This document outlines 7 keys to success for graduate students: 1) Be proactive and take responsibility for your own experience, 2) Establish positive relationships with your supervisor and committee, 3) Get involved with your academic community, 4) Understand your program requirements and timelines, 5) Develop effective time management strategies, 6) Approach your work professionally and further your skills, and 7) Seek balance and support in life. The document provides tips and advice for each key.

1. Being a Successful
Graduate Student
Jenny Phelps
Assistant Dean
Faculty of Graduate Studies
jenny.phelps@ubc.ca
604.822.2934

2. “Always bear in mind that your own
resolution to succeed is more important
than any other.”
-Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865, U.S.
President)

3. 7 Keys to Success
in Graduate School
1. Be proactive – take responsibility for your own
grad school experience
• Clarify what you want from graduate school, and
seize opportunities to help you attain your goals
• Continue the mental transition from waiting for
direction to charting your own course
• Apply for scholarships and grants—having your own
money keeps you in the driver’s seat!

4. 7 Keys to Success
in Graduate School
2. Establish positive relationships with your
supervisor and supervisory committee
• Seek regular contact with your supervisor. Make your
time together productive.
• Follow up on items discussed in meetings – keep your
supervisor(s) informed of your progress and challenges
• Act as a “junior colleague” – ask questions, advance
ideas, show interest and support for shared goals
• Deal with problems sooner rather than later.

5. 7 Keys to Success
in Graduate School
3. Affiliate with your academic community
• Embrace, don’t isolate – Find projects you are
excited about and people who share your interest.
• Become involved with University activities beyond
your own work—seminars, committees, events
• Go to and present at conferences ($400 available
to every grad student to present at a conference)

6. 7 Keys to Success
in Graduate School
4. Know your program requirements and timelines
Masters students:
• Your program may require any or all of the following:
– Coursework
– Comprehensive exams
– A research thesis or major project
– Public presentation and/or defense of thesis or project
• UBC Graduate Policy states:
– Masters students must complete all degree requirements
within 5 years of enrolment

7. Doctoral students:
Phase I: Pre-Candidacy
– Take all required courses
– Pass a comprehensive exam “Advance
to
– Gain approval for a research proposal Candidacy”
Phase II: Candidacy
– Complete a research project (dissertation)
– Defend the thesis at a Doctoral Oral Examination
Doctoral Students:
– Should advance to candidacy within 2 years, and must within 3
– Should complete all degree requirements within 5 years of
enrolment and must within 6 years

8. 7 Keys to Success
in Graduate School
5. Develop Effective Time-Management Strategies
• Set a ‘Master Plan” for program requirements (e.g.,
courses, comprehensives, research, writing, etc.)
• Schedule regular meetings with your supervisor and
committee to keep things moving along
• Avoid productivity killers: misguided work,
procrastination and working too much at outside jobs.
• If you can, do complex work early in the morning—
most people work much more efficiently in the a.m.

9. “The most valuable of all education is the
ability to make yourself do the thing you
have to do, when it has to be done,
whether you like it or not.”
-Aldous Huxley (1894-1963, British author).

10. 7 Keys to Success
in Graduate School
6. Bring a professional approach to your studies and
further your skills development
• Key skills: organization, planning, teamwork, budgeting
• Build skills for the next stage of your career through the
Graduate Pathways to Success program
• Learn about research ethics and scholarly integrity …

11. 7 Keys to Success
in Graduate School
…All UBC researchers are required to:
• Give appropriate recognition to those who have made an
intellectual contribution to the contents of a publication
• Refrain from representing others’ academic work as one’s
own (this is plagiarism)
• Conform to UBC requirements for working with humans,
animals, biohazards, radioisotopes, and the environment
(these need Research Ethics Board approval)
• Use scholarly and scientific rigour in obtaining, recording,
and analyzing data, and in reporting results

12. 7 Keys to Success
in Graduate School
7. Seek balance and support in your life
• Stay connected to friends and family outside school
• Eat well, sleep consistently, exercise regularly
• Reach out to those around you—staff, faculty members
and especially other students, who can help you
through the tough times
• Keep grad school in perspective—Just Finish!

13. … and remember
… when the going gets tough …

14. At least you live here!
UBC Campus

15. Summary:
Your 7 Keys to Success in Graduate School
1. Be proactive – take responsibility for your own grad school
experience
2. Establish a positive relationship with your advisor/supervisor
and the members of your supervisory committee
3. Embrace your academic community
4. Know your program requirements and timelines
5. Develop effective time-management strategies
6. Bring a professional approach to your work and
interactions
7. Seek balance and support in your life