What are your interests in obtaining a graduate degree? You probably wrote a statement of purpose when you applied for your program and perhaps you answered this question on that occasion. Perhaps you are still uncertain about whether you belong in graduate school. If you are still debating with yourself, you might find helpful this site (developed by the Oregon Graduate Institute's Dept. of Computer Science and Engineering).
What are my goals now that I am a graduate student or postdoctoral fellow? The fact is many of us continue to need guidance with this question even after completing several graduate school terms. For assistance in identifying and articulating your career objectives, as well as the steps needed to achieve them, you may wish to write your own Individual Development Plan (this form developed by the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology).
Whether our goals are to become researchers or teachers or more marketable and higher paid employees--or all of the above--there are six objectives clearly in our interests as grad students. We will discuss them in the following modules: