While setting out a plan for the academic session might be initmidating, it is extremely helpful and rewarding in the end. It helps you to clearly map out a plan for the academic. I think of it as planning a road trip with multiple stop points. The destination is the destination, but getting there might not be so straightforward. That is where a map comes in handy. No matter the delays, perhaps due to traffic, the destination is still in sight, and no matter the number of times you derail, the map is useful to get back on the journey.
For some, the semester is just another stop point on the entire grad school journey. For others, the session is the plan, and the semester is only one bit of it. For another group, it is perhaps better to plan in even smaller chunk, a semester at a time. No matter the plan size, planning is extremely helpful.
Here is a list of some things that could be added to your ‘academic things to plan for’
Conference attendance and participation
Academic related travel(s)
Holidays and breaks
Journal publication
Assignment and research deadlines
Grant and Funding
Skills and Professional Development
Fieldwork
Non-academic talks
Fun or downtimes
Routine health check(s)
Overall, I find that there are at least two aspects to each item – Time, and money. Yes, these are faily scarce commodities for graduate students. It therefore makes it even more necessary to make plans to be able to fully manage time and money through graduate school.
What else should be on this growing list?