Grad school cannot be completed alone. We all need community, and our immediate cohort (the people that we entered the program with) are an excellent source of community on this journey. While it is true that we can have community with people outside of our institution (I strongly encourage this and have benefited from it) there is also something really unique and special about being in community with those who are in the same institution, taking the same kind of classes and settling into the same new place as you are! Your cohort is the group that will have the closest experience to your own (in terms of academic experience, at least) and it is worth investing in a community with them!
When I was preparing to start my first year of my PhD at WashU, one piece of advice that I received (shoutout to Tuma!) was to set up weekly time to hang out with my cohort outside of class. The essence of this advice was that it is important to get to know your cohort outside of class, and this has proven so true!
Thankfully, after we were all committed to WashU one of my cohort mates created a group chat for our cohort, and that has been a huge source of support. In that group chat we talked about apartment searching, classes we were considering, healthcare benefits and the whole shabang! It was really nice to have a space to ask questions and figure things out together— none of us were wading through the unknown waters of grad school alone.
I know cultivating community with your cohort (or in general) can be really tough, so here are some tips based on things I have done with my cohort to build community throughout my first year (and over the summer!):
- Create a Cohort group chat
- This is a great space for just your cohort to vent, ask questions and plan things!
- Try to hang out regularly on a weekly or biweekly basis
- My cohort and I would grab lunch after our Introduction to Grad Studies class on Fridays
- Have monthly or bimonthly fun events
- We watched the Matrix series together throughout the first semester, and the intimate setting of someone’s apartment helped us bond and connect
- Study with your cohort!
- Sometimes, I would work with members of my cohort together in the library or in the coffee room in the English department. There were times that we had really focused writing sessions, and other times it was more casual and we chatted a bit. Regardless of kind of session it is, it’s important to confirm that everyone is on the same page to get stuff done
- Check in with each other and see how everyone is really doing
- My cohort and I had occasional group zooms where we caught up and talked about how things were going. This was especially helpful before classes began in the fall (I was quarantining because I had COVID!) and during our first two weeks of classes in the spring semester when things were virtual
- This can also show up in the form of reaching out to individual members of the cohort that you haven’t’ seen in a while, or making an effort to connect with those who you notice are having a hard time
Cultivating a community with your cohort can be challenging at first; it requires hard work, but with intentionality and consistency, you can build a relationship that is really worth it! My cohort mates have provided support when I was feeling down, affirmation when I was battling imposter syndrome and advice when I was navigating essay topics. While support from afar is great (huge shoutout to my fiancé and close friends who supported me throughout my first year) there is something quite special about support just two feet away from you on a Thursday afternoon when you feel like giving up (thanks y’all).
I really love my cohort and I am so thankful for a relationship with them! I pray that you can cultivate a community with yours as well, and if that relationship is not possible (I understand not every cohort is healthy), I hope that you can at least find community with other people in your program/department. Supportive relationships on the ground are so worth it!
“Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor: If either of them falls down, one can help the other up. But pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up” Ecclesiastes 4:9-10 (NIV)
Writing Song: Elohim–Live by Hillsong Worship
WhollyRebecca 