Speaker 1: Welcome to this video. Today I'm going to be talking about summer and the big question this year is is it a hot girl summer or is it a hot girl scholar summer? For me it's definitely the latter and if you watch the end of this video I'm going to share something really exciting that I have to offer you this summer. Welcome to Grad Life Grind. If you're new to this channel thank you for checking it out and if you're already a subscriber thanks for being back again. My name is Arielle and I'm a PhD student in clinical psychology and in this channel I bring you information about the mental health field and talk about my journey as a PhD student. So in this video I'm going to be talking about what grad students do in the summer, what I am personally doing this summer as a rising third year PhD student in clinical psych, and I'm also just going to recap what my first year summer was like last year. So what do grad students do in the summer? The short answer is everything that we do for the rest of the year. So that's taking classes, TAing, maybe doing research, doing work, whether it's work-study, practicum, etc. And maybe we do it less than we do the rest of the year but in general summer for grad students may look pretty similar to the rest of the year. And this video requires a pretty important disclaimer which is that all of my videos, but especially this one, are covering specifically my experience. So even though I get on here and I share about what grad school life is like, what the grad life grind is like, all of that is based on my personal experience. Every program is different, every subject or field of study is different, so please keep that in mind as you're watching this video. Even if you are a clinical psych PhD student my videos still may vary from your experience and that makes sense because you are you and I am me. So basically my summer is going to look just like the rest of the year has looked for me. I just finished up my second year and during that time I was taking classes, seeing clients under the supervision of a licensed psychologist as part of my clinical training, I was doing research, and I was also working and running grad life grind. So my summer is going to look pretty similar to that except that I'm not taking any classes. However, I know a lot of friends and colleagues in my program who are taking one or two summer classes for whatever their reasons may be. So this summer I'm going to be focusing much more on research because I won't be taking classes and so I'm going to use that time to work towards my dissertation which I'm really excited about. If you want to hear about the dissertation process, comment below this video. If you want to hear about the dissertation process, comment below this video and let me know. I would love to cover it as I'm going through the process. Anyways, so I'm going to start my dissertation proposal. I'm going to be focusing on research, still meeting with my lab. I have done videos before about research and the lab that I'm in so I will link to those. And I will be taking a short break from clinical work because I just finished up the clinical training year that I had to do for my second year and I'm about to start at a new practicum site. And if you're wondering what practicum is, don't worry. I just covered a video on that and practicum is a pretty unique experience that psychology students have. I don't know if other fields of study require a practicum but essentially I was providing psychotherapy under the supervision of a licensed psychologist during my second year. I just finished up with that cycle and now I'm going to be starting a new site sometime in the summer. So I will be seeing clients but right now as of the time that I'm recording this video, I'm not seeing clients. I'm not taking classes. I've just been focusing on research and also resting. So I hope that most grad students find time to rest during the summer just like everybody else. And based on what the program requires that you are attending, you may not be able to take that much time off. But basically the summer looks like a lighter load. So I'm still doing a lot of the same things that I would normally do during the rest of the school year. I'm just not doing as much and that that allows me to take some time off, rest a little bit more, sleep a little later, and just have a slower work pace. And again, this is my individual experience so it does vary. As I mentioned, some graduate students may take classes during the summer. That's just not what I'm doing this summer. However, at the end of my first year, last summer, I did take summer classes. So it may depend by year in your program, it may depend what your program requires, and it may depend on your preference. So I know some colleagues are currently taking summer classes because they need financial aid and in order to receive that, they have to take summer classes. This is something that varies by program. You should check with the program that you are in or the program you're applying to to figure out funding for the summer. So also graduate students may TA during the summer since there are summer classes being offered at the undergraduate level, the master's level, etc. Grad students may need some extra money or they may have some extra time or they may just be required to TA as part of their funding package. And so the summertime might be a time that that's happening just like the rest of the year. So I TA'd in the spring for the first time but I'm not TAing this summer and I hope to TA in the next academic year again. So basically, as I've been saying throughout this video, grad students do everything that they normally do. The idea that you have the entire summer off the way that you would in undergrad or in high school is kind of a misconception. So even though I was really looking forward to summer and I was dying for the spring quarter to end, I'm not really going to be off. I did try to take about a week of just no work at all, not doing research, not answering emails, not working, not doing anything after I finished my classes and clinical work. And that was great. I got to rest and enjoy time with my loved ones and now I'm starting to get back into my own schedule. It's a lot more independent since I'm going to be focusing on research, but I am going to be working this summer. Once I start my new clinical practicum, I'll be balancing that and research. And then before I know it, classes will start up again and I'm excited to be taking only one or two classes per quarter because it's my third year. In my third year, I'll be wrapping up classwork forever and I'll just be able to focus on my dissertation after that. So if you want to hear more about the trajectory per year, first, second, third, fourth, et cetera, how it has looked for me and how I would like it to look going forward, comment below and let me know. I hope that you have an amazing summer. I hope this video was helpful to you. If you're a current graduate student and you are taking classes or whatever you're doing in the summer, just let me know in the comments so that people can see that it really does vary. I want to hear what you're doing this summer, whether you're a grad student or not. If you're applying to graduate school, let me know. I have so many resources for you on my website, gradlifegrind. And as I promised, if you watch to the end of this video, there is something fabulous that I'm offering this summer, and that is Hot Girl Scholar apparel. You can find that on my shop. I will link to it in the description for this video. They're so cute. The t-shirts, the crop tops, the hats that say Hot Girl Scholar. I know that I'm going to be wearing it all summer, so I hope you will, too. You can also catch the discount code in the description for this video. Otherwise, enjoy your summer. Thank you so much for watching.