Though the academe is not as tough as the corporate environment, it still suffers from office politics. Because the need for promotion exists in any average working place, power struggles among co-workers and colleagues can still occur; power struggles are also evident even in school. There will be alliances and even pure non-job related antagonism between two or more people. Sometimes, this happens when people are constantly working closely. These rifts, however, can be prevented. Here are a few things to keep in mind to stay away from office politics in the academe.
Being transparent
Office politics in the academe can produce a certain degree of dishonesty in people. Co-employees with hidden agendas may give you their best smiles, but are actually badmouthing you to the dean or the principal. To avoid this, do not join them in their fun. Instead, show your real self. Even if others have hidden agendas, do not harbor one.
Showing flexibility
Like in any other setting, you will be dealing with people who have strong opinions and personalities. You may even be someone who is quite opinionated yourself. However, dealing with different kinds of people will require you to broaden your point of view so that you see others’ perspectives as well. Flexibility will also enable you to bond with everyone, not just with your own clique.
Demonstrating tongue discipline
Gossip will never result in anything positive; in fact it is counterproductive. Though people may talk ill about you, respond by telling only the truth. Playing against your enemies at their own game makes you as bad as they are. While gossip from others may taint your reputation on the surface, gossip from you will truly ruin your being. When you gossip, you are perceived as someone who can never be trusted.
Taming the ego
Sometimes a high sense of self can mean trouble. If competition for a promotion becomes too intense, learn to keep your humility. Self-promotion can be subtly done by doing your job well. If, for example, the promotion went to somebody else, congratulate him or her. This way, you are perceived as someone who is not only humble but is secure and confident about your capabilities.
Working on credibility
Even if gossip is continuously aimed at you, a strongly built credibility will protect your reputation. You can be credible by combining transparency with consistently good outputs. Through credibility, you gain trust and, in time, respect.
Doing your job
You are in the academe to teach, to do research, or to study. Do your thing. You do not have to resort to office politics to gain a promotion or get a good score or evaluation. Being conscientious with your job will get you there.
Make peace
Do not harbor grudges. Instead of gossiping, calmly and directly approach your detractor. Explain that you do not want to play the game of office politics, and that you will not respond in a similar manner. Make sure that you do this without a hint of arrogance.
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If college was a challenge, graduate school will prove to be more so. With more advanced courses and heightened expectations, time seems to become a rarer commodity by the minute. Now that you have survived college and are in graduate school, you are expected to have much better time management skills. So, you know that more work will be piling up at this stage.
It’s all a matter of organization
Because graduate school is less structured than college and you have more freedom to do what you want, you have to extend extra effort to discipline yourself. You have to keep a time table or a calendar, however tentative, of study periods, classes, and other activities. If you are planning to take a break some time next week, make sure that you are through with necessary school work before declaring yourself free and indulging in these social events. Divide complicated goals into manageable parts so that you can tackle them better. Doing so prevents you from being intimidated by the volume of school work to be done.
Prioritize
There will be tons of work to do at graduate school, especially if you are also working part-time. So, better come up with your things-to-do list and list the items in decreasing priority. Priority depends on the work’s deadline and weight on your GPA. Spending too much time on a requirement that’s only a fraction of your grade may seem impractical in the long run especially if you have many other requirements to complete.
Learn to strike a balance
While mediocrity is never promoted in any field, perfectionism can also weigh you down in graduate school. It is an excellent characteristic to be meticulous, but being too perfect can also be a problem especially if it’s not too realistic. If you cannot figure out how to write a research paper perfectly that you end up missing the deadline, then that is a problem. So, if you know that an assignment will require extra time and attention, start doing work on it as soon as you get it.
Have room for flexibility
Again, graduate school is working with less structure than college; it has an open or loose schedule depending on your field. So, even if you have a calendar, things can still happen between schedules. To avoid becoming overwhelmed, make sure that you do you work as soon as you get the assignment. This way, no surprise arrangement can make you feel lost.
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Many self-help articles discuss tips on how students can survive and excel at school. To give you something new, here’s a list of habits that are common among highly unsuccessful students and what you can do to avoid such tempting habits.
