Tips for Success

The Graduate School offers these suggestions to assist you in having a successful career at Binghamton.

• Give careful consideration to your choice of advisor, since this individual will be making important decisions about the acceptability of your proposed research and the quality of your work. Talk to other graduate students about choosing or changing advisors.
• Meet with your advisor at least a couple times per semester. Prepare an agenda- tell your advisor about your progress, ask for feedback, discuss your career aspirations, and so forth.
• Get to know your department's graduate director; this will probably be the person most familiar with deadlines, forms, policies, protocol, and administrative procedures.
• Pay attention to deadlines. Failure to meet deadlines can cost you time, money, or both.
• Read your program's bulletin boards for notices from the graduate director, the Graduate School, and other administrative offices on campus. If you do not understand how something might affect you, ask.
• Check with your department about its specific requirements for satisfactory progress. Graduate programs often have requirements that are more demanding than the minimum requirements monitored by the Graduate School. Individual department satisfactory progress criteria are usually printed in the department's student handbook.
• Use your Binghamton email account. Your Binghamton account is your official university account, and departments, university offices, and faculty will send essential information by email. If you have another preferred account, visit http://busi.binghamton.edu and arrange to forward your BU account to your preferred account. You will be responsible for all email sent to your Binghamton account.