BIJTG

In this episode we talk about happens after the job offer and the most important thing to consider to ensure you have life balance. It’s not always about the $$$, but what you need to live comfortably.

In our last episode we discussed the different parts of the application, the cover letter, CV and research statement. And congratulations, the search committee was impressed and invited you for an interview. In this episode we are going to discuss the interview process. From start to finish. And believe me when I tell you, it starts well before you get there.

In this episode we discuss the different parts of the application, the cover letter, CV and research statement. Its time to showcase all your hard work through grad school to ensure you are invited for the interview.

In this episode we are going to discuss career paths and how to plan for the job and career you want. This is the first of three job related episodes, as we are now just in the midst of the job season.

Happy Holidays from our BIJTG families to yours! Guys, make sure you take care of yourselves over the break and get some rest. Make time for work, but also make time for family. Eat right, sleep well, and enjoy yourselves.

Listen...sometimes you got to put stuff down and truly take care of yourself. TIMES UP! WE'RE BACK!

Depending on your field, sometimes they are one in the same, sometimes they are different. We are gonna talk about both. You don't need luck, you got this.

Enough said....

We talking about grants and fellowships. The difference betweeen the two and how to find the best option for you. Unfortunately, the more grants you get the more grants you get and you are more likely to get money when you have a track record of getting money. We hope this episode is helpful especially since it is fellowship season. 

There's many types of research. Since it's the beginning of the 2019/2020 school year we are talking about research, the different types of research, and the best ways to get it done effectively. From planning it, collecting data, analyzing it and writing it up. Cause it gotta be done to get your degree. 

It's time for Season 2! We're back. Summers over and the semester has started again. We hoped y'all had a great summer cause we did! Some family time, beach time, celebrating a 1st marriage anniversary (someones husband is a doctor now!), and starting a new faculty job #newPI. We have an awesome set of topics this season so stay tuned.

Coming August 26th

Classes are over but that doesn't mean that we as grad students get a vacation. For our last episode of the academic school year and season, we discuss summer funding and insurance, planning field work, time management, writing, self care and how summer is kinda a vacation but not really. And last but certainly not least, we celebrate our very own Dr. Halsey! Follow us on social media: Instagram @BIJTG_Podcast and Twitter:@BIJTG_Podcast. Like, rate, subscribe and share.

On this episode, we talk about HBCUs and PWI from the perspectives of those who started out at a PWI or a HBCU and ultimately ended up at a PWI for graduate school. The major takeway is to not speak on experiences you don’t understand. If you never went to a HBCU, don't speak on it. If you never went to a PWI, don't speak on it. In the end, we are all educated, gaining skill sets and getting our degree. Disclaimer: Our opinions are our own.

Prepare your presentations, lay out your clothes, clean up your portfolios. Shine your armor and sharpen your swords and train your dragons. . #conferencesarecoming

We are back from our spring break and admidst relaxing on the beach and finishing up a manuscript, we decided to research self-care and its importance to both your mental and physical health. From exercising, to cooking, to mediation, wash day and self reflections, they are many ways to enact self care. Don’t forget. Check up on your strong friend, be on the look out for all of your friends and listen when someone is telling you things are a bit rough right now. Check out our social media: Instagram @BIJTG_Podcast and Twitter:@BIJTG_Podcast as we share all of our strategies over the next week. Its the little things that count.

Coming to you live from Florida with a bottle of red wine, we talk about the angry black women trope and how even though we may have plenty of reasons to be angry, we aren’t. We are passionate about our research and refuse to let others invalidate us. Follow us on Instagram and Twitter @BIJTG_Podcast

We just proud to be black!

We are back with a new episode. Today we are going to talking to you about the PhD interviewing process aka the most important day of your early career. Starting is PhD is hard and finding a lab that can match your research interest and style can be even harder. There are a lot of factors that can determine if a lab group is the best for you and if you will be able to thrive in that culture. All schools /lab groups have problems. It’s up to you to figure out whether which are deal breakers. You ultimately call the shots on where you go.

