This semester has seemed to become very stressful within the last month. With multiple assignments being due within the last month, it has been hard to focus on thesis. However, I still believe summer semester was the toughest one yet.

First and foremost, I would give the advice to not lose your mind over summer semester. The best advice in undergraduate was to not procrastinate. The rule still stands in graduate school however we all still choose to ignore it. I still haven’t gotten the hang of it but I still recommend not procrastinating. I am glad that I chose to do the 15 month Master’s program. A lot of my friends that went to other schools are wishing that they were also on the faster track to the degree.  So, my last advice is to not give up and to keep your eye on the prize. It is not easy, it will be time consuming, but it will definitely be worth it.  Good luck to my classmates and to the rest of the incoming graduate students!