“Things I Wish I Knew…”

Navigating the various aspects of graduate school can be challenging. From applying to graduate school to taking your comprehensive exams – you’re navigating unknown territory. And you’re not alone.

“Things I Wish I Knew…” is a multimedia project developed by the Office of Professional Development and Postdoctoral Affairs (PDPA) and BU URBAN Graduate Program in Urban Biogeoscience and Environmental Health (BU URBAN). They have teamed up to produce a series of videos, where current Boston University PhD students speak to the things they wish they knew before  encountering significant milestones in their PhD education. Learn from students from across backgrounds, disciplines, and Ph.D. life stages, where they reveal the hidden curriculum within PhD education that goes beyond coursework and academic milestones.

The original inspiration for this series came from PhD Candidate Alexa Friedman (Environmental Health), who led the authorship of two blog posts on Medium on Things I Wish I Knew About Applying to Doctoral Programs in Public Health and Things I Wish I Knew About Interviewing for Graduate School. Alexa collected advice and reflections from graduate students and faculty in her department and wrote the blog posts with the goals of both sharing some her experience as a first generation student and unveiling the hidden intricacies of graduate school admissions.

Lizette Pizza Becerra, PhD Student, Psychological & Brain Sciences

Claudia Mazur, PhD Candidate, Earth & Environment

Paige Brochu, PhD Candidate, Environmental Health

Yawei Huang, PhD Student, Education

Taylor Adams, PhD Candiate, Earth & Environment

Melanie Morris, PhD Student, Social Work

Luis Ramirez, PhD Candidate, Neuroscience

Caroline Fleming, PhD Student, Biology

Alex Yen, PhD Candidate, History of Art and Architecture

Alexa Friedman, PhD Student, School of Public Health