The Graduate School

Michigan State University

Motivation and Engagement

Lisa Raphael, Ph.D.

Lisa Raphael is a MSU alumna, her Ph.D. is in Educational Psychology.

Key Challenges to Staying Motivated and Engaged

Strategies for Staying Motivated and Engaged

Graduate school represents the ultimate “delay of gratification.” Graduate students spend many years as students, waiting for the ultimate prize (i.e., the degree and then eventually the job). While there are many rewarding aspects of graduate school, it’s sometimes difficult to stay motivated and engaged. Understanding the challenges, and learning strategies to overcome them, can help you to succeed.

Key Challenges to Staying Motivated and Engaged

There are multiple challenges that may threaten graduate students’ motivation and engagement.

1. Feeling overwhelmed academically and balancing multiple commitments

As a new graduate student, I felt confident that I could succeed based on my undergraduate experiences. I did not expect to feel overwhelmed balancing academic and social commitments, but I did and so do many students. Graduate students often struggle with balancing multiple commitments (Austin, 2002; Golde, 2005) and feel overwhelmed on a regular basis. In one study, 46% of graduate students reported feeling overwhelmed (Hyun, Quinn, & Madon et al., 2006). Similarly, in another recent survey, 50.5% of graduate students identified general stress (i.e., feeling overwhelmed) and 20% identified workload as contributing to their mental health concerns while in graduate school (UCI mental health report, 2006-- http://www.grad.uci.edu/forms/news/SurveyResults_JS.pdf).

2. Questioning your capabilities

In graduate school, it’s easy to feel like a small fish in a big pond. Commonly known as the imposter syndrome (Brookfield, 1995), graduate students often doubt their capabilities, or their self-efficacy to succeed. Graduate students receive insufficient feedback about their progress as students, teachers, and future faculty members (Austin, 2002). Without supportive feedback, it’s hard to know what you’re doing well and what you need to improve upon. As graduate students make sense of their experience (Golde 1998), they ask questions such as “Do I belong here?” and “Do I have what it takes to succeed?” Low self-efficacy and constantly questioning oneself can lead students to avoid challenging tasks, and ultimately give up when they are frustrated or experience difficulties (Brophy, 1998; Schunk, 1991).

3. Lack of personal and professional support

As a graduate student, it is easy to feel isolated from students since you spend most of your time in the same building with the same individuals. Peers, family, and friends serve as primary sources of support (Austin, 2002). Although social support contributes to student satisfaction, graduate students sometimes lack the support they need, especially within their program. Many graduate students work independently, which often hinders relationships with peers in their cohort. In one study, over 50% of graduate students desired closer relationships with students in their cohort (Stratton, Mielke, Kirshenbaum, et al., 2006). In addition to social support, graduate students need support from faculty, especially their advisors.

The graduate-student advisor relationship is a critical determinant in graduate student attrition (Lovitts, 2001). Unfortunately, many graduate students often lack faculty mentors to help them understand the complexities of graduate school life, including professional development opportunities (Austin, 2002). The lack of personal and professional support can threaten graduate student motivation, and may lead to students exiting the program (Lovitts, 2001).

4. Time it takes to obtain your degree

Graduate programs can take a long time. Approximately 40-70% of doctoral students do not complete their program (Gardener, 2007). Students leave for a variety of reasons, including lack of support (as described earlier), frustration with department culture, dissatisfaction with the program, and the length of time it takes to obtain a degree (Baird, 1993; Golde, 1998; Lovitts, 2001). It is difficult to stay motivated and engaged in a program if you cannot see the finish line. Doctoral completion rates vary based on demographic factors and discipline. For example, 58% of doctoral students in Life Sciences and Engineering programs obtain their degree within ten years compared to 50% of doctoral students in Humanities (Council of Graduate Schools, 2008).

5. Uncertainties about life after graduate school

Uncertainties regarding life after graduate school can threaten student motivation and engagement. Although most graduate students are being trained to enter faculty positions, full time tenure-track positions are disappearing. Close to 27% full time tenure-track positions existed in 2007 compared to 33% in 1997 (American Federation of Teachers, 2009). Furthermore, most graduate students receive little mentoring to prepare for non-academic jobs (Austin, 2002).

Conclusion

Students enter graduate school with diverse backgrounds and different challenges. The above list captures a selection of some of the challenges that can affect graduate student motivation and engagement. What strategies can help sustain motivation and engagement during graduate school?

Strategies for Staying Motivated and Engaged

1. Engage in Goal Setting

To Balance Multiple Commitments

When you’re balancing multiple classes and trying to have a life outside of school, it’s easy to get overwhelmed. Goal setting can help alleviate the anxieties accompanied with multiple and sometimes competing priorities. Set SMART goals, goals that are Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Timely (Locke & Latham, 1990). List action steps that will help you achieve your goals. Also, set a long-term goal (e.g., for example, ask yourself, What do you want to accomplish by the end of the semester in a particular class?) and then identify proximal goals, or short-term goals that are attainable in the near future rather than distal, or future oriented goals.

