Undergrad Reflections

Dear younger me,

College is hard but you will make so many memories. You will meet so many people from from different backgrounds. You will learn to work with different types of people. You will learn that grades aren't everything. You will learn the importance of being involved in your campus. You will learn that changing your major is ok. Your patience level will be challenged and your patience will grow. You will learn to work hard despite the physical pain.  You will discover the power of To-Do lists. You will learn the joy in small things in life. You will learn that it's ok to take naps while in college. You will realize that stress is really bad and good. You will learn that it is important to cope with stress in a healthy way. You will realize it's ok to have me time. You will learn it's ok to cry. You will realize that family is so important. You will learn that positivity and gratitude are helpful for mental health. You will learn that making big decisions are very hard but it can be done through prayer and support from family. You will realize how God has provided for you. You will learn that it is very important to do your best and not to worry about what happens. You will learn character flaws and learn to change them. You will learn to have more self-confidence. You will learn the value of relationships. Most importantly, you will realize that you couldn't do it without God's grace.

Love
College graduate

How to Pick a Graduate School

Hello readers. I am officially done with my undergrad degree. Today I would like to share how I picked my graduate school. It can be overwhelming with all the different schools. I hope to help you by making this process a little easier. I started with 15 graduate schools then narrow it down to my top 5. Then I picked my graduate school based on these following considerations.

- First you need to decide what program for graduate school. Also decide on a program/ school that you also like. If you search for graduate schools in Texas, you will get many schools in the results. Searching for a specific program will help narrow down your results. I searched for general psychology, human development psychology, and child  development psychology programs. when I looked up general psychology, there were so many schools that popped up, I decided to be even more specific with the type of psychology. Human development and family studies was a program that kept coming in my results. This is how I ended up with my current program. I would recommend looking up three different programs that you interested in. It is also a program that I liked.

- Location of the school is very important to consider. Do you want to go out of state or stay in your home state? This will help you when you research programs. In the beginning, I had considered schools out of state but then I  decided I wanted to be in my home state. If you want to go out of state, I recommend looking a programs in the states you are ok moving too. If you don't care which state, I recommend looking for the program in anywhere in the USA . If you want to stay in your home state, I recommend searching for the specific program/s + your home state.

- Funding opportunity is another great aspect to consider. Graduate school is really expensive. It is very important to look at funding and fellowship opportunities ( some graduate school offer scholarships too ). If a school isn't known for great funding or states that there isn't much funding, you may not want to apply especially if finances are a factor. Also many Masters programs don't receive great funding so it .ight be good to find a masters programs that offers funding and scholarships. This was a very important factor for me. I ranked the schools by this factor. The school that would most likely offer me funding, I applied first. This was also the determining factor for me in deciding which graduate school to attend.

If you are in graduate school, what is the process you used when deciding to pick your graduate school/program.

~Liu Miao~