Summer Tales: Grad School Hopes and Reality

So you want to go to grad school?

Our discussions with students at previous Summer Tales Book Clubs revealed the fact that anyone willing to sacrifice the summer to take classes is driven and dedicated. Many participants mentioned that they were considering grad school. We were happy to answer their questions, whether by pointing them to resources related to admission and programs or by simply sharing our own experiences as students and faculty members with rigorous graduate programs from Master’s to PhD in all the diverse disciplines that Rutgers offers.

Inspired by these conversations, Books We Read members still in grad school or just graduated have been invited to  provide a glimpse of what it takes to start and finish grad school in their field. We hope their engaging and very personal first-hand accounts will help others with their decisions about whether to go to grad school and how to go about it, and inspire lifelong learning more broadly.

Upcoming blog posts

Reflections on a PhD in Literature, by Nick Allred in three parts (May)

• • Part 1: The Basics
  • Part 2: What it Takes
  • Part 3: Reading for Fun (while working toward a PhD in literature)

Becoming a Librarian, Step 1: The MILS, by Harmony Birch (June)

From Performing Artist to PhD, by Lindsey Jones (July)

The Archivist Track in Library School, by Kate Greenberg (August)

Useful links

• Rutgers Graduate Program Finder – Find a Rutgers graduate program by specialty, degree type, or location
• Admissions to MD/PhD at the Medical School
• Checklist for a PhD Degree at Rutgers
• Advice for Doctoral Students from the Grad Fund Knowledgebase
• Find a Rutgers Dissertation or Thesis Research Guide from Rutgers Libraries