By: Emily Gruver, BS, BA, TSHA Graduate Student Representative

As the start of the fall 2023 semester rapidly approaches, cohorts of incoming graduate students are preparing for new courses, experiences, and clients while also moving across the state or country.

To those who are about to take on the role of graduate student in speech-language pathology, audiology, communication sciences and disorders, or any similar areas, I offer you these six tips:

• Pursue a range of interests. You might be set on pediatrics or adults or on a medical or educational setting, but speech-language pathologists and audiologists have a lengthy list of competencies they need to obtain. Graduate school provides the foundation for all these competencies, but it is up to you as a student to fill in any gaps in your knowledge so you are prepared for anything and everything as a professional. This means you should take courses, select practicum and clinical opportunities, and attend TSHA Convention presentations in a variety of areas. You might even find that you like a different population or setting than you first thought.
• Find a mentor. The roads to success in speech-language-hearing fields are paved by mentorship. Mentors can include experienced, second- or third-year graduate students in your program, clinical or work supervisors, professors, research advisors, program staff, and TSHA committee chairs or Executive Board members if you choose to volunteer. Better yet, you may have multiple mentors who assist you in being the most well-rounded speech-language pathologist or audiologist you can be.
• Take notes. Whether it is in class, in practicum, during advising meetings, or while listening to guest speakers, you can never take too many notes. The speech-language-hearing fields are rapidly changing and expanding, and one day you will be thankful to look back at what you jotted down. Part of evidence-based practice is clinical expertise, which comes to students in many forms and from many directions, including from professors, supervisors, clients, professionals, and self-reflection. Being able to take in information, integrate it, and apply it in clinical and/or research opportunities is what will make you stand out as a graduate student and in the future as a professional.
• Use a planner and to-do list. Graduate school is fast-paced and waits for no one. You will be juggling what feels like a million things all at once, and without a planner, you will miss a deadline or meeting that can impact your future. While you may be the best and brightest, if you miss an interview for an internship because you forgot to write it down, you are probably out of luck. Because there are many things happening all at once, knowing exactly what needs to be done and by when will make your life infinitely more organized and less stressful. No matter if you are a color-coded calendar consumer or a technological to-do lister, it is important to make sure your grades and clinical success are reflective of your abilities and not disorganization.
• Take care of yourself. Before you can take care of clients as a speech-language-hearing professional, you must first take care of yourself. This includes eating, getting enough sleep, exercising, taking breaks, and cutting yourself slack as you need. Graduate school is a stressful time, and some days it may be all you can do to show up. It is during the hardest times that you need to put yourself—not as a graduate student but as a human—first. Ultimately, the most important part is coming out the other side intact and ready to face a clinical fellowship, career, or PhD program, whichever your heart desires. To be successful in any field but especially in a compassion fatigue-prone field, it is important to take care of yourself.
• Accept that not everything will turn out how you want. This is one of the hardest things to embrace as a graduate student, but it is almost certain that you will have at least one experience that turns out entirely differently from what you expected. This may happen in a class, in practicum, or with a research opportunity. Because of this, it is important to learn from every experience and encounter you have because even the negative experiences provide teachable moments. In fact, these experiences may teach you more because you must learn to overcome creative differences, adapt to clients or clinical supervisors leaving, and persevere through classes with professors you do not enjoy. Accepting the unexpected is key to survival in both graduate school and real life.

Your first year of graduate school will be an overwhelming yet incredible time. As you take on new roles and responsibilities during this upcoming school year, be sure to stop and use your olfactory nerve (CN I) to smell the roses.