The path to earning your degree can be a bit bumpy. Alot of it is learning how to advocate for your self so that you have everything you need to succeed. We want to prevent you from getting into a funk. The psychology term for it is "Learned Helplessness" where you don't have the necessary skills/resources to get the work done. Much of our episode centers around Emotional Intelligence and how to use its principles to get through this multiple year journey of getting that degree.

Ya girl, Samniqueka, successfully defended her dissertation but she needed to unpack the interactions that happened over the course of that two hours. From giving suggestions on how to improve papers that have already been published to a handshake that was a little too firm. It took a second to be happy about passing. Ya won’t believe the criticism about publishing before the defense. Not only do we have to work twice as hard, when we do, they still got a problem with it. On a second note, anxiety is real. If someone is trying to talk to you, don’t automatically say “You got this”. Check up on your strong friends and family cause even though they look like they got it together, they may be stressing and trying to tell you and telling them that they got this, ain’t helping.

Lets talk about dipping out. Its December, you might be tired and seriously considering giving up on grad school. And thats okay. But lets talk about it with someone who decided after complete two years of their masters and in the first year of their Ph.D. decided that this just wasn’t for you. We are not advocating for just quitting straight out. We want you to do some reflection to see if this is the best plan for you and show you that you can live your best life outside of grad school.

Today we are going to talk to you guys about the bane of graduate schools existence...writing. When pursuing you graduate degree, you are unknowingly signing a contract to become a writer. In graduate school, writing is the end all be all of your entire career. You have to write a research proposal, grant, fellowship, and a whole ass dissertation before you are finished.

This episode is all about keeping it real when presenting your research in whatever form you choose.

We’re talking about the battle of old school academics and the next generation. They tell use to make our research our own, but then theres that resistance between the so-called “white” way. Minoritized people catch hell for not being “creative enough”, but keep doing you. Its your project, your research and your degree.

Graduate school is hard. Make it easier by setting boundaries. Boundaries are drawing a line in the sand, the difference between saying yes and no. They will let you know who your real friends and family are. Setting boundaries isn’t being petty, its knowing your limits cause people will take as much as they can. Although you may not be able to hang out with family and friends when you want to and do the hustle. Still, do your research and fulfill those professional duties and go home. Have fun, but do what you need to do to make yourself feel good.

For the past two weeks, we’ve been navigating the loss of a beloved advisor. Its been kinda rough and people grieve different. Working till midnight and eating a pint of ice cream most nights. But we not giving up. No worries we both gonna hold this department to their promises for all four of her grad students. This has definitely put things in perspective. Hold your friends and family close and take mini vacations to live your life to the fullest.

We dropping gems today. In your first year of grad school, you are a free agent. Feel out your advisor and bounce if you have to. Your advisors' model should be that your progress is a reflection of them, so they should be trying to support your progress. Regardless, make sure you have multiple mentors in addition to your advisor. Big sis got advice. Always be polite and professional and never take it personal. Be independent and do not rely heavily on your advisor, at the end of the day, their job is to advise. It’s on you to do the rest.

A graduate degree is a unique time where you are essentially both your boss and you employee. You are responsible for setting your own deadlines and ensuring you adhere to them. Cause your advisor will give you plenty of room to fail. We talk about our best experiences with time management and our worse. Of course we got tips. Our key takeaways are to not be afraid to say no and to plan your breaks and your bullshit.

It's the start of the fall semester. Let us introduce ourselves, tell you about our educational journey, why we decided to go to grad school and how we started grad school (ohh, we got some stories to tell ya). Finally, we have tips on how to start your semester off right, both academically and socially)

We are here to be your magical black unicorns! Let's take this journey together through grad school without losing ourselves in these institutions and universities that we are now apart of.

Get ready for you new favorite podcast, Bitch I'm just tryna graduate, hosted by two black women doctoral students who learned how to survive and thrive in an environment that wasn't built for us, all in the quest to put "Dr." in front of our names. So Subscribe... Come through!