Our award-winning Graduate Pathways to Success program is a palette of non-credit workshops, seminars and other activities designed to complement your graduate program's academic curriculum and mentorship experience.
Our offerings cover a wide range of personal and professional development topics to support you throughout your time in graduate school and to allow you to develop some of the skills and competencies needed to thrive as professionals and to make meaningful contributions to society. As you move forward in your studies and on into your career, it will be important for you to develop competencies for:
- Graduate School Success: Skills in academic writing and applying for funding, for example, help you to complete your program successfully and graduate in a timely fashion.
- Self Management: The ability to manage stress and time are among the many needed to help you achieve balance in life and effectiveness in educational and work environments.
- Professional Effectiveness: Success as a professional, whether in academia or outside, requires a range of skills and knowledge related to areas such as communication, management, interaction with people, and ethical conduct.
- Career Building: A proactive approach to career preparation involves investigating options, developing competencies, and learning how to present yourself for career opportunities.
- Leadership: As professionals, you will likely be (or already are being) called upon to lead others. Acquiring leadership skills and learning from accomplished leaders will contribute towards your success as a constructive leader.
Integral to all the above areas is development in critical thinking, creativity, integrity, and a recognition of our global and societal responsibility.
We invite you to participate in our workshops and events, and to use The Graduate Game Plan, the Guides and the Graduate Pathways to Success Resources.
Graduate Pathways to Success Workshops and Events
Each year we plan and organize programming designed to strengthen skills and competencies that can support your development throughout graduate school and in your professional and personal life. These generally align with the GPS development areas: Graduate School Success, Self-Management, Professional Effectiveness, Career Building, and Leadership.
Check this calendar of workshops and events (by choosing "Graduate Pathways to Success" as provider) for upcoming sessions.
Below's year-at-a-glance shows the sessions we regularly offer, loosely arranged by thematic series, and presented with the time of year they generally occur. This is not an inclusive list and each year we complement our offerings with unique events. Session titles also change from year-to-year.
Recordings and materials for most of our past sessions are available here. We welcome suggestions for new sessions.
| Session TOPIC | Frequency | Timing |
|---|---|---|
| Career Options/ Exploration | Once a year | Fall |
| Finding and Applying for a Job | Once a year | Fall |
| Resumes and Cover Letters | Once a year | Fall |
| Interviewing | Once a year | Winter |
| Academic CV | Once a year | Winter |
| Negotiating | Once a year | Winter |
| Panels on various career topics | Throughout the year | |
| Leveraging your Strengths for Success | Twice a year | Fall and Winter |
| Session TOPIC | Frequency | Timing |
|---|---|---|
| Preparing Excellent Fellowship Applications | Once a Year | Late Spring/ Summer |
| Applying for Scholarships: Doctoral programs | Once a Year | Summer |
| Applying for Scholarships: Master’s programs | Once a Year | Fall |
| Building Effective Supervisory Relationships | Twice a Year | Fall and Spring |
| Submitting your Thesis | Twice a year | Fall and Winter |
| Copyright and academic work | Twice to three times a year | Fall, Winter and Spring |
| Doctoral Exams and Defence Procedures | Multiple times a year | All year |
| Managing / Designing your Grad School Strategy | Twice a year | Fall and Spring |
| Session TOPIC | Frequency | Timing |
|---|---|---|
| Self-care Strategies for Managing Stress and Avoiding Burnout | Twice a year | Fall and Spring |
| Assertiveness | Once a year | Spring |
| Resilience and Anxiety | Once a year | Fall |
| Imposter Phenomenon | Twice a year | Fall and Spring |
| Perfectionism | Once or twice a year | Fall, Winter or Spring |
| Procrastination | Once or twice a year | Fall, Winter or Spring |
| Session TOPIC | Frequency | Timing |
|---|---|---|
| Putting it into Words: The Why's and How's of honing the key messages of your research | Once a year | Winter |
| From the editor's desk: Ins and outs of Publishing research | Once a year | Winter |
| Habits of academic writers | Once a year | Winter |
| Session TOPIC | Frequency | Timing |
|---|---|---|
| Exploratory Data Analysis | Once a Year | Fall |
| Study Design and Data Collection Essentials | Once a Year | Fall |
| Two group comparisons and ANOVA | Once a Year | Winter |
| Correlation and Linear Regression | Once a Year | Winter |
| Intro to Mixed Effects Models | Once a Year | Winter |
*Fall: September – December, Winter: January – March, Spring: April – June, Summer: July - August
We would like to acknowledge the presenters from many of our campus partners that help to provide these sessions, including G+PS, the UBC Library, the Centre for Student Involvement and Careers, the Applied Statistics and Data Science Group, Health Promotion and Education, and others.
The Graduate Game Plan
The Graduate Game Plan provides advice and guidance for graduate students at all stages of their graduate careers. We encourage all graduate students to read and follow the suggestions provided, whether you have just arrived at UBC, or are well into your program. Don't get lost in your graduate journey, just follow the steps to cross the finish line successfully!
For additional professional development events, services, and resources available to you at UBC, visit the Professional Development page.