From lattes to legumes: How I found balance in work, life, and finances as a broke grad student
The unexpected benefits of a month of austerity
As May came to a close, my bank account delivered a nasty surprise: a balance teetering just above $200 – starkly contrasted by a credit card bill that could make anyone wince. This gut-punch is all too familiar for grad students like me who are trying to make ends meet on a student stipend in […]
Money matters: Part 2
How to make your money work for you as a grad student
If you’ve read part one of this blog post, you know how to use a budget to help manage your money. What can we do with what we save, and how can we make what we spend really count? Beyond budgeting, there are some more advanced moves that we can make with our money, even […]
Money matters: Part 1
Making the most of your stipend
Financial stress is often assumed to be an unavoidable part of the graduate student experience. But does it have to be that way? With a bit of planning and discipline, I have been able to save up enough money to pay off my undergraduate student loans, fund a retirement account, buy a new phone, and […]
In defense of quitting
What I learned from almost ruining my first semester of grad school by overcommitting
If a hacker were to break into my phone at the beginning of September and read through my notes, this is the first one they would find: I think MIT is full of people who have a hard time saying no to exciting opportunities, and I am no exception. I’ve been following a roughly 4 […]
Whales of quals
Prioritizing my mental health over qualifying exams
This is my story of how I prioritized my mental health over qualifying exams. When I was studying for quals1, my phone kept autocorrecting quals to whales. I thought it was funny and poetic, because the stress of quals felt like a whale on me. Before reading this, I want to mention that what you […]
