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Karla Davisio was born and raised in Boston, Massachusetts, and graduated from Brown University with a degree in economics. Karla became interested in personal finance at a very young age. She worked at an investment fund for a brief period of time in Chicago, Illinois, a personal finance and lifestyle website dedicated to helping its readers better manage their finances. The topics covered include saving more money, investing for retirement, starting an emergency fund, and reducing credit card debt. Publishing is now her full-time career, which she enjoys because of the empowerment and value it provides for people in their everyday lives.

If you’re thinking of pursuing a PhD or Masters in Chemistry there are a few things you should know as you prepare. Finishing a degree is not easy and if you’re not sure what you’re getting yourself into you might find yourself in a pretty difficult position. This article is designed to help you prepare for, and succeed in, a chemistry graduate program.

DO: Pick the Right School
Before you commit to any school make sure that you know what will be expected of you. Graduate degrees in chemistry are very different from undergraduate degrees. Finishing a list of classes with a passing grade isn’t enough to earn you a degree. You’ll need to develop your research and writing skills to the point that a committee is convinced you deserve a degree. You can ask help in paper writing services to getting help with writing and save time to improving your skills. Make sure you know what the requirements are for graduation before you begin. You should also make sure that the school you’re considering has several good professors that you’d be happy working for.

DO: Pick the Right PI
Once you begin your graduate career you’ll need to pick a principal investigator (PI) to work for. Your PI is your research advisor. He or she will be the person you report to. You’ll work in their lab and they’ll help you find a project that works best for you. Each PI approaches this relationship differently. Some are very involved while others may leave you alone with your work. There is no right answer to the question “What type of PI should I choose?”. The right PI is the person that will push you to be your best based on your personality.

DON’T: Neglect Your Lab Book
From your first day at graduate school you should be writing in a lab book. You should document everything you do. There are important legal reasons to do this (you may need to prove ownership of intellectual property) but the need for a lab book goes much deeper than that. A lab book is how you keep track of what you’re doing. You should write a lab book so that someone following after you could recreate everything you’ve done. This way if you forget a detail (which you will) you can look back and see what you’ve done.