What do SMART goals and related action steps look like? How do you develop one, considering each of the aspects? Below are examples of two examples of long-term goals with associated SMART goals and action steps. Note these action steps are possibilities and will vary based on your needs.

Long-term goal: Develop knowledge in my research specialization

Example SMART goal #1: “Read and summarize two research articles in my specialization from three journals every month.”

• Goal is specific because the criteria are explicitly stated
• Goal is measurable because it’s quantifiable
• Goal is attainable because you can generate list of action steps
• Goal is realistic based on the effort you will exert (*this depends on your assessment of the amount of effort you’ll need to exert, but ideally you should establish goals that require manageable efforts rather than extraordinary efforts)
• Goal is timebound because there is a timetable associated with the goal

Action steps for achieving SMART goal #1

1. Develop questions of interest/topics in specialization
2. Develop list of relevant journals
3. Assign calendar dates with projected deadlines for accessing journals, reading, and summarizing
4. Find good examples of summaries by asking faculty, students, or searching online
5. Use tools such as End Note to assist you with keeping track of articles

Long-term goal: Successfully balance academic challenges and have a social life

Example SMART goal #2: “Devote three hours of the week to social outings.”

• Goal is specific because the criteria are explicitly stated
• Goal is measurable because it’s quantifiable
• Goal is attainable because you can generate list of action steps
• Goal is realistic based on the effort you will exert (*this depends on your assessment of the amount of effort you’ll need to exert, but ideally you should establish goals that require manageable efforts rather than extraordinary efforts)
• Goal is timebound because there is a timetable associated with the goal

Action steps for achieving SMART goal #2

1. Create a table for each class outlining major deadlines and concerns
2. Identify possible strategies for academic concerns (e.g. talk with professors, books about strategies)
3. Develop schedule for meeting deadlines, including the 3 hours set aside for social time. Engage in backwards planning – start with the end of the semester and plan backwards for each class. Fill your calendar with deadlines
4. Brainstorm list of possible social activities that will fulfill multiple needs--this will ease stresses associated with time (e.g., having dinner; studying with other students)
5. Identify campus resources for additional academic and social support

To Monitor and Reflect Upon Progress

Periodically evaluate your progress towards your goals and adjust as needed. Goal setting can help you connect your efforts to your successes. This will help you understand what’s working and what you need to adjust (Zimmerman & Schunk, 1991). When you confront challenges, you can change your plans. Goal setting is meant to alleviate your stress and keep you motivated and engaged even during difficult tasks. Record your progress in a notebook and document changes in your priorities, as well as your goals.

What happens when you do not meet your goals?

Goal setting is an evolving process. Your goals will change based on your needs and priorities. If you are still feeling stressed out about not meeting your goals, repeat self-affirming reassuring statements (e.g., “I have met other goals of mine. This was not the right goal for me.” “My goals have changed since I set this goal a couple of months ago. “There is no need for me to meet every goal I set since I can adjust them when I need to.”). Continually adjust and reflect on your priorities.

2. Use a Variety of Strategies

Graduate school is academically demanding. There is no advance warning prior to graduate school about the amount of reading expected. In addition to in-class reading, you are also expected to read independently, including journal articles, books, and other readings related to your field. You could spend all of your days and nights reading. Use a variety of strategies to help remember and comprehend what you are learning (see Pintrich, 2004; Schunk & Zimmerman, 1994). The learning strategies you use depends upon the type of information, the amount of information, as well as your priorities. For example, sometimes you might choose to use more higher-level strategies for classes that are particularly meaningful to your career development.

Strategies for brief information and surface level learning:

• Rehearsal (e.g., reciting text aloud, copying, underlining, or highlighting material)

Strategies for integrating and applying information to previous knowledge:

• Elaboration (e.g., paraphrasing, summarizing, creating analogies, restating notes in own words)
• Organization (e.g., outlining or creating a hierarchy, network, or map of the concepts)

Strategy use and goal setting go hand in hand. After identifying your goals, identify strategies that will help you reach them. Similar to tracking your progress in goal setting, use metacognitive strategies (Pintrich, 2004) with your learning strategies to plan (i.e., identify learning strategies you will use), monitor (i.e., track your learning strategy use), and regulate (change your learning strategies as needed). Along the way, apply self-talk strategies, or affirming statements such as “I know I can do this task” (Zeidner, 1998). Volition strategies (Corno, 1993) will also help you follow through on your goals.

Example Volition Strategies

• Generate list of steps you need to take to complete task
• Gather all necessary materials before starting work
• Designate study environment that works for you
• Resist distractions (e.g., checking email, texting)
• Activate coping strategies when frustrating (e.g., imagine self as successfully completing task, use self-talk strategies)

3. Get involved!

Graduate students benefit personally and professionally from being involved in and outside their departments (Gardner, 2005). Students can get involved professionally in a variety of ways, which include:

• Participating in departmental and university graduate student organizations
• Attending brown bag lunches or discussions with faculty and other graduate students
• Attending local and national conferences
• Volunteering in the community

4. Get the mentoring you need

Although your faculty advisor will serve as an important mentor, seek out multiple sources of mentoring from other graduate students and other faculty. Multiple mentors can support your personal, academic, and professional development (Packard, 2003). While one professor might provide excellent career advice, other professor might assist you with your research interests. Some needs are more practical in nature (e.g., financial). With multiple mentors, you have a better chance of finding out about assistantship opportunities.

