10 Things I wish I knew about Grad School - Part II

Hi everyone!
Today I'm bringing you part 2 to my "10 things I wish I knew about Grad School," or, rather, 10 things I wish people told me sooner, as I learned this on my own during my journey, and its more advice I'd like to give newer grad students! You can read the Part I guide HERE.

1. Networking is an ongoing thing throughout grad school - I managed to network and make many connections through grad school via all of my involvement in various organizations and outreach. It's never too late to get involved, and its a good way to make organic connections. I know a lot of people who enter their final or second to final year of grad school and make a note to start "networking." A lot of times people try to meet so and so who works at X company, and it just comes off as needy - people can tell when all you want to do when talking to them is have them refer you to a job. If you have done this, its no biggie, but just my opinion that its always more organic and less awkward if you build relationships over time, and THEN ask for a referral favor. Example: join student government club, meet older grad student who is graduating and going to X company for job. Worked closely with student who is leaving and became acquaintances, and when its time to apply for jobs, its a lot easier to message and ask for a referral!

Episode 3 - Survival Guide to Grad School - 6 Tips on Surviving First Year!

Happy Weekend!

Today I'm bringing you the third episode in my "Survival Guide to Grad School" Series - this time I'm talking about 6 Tips to get through First Year!

First year was tough for me - from moving across the country away from my family and friends, to finally getting serious about research while taking classes and TAing... it can become a lot! So take some of my tips if you are in a grad program (or thinking about it), and save your sanity by learning from my mistakes!

Are there any other tips you have from when you went through grad school that you wish someone told you sooner?

Do you have any ideas for topics I should discuss next or any ideas for what you want to see next?
I'm really trying to produce more YouTube videos, so do let me know and if you fancy, subscribe to my channel to be updated when a new video posts! I will be doing some makeup looks next also :)

Have a wonderful weekend!

xo

Andrea

Conferencing it up - Poster Presentation Outfit

Hey loves!

Hello from San Diego! 

It is officially conference time at the ASBMB meeting, and yesterday I presented my poster and talked some science! I have been attending various talks and workshops all weekend, and it has been a really great experience thus far! I have been on the go since Friday, and my plans were to blog each day, but after a long day at the conference center listening to talks, I get back to the hotel and collapse on my bed! I have been chronicling my day to day outfits on my instagram (go follow me there, @phd_fashionista, to keep up to date), but I thought I would actually write a post about my outfit for the poster presentation today! 

I wore this pretty patterned top/blouse that I got from Express, and I paired it with black dress pants I also bought from Express, called the Editor, I really like the flattering cut of the pants! I tried on a pair of their ankle dress pants and with my body/legs, they actually made me look even shorter! So a bootcut pant is definitely my friend! 

I paired the outfit with the same comfy Nine West heels that I have worn in other outfits (and to be honest they have been worn into the ground, time for a new pair soon!), and some simple accessories. My necklace was a birthday gift from a great friend, Dina from Leafandcrown.com, she hand laser cut the necklace as a part of her new zodiac collection! How cool is that?! my friends are so talented! And I also used my black tote bag from Zara, I love how chic it looks and it is big enough to fit a lot of my things! 

I'm a huge fan of wall art, so when I saw this wall I had to take a photo in front of it!

PhD Fashionista's Survival Guide to Grad School

Hey Loves!
Sorry it's been some time since my last outfit post, I do have outfits I need to post about, but I've just been swamped lately with school work and not having enough time to do anything!
I have a bunch of projects I am working on - I am heading to a conference in San Diego that I am preparing some Conference Fashion posts, and I will hopefully be blogging fashion during the conference also. I am also working on some fitness posts, that will be up soon also!

BUT! I am finally proud to announce that I kicked my butt into gear and FINALLY got around to starting this youtube series I have wanted to start since Summer, a Survival Guide to Grad School. I will be talking about various issues graduate students encounter, and this is the first intro video in the series - but I will be posting a video a week! These aren't issues just exclusive to grad students but also to life, so if you have anything you want me to talk about, do leave a comment!  Would love to hear some feedback also!






I would love it if you would SUBSCRIBE to my Channel!

Also, I am always active on Instagram right now, mainly because I am always on the go - so definitely check out my posts there if you want some more fashion inspiration (I have recently been posting my daily outfits that I don't get a chance to photograph for the blog!
Follow me on Instagram @phd_fashionista

And lastly, my giveaway is still running, so do check it out and enter to win the Viktor and Rolf Flowerbomb full size perfume! It will be running until THIS FRIDAY - so go and enter!!

Enter the giveaway here


Hope you have a wonderful week ahead, and I will be posting again this week!

xoxo

Andrea

Happy December - Fall Tribal Print Dress

Happy December!
I can't believe it is almost the end of 2015! Time is really flying!

I have been struggling these last couple of months with work and school, and the stress just really got to me. I have mentioned stress in my previous posts, but I have figured out the headaches I was getting every day were from a combination of stress, not sleeping enough or resting enough, and actually I think it was a migraine that remained during the last couple of weeks, which sucks.
Thanksgiving break came and I had a 4 day long weekend where I didn't think about work at all, hung out with different groups of friends, and relaxed. It was a great way to reset and my headache is gone! My baseline stress level is down, and again, it could be that I actually had a chronic migraine but I'm going to assume relaxing during thanksgiving did the body good!

I also found out I wasted three months of my research because things didn't work/had some fatal flaws where the protein I was working with wasn't what I thought it was... so that was pretty discouraging as well.

My goals for December, as it is a short month (with all the holidays), is to not stress out! to be happy in the moment, and to just take every task and every thing one step at a time! What are your goals for this month and into the new year?

Well, anyway, onto the fashion. I wore this really cute Tribal Print Dress I bought from Target a few weeks ago (Dress Similar Here) - and it was only $20! I loved the skater style of the dress, as it was flattering on my figure, and I really liked the lace pieces up by the top of the dress! I accessorized with some simple bangles and a statement necklace from Charlotte Russe (Similar Here) and a pair of simple black heels that I have styled before from Nine West (See Black Heels Similar Here). Also, I'm sporting the Apple Watch that I won, I have mixed feelings about it but it is cool to have a smart watch nonetheless!