Fordham GSAS: Grad. Life: Stuff Graduate Students Like

Monday, September 27, 2010

Stuff Graduate Students Like


Recently, OKCupid came out with a study (I know…since when does a dating site do cultural research?) tracking the correlation between people’s self-identified ethnic backgrounds and favorite things. Basically, they wanted to expand the categories of the popular book Stuff White People Like (Good thing the whole book is totally sarcastick #81 would be asking for trouble).

Well, this article got me thinking (this is getting weirder and weirder…OKCupid is making me think?)…why isn’t there a list of “Stuff Graduate Students Like”? After Googling the phrase (the tried-and-true research method of grad. students the world over!), I discovered that, apparently, only one other person has attempted such a list. The one item on the list is:

  1. Procrastination.
Since the author of the list never went past that, I’m guessing this proves the theory that procrastination is, indeed, the number one joy of a grad. student’s life. But I think we should expand the list. Don’t you? Here goes…



  1. Free food.
Maybe this is just MA students…a leftover from college days? I don’t know…but I know free food tastes better, and I almost cry if I ever find out I missed any.


  1. Sleep.
It just never gets old.


  1. Grants and Fellowships.
Who wouldn’t want to be paid to explore the topics you love? Sometimes they even give you money to travel to weekend…


  1. Conferences.
It’s like we get a high from discussing the stuff we like with people who consider themselves as obsessed as we are. Sometimes it’s even enough just to listen…especially if some of our scholar idols are speaking!


  1. Research.
We are the archaeologists of the library (or maybe you’re really an archaeologist…).


  1. Anything on sale.
Maybe this goes deeper than graduate students, but since our budgets are so tight I’ve noticed people think anything being on sale is practically a command to “buy it!” What if you need it later, and it’s not on sale then? Or you’re stuck waiting for a pay check so you can’t get it and then it’s sold out (oh, the joys of living paycheck to paycheck)? Or what if you wanted it 4 months ago and, yeah, maybe you don’t really want it now but you did before and now it’s 25% off!?


  1. Helpful administrators.
How much better is life when the person who’s supposed to know everything about your department, your funding, etc. A. actually knows everything and B. is willing to help? (e.g. How would any of us live without Lydia?)


  1. Old pop culture references.
You know…stuff you can refer to that was on TV before you entered grad. school and no longer had any time for it.


  1. More school. And then more school. And then some.
Why else would some of us still be here after 7+ years, just to get a degree that will keep us in school forever? Oh, right. ‘Cause school is something grad. students like!



PS Comment with anything else you think should be on the list! Maybe...studying places where people will feel bad that you have so much work (I may be guilty of this)? Or "misery poker" (e.g. Grad. Student 1: "I have 300 pages left to read for tomorrow." Grad. Student 2: "I have 300 pages left to read for the class that starts right now!")?  Or let me know if you think any of these aren’t right for the list.

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