5. Use University Resources

In a recent study, close to 31% of graduate students reportedly utilized university resources (Hyun et al., 2006). Michigan State offers various types of resources to graduate students for your emotional, physical, academic and professional needs. Most of these resources are free!

See a comprehensive list of MSU resources here

6. Find some balance

When dealing with the stresses of graduate school, it is easy to forget yourself. Graduate school is sometimes extraordinary stressful. Give yourself time to unwind from the pressures of graduate school. Live your best life with these holistic healthy living strategies.

• Practice relaxation techniques and coping strategies for stress
• Improve your sleeping habits
• Get moving
• Eat Well
• Practice happiness strategies

Conclusion

Use multiple strategies to sustain your motivation and engagement throughout graduate school. Goal setting in conjunction with learning, metacognitive, and volition strategies can help you identify your priorities, decide how to best address them, and help you monitor your progress. MSU offers a wealth of resources that are available to all graduate students. Being a graduate student doesn’t mean you have to give up on living well.

References

American Federation of Teachers. (2009). American Academic: The State of the Higher Education Workforce 1997-2007. Retrieved from http://www.aft.org/pubsreports/higher_ed/AmerAcad_report_97-07.pdf

Austin, A. (2002). Preparing the next generation of faculty: Graduate school as socialization to the academic career. Journal of Higher Education, 73 (1), 94-122.

Austin, A. E., & McDaniels, M. (2006). Preparing the professoriate of the future: Graduate student socialization for faculty roles. In J. C. Smart (Ed.), Higher education: Handbook of theory and research, Vol. XXI (pp. 397-456). Netherlands: Springer.

Baird, L. L. (1993). Using research and theoretical models of graduate student progress. New Directions for Institutional Research, 80, 3-12.

Brookfield, S. D. (1995). Becoming a critically reflective teacher. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Brophy, J. (1998). Motivating students to learn. Boston: McGraw Hill.

Corno, L. (1993). The best-laid plans: Modern conceptions of volition and educational research. Educational Researcher, 22, 14-22.

Council of Graduate Schools. (2008). Ph.D. Completion and Attrition: Analysis of Baseline Program Data from the Ph.D. Completion Project. Retrieved from http://www.phdcompletion.org/ information/Executive_Summary_Demographics_Book_II.pdf

Gardner, S. K. (2005). Faculty preparation for teaching, research, and service: What do new faculty need? Journal of Faculty Development, 20(3), 161-166.

Gardner, S. K. & Barnes, B. J. (2007). Graduate student involvement: Socialization for the professional role. Journal of College Student Development 48 (4), 369-387.

Golde, C. M. (1998). Beginning graduate school: Explaining first-year doctoral attrition. In M. S. Anderson (Ed.), The experience of being in graduate school: An exploration (pp. 55-64). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Golde, C. M. (2005). The role of the department and discipline in doctoral student attrition: Lessons from four departments. Journal of Higher Education, 76, 669-700.

Hyun, J., Quinn, B. C., & Madon, T., & Lustig, S. (2006). Graduate Student Mental Health: Needs Assessment and Utilization of Counseling Services. Journal of College Student Development, 47(3), 247-266.

Locke, E. A. & Latham, G. P. (1990). A theory of goal setting & task performance. New Jersey: Prentice Hall.

Lovitts, B. (2001). Leaving the ivory tower: The causes and consequences of departure from doctoral study. Lanham, UK: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.

Packard, B. W. (2003a) Web-based mentoring: challenging traditional models to increase women's access. Mentoring & Tutoring, 11(1), 53–65.

Pintrich, P. R. (2004). A conceptual framework for assessing motivation and self-regulated learning in college students. Educational Psychology Review, 16 (4), 385-407.

Schunk, D. H. (1991). Goal setting and self-evaluation: A social cognitive perspective on self-regulation. In M. L. Maehr & P. R. Pintrich (Eds.), Advances in motivation and achievement (vol. 7): Goals and self-regulatory processes, (pp. 85-113).Greenwich, CT: JAI Press.

Stratton, J. S., Mielke, A., Kirshenbaum, S., Goodrich, A., McRae, C. (2006). Finding a balance: Factors that contribute to life satisfaction in graduate students. Journal of College and Character, 7 (8), 1-10.

Zeidner, M. (1995). Adaptive coping with test situations: A review of the literature. Educational Psychologist, 30, 123 – 133.

Zimmerman, B. J. & Schunk, D. H. (2001). Self-regulated learning and academic achievement: Theoretical perspectives (2nd ed.). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.

Last Modified: 11/20/2009