Jenny Schell

Position: EAPL-S Founder and President, Local Representative: Netherlands. Her CV here.

University of Maastricht PhD Candidate

Words of Wisdom: I believe that the key to success is always to believe in yourself and to follow your dreams. During my educational career I was more than once told ‘You can’t do that’ or ‘Your chances of achieving it are very small’. But I never gave up and never let other people discourage me. Although it was hard at times, I always had my dream in mind and kept fighting for it. Always inform yourself about different opportunities, ask people in similar situations for advice, keep asking questions about possibilities and always be optimistic. Even if something does not work out the way you want it to, for example getting rejected from graduate school, look for other ways and keep trying. Keep in mind that “when one door closes another door opens; but we so often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door, that we do not see the ones which open for us.” (Alexander Graham Bell). ALWAYS BELIEVE IN YOURSELF AND KEEP AN OPEN MIND!

"Know and believe in yourself, and what others think won't disturb you." (William Feather)

Julia Shaw

Position: EAPL-S Founder and President, EAPL-S Webmaster, Local Representative: North America. Her CV here.

University of British Columbia Okanagan PhD Student

Words of Wisdom: Many students do not get accepted into Masters or PhD programs the first time they apply. There are so many parts of the application process that while you can be a fantastic candidate overall you may still not make it onto the short list. There can be so many obstacles, like a particularly hard application cycle or university politics, that get in the way. Don't take it personal. While this is hard to do when you are rejected from the university of your choice, it is vital that you use this opportunity to enhance your application package for the following year. Ask a mentor or professor at the school you are applying to what kinds of candidates they are looking for and whether the admission committee disqualified you because of any weaknesses in your application. By having a year "off" because you did not get accepted into the school of your choice right away, you can gain relevant work experience, volunteer in labs, publish articles, look for funding and attend conferences. If your goal is graduate school, you can make it happen no matter what obstacles may be in your way.

"Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever." (Ghandi)

Annelies Vredeveldt

Position: EAPL-S Vice-president, Local Representative: United Kingdom. Her CV here.

University of York PhD Student

Words of Wisdom: I feel a bit silly to be giving you my words of wisdom, since there is so much I still need to learn and so much I do not know yet... But let me tell you the three things which I think got me through my under- and postgraduate studies successfully: 1. Have confidence in your own abilities. When you have a question in a presentation or lecture, you are probably not the only one with that question. And when you have a hard time understanding a paper that you would reasonably be expected to understand, it is more likely due to the authors failing to get their message across than to you being stupid. 2. Be curious. Go beyond the required reading: look up papers that sound interesting. Follow the news in your area and share interesting articles with your fellow students and professors. When you have a question about something, make sure you get the answer! 3. Do stuff outside academia. I have learned as much from being involved in committees, clubs and the like as from my academic studies. Doing extracurricular activities will not only look good on your CV, it will hopefully provide you with useful practical experience in organising, networking, and diplomacy, and it can serve as a place to blow off steam outside your studies. Also, do not forget to have fun once a while! Finally, please do not let your idealism be crushed by people who say you are being naive. I strongly believe that idealism and realism are not mutually exclusive, as long as you believe in yourself and in your own abilities. There have been numerous people making real changes, why wouldn’t you be one of them?”

"Action may not always bring happiness, but there is no happiness without action." (Benjamin Disraeli)

Celine van Golde

Position: VP Mentorship; Local Representative for Australia.

University of Sydney PhD student

Words of wisdom: The message I would like to put down here is: “take things as they come”. When doing my undergrad and masters, and again when I started my PhD, I had really specific expectations about what I was going to do and what my academic path was going to look like. However, I soon found out that an academic career (just like everything in life) rarely goes as you expect it to go. As long as you take things as they come and respond respectively you will succeed in whatever it is you want to do. There will be times you will hate the situation that you are in, but mostly you will love what you are doing. A key component is to always have a decent balance in your life. A lot of people forget to live, when they start something big like a PhD. However, actually having a life next to your “work” will benefit you in many ways, and make sure you keep on loving what you are doing. Most of all it will keep you grounded and remind you that the work that you do will actually make a change to someone someday.

"The pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity. The optimist sees the opportunity in every difficuly." (Winston Churchill)