Not looking at the bigger picture
Highly unsuccessful students do not look at the bigger picture. For them, failing an exam isn’t a big deal because it’s just one exam. They don’t think much about getting excellent grades because for them, the main goal is to just finish their studies. When you apply for college or graduate school, having high grades has an impact on your chances of getting accepted into your dream college or graduate school. Whether you plan to finish college, get a master’s degree, or become a doctor or a lawyer, remember that your grades reflect your academic performance.
Acting on impulse
Making hasty decisions usually lead to more problematic results. This is why one habit you should avoid as a student is acting on impulse. But this doesn’t mean that you have to rigidly stick to plans and lead a boring life at school. To excel at school, you should learn which tasks should be planned and which are best done spontaneously. One example of a task that should be planned well is thinking of a thesis topic. When thinking of a topic for your thesis, it’s always better to consult your counselor, professor, or parent. Their advice can greatly help you come up with a good thesis topic.
Dwelling on negativity
Failure is part of life. But if you dwell too much on your failures in school, you won’t get anywhere. If you got a low grade on an essay, learn from that experience and make a promise to not commit the same mistakes. Do not be discouraged by your failures in school as you can learn a lot from your mistakes.
Procrastinating
Procrastinating is one tempting habit that unsuccessful students always do. Putting off school work especially during a lazy weekend is tempting, but this usually leads to one-night cramming sessions. Some students work best under pressure, but most use this as an excuse to avoid doing school work. If you have a free afternoon but you don’t want to start preparing for that presentation yet, why not visit a museum? Strolling through the halls of a local museum can help you unwind and get ideas for the presentation at the same time.
Being mediocre
A habit that’s very common among students, reveling in mediocrity are exhibited by students who no longer aim to excel at school. They just do the tasks assigned to them just to pass the subject and graduate. Take note that a mediocre performance leads to mediocre grades. And if you’re planning to go to college, law, graduate, or medical school, mediocre grades just won’t do. So if you’re given a two-page essay as homework, do your best and let your teachers see your potential.
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Rankings of business schools and graduate school programs can be quite controversial and trifling. To date, there is no single authoritative body that ranks graduate school programs in the US. Different organizations and institutions employ different methodologies in gathering and analyzing their data, which consequently yield varying results. The methodologies used are often based on certain criteria, like tuition amount or fees and number of enrollees.
Another factor that makes ranking compilations problematic is that the ranking results published by magazines and organizations are often disaggregated into different fields of study. The university that offers the best computer and engineering graduate school programs may rank quite low in their business and medical programs. So to make things easier, here is a compilation that lists five oft-cited top graduate school programs in the US (in no particular order) according to different academic disciplines.
Top five graduate school programs: Computer and Engineering
1. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
2. University of California – Berkeley
3. Schulich School of Engineering of Stanford University
4. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC or U of I)
5. California Institute of Technology (CalTech)
Top five graduate school programs: Business and Administration
1. The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania
2. Massachusetts Institute of Technology Sloan School of Management
3. Harvard University – Harvard Business School (HBS)
4. Kellogg School of Management – Northwestern University
5. Stanford University Graduate School of Business
Top five graduate school programs: Law
1. Yale University Law School
2. Harvard University Law School
3. New York University School of Law
4. Stanford University Law School
5. Columbia University Law School
Top five graduate school programs: Medicine
1. Harvard University Medical School
2. The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
3. Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis
4. University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine
5. University of California – San Francisco School of Medicine
The medical school rankings results published by US News and World Report were arrived at by combining two criteria; the research and primary care facilities and programs of medical schools. As for business school rankings, results are often disaggregated into varying types of MBA programs: full-time, executive, dual, part-time, online, etc.
As you will see on the lists above, Harvard University and Stanford University are among the top universities that offer prestigious programs in various fields. Their excellence in diverse disciplines is one of the reasons why they remain as two of the most exclusive Ivy League schools in the US. Harvard and Stanford are known for their highly selective admission procedures and criteria, and have alumni rosters that boast of Nobel Prize winners, politicians, CEOs, Pulitzer Prize winners, and personalities who are recognized in their respective industries.
Whether you will be applying for graduate studies in law school, medical school, MBA, engineering or other programs, you need to write a graduate admission essay. If your records in college are not that outstanding, coming up with a well-written graduate admission essay can help you get into the graduate school of your choice.
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