McNair Summer Virtual Community &

Grad School Prep Program

Background

Effective time management has been associated with stronger academic performance as well as lower levels of stress and anxiety in students. However, many undergraduate students find it difficult to balance between their coursework, extra-curricular activities, and their interpersonal relationships. The lack of time mastery and productivity skills can translate to early struggles in graduate school. The philosophy of The Academic Society LLC is that mindset, time management, and productivity are the most essential tools for grad school success.

Learning Outcomes

The students will learn and implement a repeatable time management method for breaking down big goals into smaller, more manageable steps. The students will learn how to create realistic timelines and set up accountability measures to achieve their big goals.

Goal

The students will build out a digital grad school application roadmap in Trello to follow from the McNair Summer Research Program until they are accepted into a graduate program. Trello is a free, digital project management tool that helps to organize and keep track of big picture ideas as well as small details. Features of Trello include checklists, calendars, and progress reports.

Summer Community and Grad School Prep Series

May 28 2024 - July 5, 2024

The McNair Summer Virtual Community and Grad School Prep Program is hosted by Dr. Toyin Alli from The Academic Society LLC and designed for McNair students to learn three essential tools to prepare for success in grad school: mindset, time management, and productivity. The lessons will be delivered in 6-weekly videos with actionable steps for the students to complete each week. There will also be a Mighty Networks community just for the students in the program to connect with other McNair scholars across the country. All resources will be hosted on a website specifically for the program.

The McNair Summer Virtual Community and Grad School Prep Program includes the following:

Weekly video lessons

Topics will include reflection, goal setting, big dream mapping, time management, productivity and follow-through, accountability, weekly planning, wellness, and grad school preparation. The videos will be hosted on the website for the program as well as in the Facebook community to foster engagement and connection.

Week 1: Reflection

The students will answer reflective questions about their undergraduate experience so far to discover which courses and subjects they are most interested in learning more about. The goal of this lesson is to help the students narrow down what field they would like to study in grad school.

Week 2: Projections (Big Dream Mapping)

In this lesson, the students will learn a visualization technique to choose a possible career path and map out all of the necessary steps to go from undergraduate sophomore or junior to professional in the field of their choice. The students will then create a Trello board for their big dreams.

Week 3: Goal Setting (Building a Grad School List)

The students will research graduate programs in their field of interest and create three lists of schools they are interested in attending: dream schools, safety schools, and target schools. The students will then learn how to add these lists to their Trello board.

Week 4: Practical Time Management Tips (Making a List of Admission Requirements)

The students will learn the basic principles of time management and create a list of admission requirements for each school on their list. Then the students will break down the list of requirements into tasks and subtasks and create checklists in Trello.

Week 5: Creating a Plan

The students will learn to draw a visual roadmap or timeline for their big goal of applying to grad school. They will set a deadline to complete their big goal and set deadlines for smaller milestones and tasks.

Week 6: Productivity and Accountability (Schedule Deadlines in Trello)

The students will learn how to use their roadmap or timeline to set realistic goals and use the Calendar feature within Trello to schedule the start dates and deadlines they created in the previous week. The students will learn that the bridge between setting goals and actually following-through with those goals is accountability. The students will choose an accountability partner and learn about co-working sessions.

Weekly Q+A Sessions with Grad Students

Grad students from The Academic Society LLC’s community will host grad school question and answer sessions. Students will be able to submit questions before a live question and answer session and recordings will be made available on the program website and Facebook community for students who cannot attend live.

Live Workshops

The program includes 3 live workshops designed to help the students prepare for their grad school experience:

Mindfulness as a Self-Care Tool

Tuesday, June 11 at 6pm EDT

Lynn Curry, McNair Director and wellness coach will give a live workshop on how to manage stress and wellness as the students finish undergrad and apply for graduate school. Students will learn a very simple mindfulness technique that will strengthen their ability to focus and "become friends" with their thoughts. They will learn how to prioritize this simple habit and make it part of their foundation of well-being.

Set Yourself Up for Financial Success Workshop

Tuesday, June 18 and Thursday, June 20 at 6pm EDT

Dr. Emily Roberts of Personal Finance for PhDs will give a two-part live workshop for the McNair Scholars. In the workshop, she will cover: finding funding, moving expenses, budgeting, financial goals, and even taxes. Students leave with a list of concrete action steps to take and pitfalls to avoid when applying to graduate school. And since the workshop will be live, the students will be able to ask Dr. Emily all of their finance questions.

Mindset: How to navigate adversity and overcome any level of difficulty with intention and preparation

Tuesday, July 2 at 6pm EDT

Dr. Kendrick Savage, math professor and former McNair Scholar, will give a live workshop on moments of his own educational journey and the lessons/tools he learned along the way that have allowed him reach his goal of earning his PhD. Additionally, this workshop will encourage students to reflect on where they are now to make sure that what they want to achieve aligns with their daily actions.

How to Know What to Expect in Your First Semester of Grad School

Wednesday, July 3 at 6pm EDT

Dr. Toyin Alli will present a live workshop on how to know what to expect in the students’ first semester of grad school as well as how to avoid missteps that most new grad students make in their first semester.

Online Community and Website

All of the resources, videos, and content will be available on a custom website. Students will be encouraged to engage further by accessing additional resources, sharing progress, as well as building community inside a private virtual group on Mighty Networks.

Additional resources

Students will receive a coupon to enroll in The Academic Society LLC’s grad school survival course for free. This course is a digital course that teaches students all of the mindset, time management, and productivity skills necessary to succeed and excel in graduate school. The course is designed to give students an idea of what to expect in grad school and then to rewatch the lessons as they reach new milestones in grad school.

Total Price for Your Cohort: $5000

Deadline to Register your Students: Friday, May 24, 2024

Toyin Alli is a McNair Scholar who received her PhD in Mathematics from the University of Alabama. She is now a full time Lecturer at the University of Georgia. Toyin started The Academic Society LLC to help graduate students succeed in grad school through time management, productivity, and self-care. She reaches thousands of grad students through her digital programs, online social platforms, YouTube channel, and website.

Live Workshop Speakers

Dr. Emily Roberts is on a mission to inspire and empower early-career PhDs to make the most of their money. She engages with graduate students and postdocs through her Personal Finance for PhDs seminars, coaching, and websites, Personal Finance for PhDs and PhD Stipends. Dr. Roberts launched Personal Finance for PhDs shortly after her PhD defense in fall 2014.

Dr. Kendrick Savage, a native of Oxford, MS, is an award nominated mathematics and mathematics education professor at Georgia Gwinnett College, a poetry slam champion (college), and STEM advocate. His educational background includes a B.S. in mathematics, a M.S. in mathematics, a M.A in teaching, and a Ph.D. in mathematics education. He comes from a first-generation, low-income background. He has been motivating students for over 15 years. He knows all too well what it is like to not come from an educationally rich family and have to overcome multiple levels of adversity. He is the creator of Savage Motivation, LLC – an educational services business where he serves students in K-12, college, and graduate school. He is the author of A Few Steps In The Right Direction: Giving Yourself The Chance You Deserve.

Lynn Curry has been working with McNair scholars for over twenty years and is passionate about supporting students in well-being. She is creator and host of 365 Mindful Days Community, a peer-based learning community teaching Trio students how to prioritize their well-being so they can truly thrive.

She is a certified meditation teacher with the Open Heart Project and regularly presents on such topics at various national conferences, including the Council for Opportunity in Education and Institute on Teaching and Mentoring.