The paid work is the reason I’m going back for this particular subject and they are doing some of the financing so …

I miss the Internet!

I’m starting back at grad school in a few weeks too, studying European literature. I’m really looking forward to it – all the fun of learning, without the stress of exams! There is a little matter of the thesis and coursework, but I can deal with that much better than the all-or-nothingness of exams (in the UK, the only thing that counts for your degree is one set of exams you do in your final year, which is of course rather daunting).

@Catalina: Good luck! My advice: Do as much as you can during Freshers’ Week, but don’t wear yourself down either – I was so exhausted by the end of it that I ended up with a nasty case of Freshers’ Flu that stuck around for months and really made my first term a bit grim. Work-wise: try to stick to a regular work schedule to avoid essay crises – when I did manage to do that I found that life was much less stressful. Working regularly throughout the year and not leaving everything until exam term is also highly advisable and will likely put you ahead of the pack. And don’t stress too much over individual essays (assuming they aren’t counted for anything) – they are a chance to learn and make mistakes and don’t need to be absolutely perfect. Oh, and I second the idea of getting to know your lecturers well where possible.

@Catalina: I second the advice already given. I’m not sure how your education system handles advising, but you’ve probably been assigned a specific faculty member as a mentor-type, right? Get to know your mentor-type faculty member (go visit every few weeks or so) and find out if you’ll find zie helpful. If yes, YAY! If no, start working on finding a new MTFM. If you haven’t been assigned a MTFM, get to know your professors and find yourself one. It was one of the best things I did as an undergrad. Now I have existing relationships with several faculty members and I really feel supported at school – invaluable.

Excuse me, I have to go back to finding sources for my semester papers.

Also, I’ve been to girls’ schools since I was four, so this is the first time I’ll have been educated with guys. I suspect it’s gonna be a brave new world of mansplaining, so Being A Bitch is probably gonna be necessary every now and then! I’d better start practicing. (I think I may be a natural.)

- Don’t take a class at 8 AM unless you are a morning person. No matter how interesting the class is, you will invariably fall asleep at least once.

- When you can choose your courses: choose the teachers. The reason for this is that the best teachers can make seemingly uninteresting topics captivating, but the worst teachers can make even Leonardo da Vinci seem boring (true experience).

- Take a couple of non required classes outside of your major. You never know where your life will take you; a class that you take on a whim, may someday be a jumping point for something else.

Your post could so have been written by me when I was doing my MA in English Lit! Apart from the husband/dad part. In my experience, the uni knows that those research methods classes are a massive waste of time but their funding depends on you taking those classes. I still have to take them.

I’m starting my second year of my PhD, part time, nothing new there, but I’ve also just started a new job and this year I’m going to be teaching some first year undergrads. That’s freaking me out, I feel like these fresh faced youngsters are depending on me, and I’ve never had that before.