The Hidden Dossier: Investigating the Unwritten Rules of the Academy for Master's Students

Hi everybody. Thanks so much for coming. So, as we arrive in the chat, I wanted you to um kind of take some time um to put your name um your program like where you are joining us from your favorite game to play. And it could be anything, a video game, a board game, a card game, puzzle, gaming app. I'm really partial to Uno, so I'll give everybody a moment to respond and then we'll get started in the next like two to three minutes. Okay, we've got Lauren. Nice to meet you. And I just mentioned and I love Sorry. I like the drag feature on Sorry, so that's one of my favorites. Um, Alex, I love the position of like getting a masters of science in toxicology and then being a Dungeons and Dragons fan. Like I feel like you're like a potions or a apoccary if I'm saying it right. Like if you play if that's your character, let me know if I'm right or wrong. Um hi Jennifer. Um we're you're from uh Toronto, Canada. Hello. And you like to play Delta Force? I haven't dived into that one. Okay. Um hi Spencer. Uh and your favorite game is Monopoly. Spencer, I we just met, but Monopoly is not my game. Like, if I could flip a table, I feel like it's just so long. But I like the It's really cool though. Like people that are committed to it. Have you ever finished a game of Monopoly? I'm intrigued to know. Um, Nik Nikia, did I say your name correctly? Please correct me. >> Nikita. >> Nikita, thank you so much. It's nice to meet you. Um, is it a Oh, okay. I'm learning some new games. I just now got into Maang, so I'm going to put that on my list. Okay. Is it a card game? Um, yes. It's it's a very interesting game. I just learned it over the summer, but it's it's hard to explain, but it it's kind of a collaborative game that you play in a group. Okay. Okay. I'm going to look into it. Okay. Thank y'all so much. Okay. Hi, Sam from Toronto. Toronto is representing. We got Katan. Okay. Classic. Um, Vadant, please correct me if I did not say your name correctly. Um, Need for Speed. I do love Need for Speed. My favorite one is Hot Pursuit with a Bugatti police car because I feel like that is just not likely to happen in real life. So, um, hey. Yeah, I hot pursuit is my favorite, too. The Bugatti part is my favorite. >> It's like so ridiculous. Like, who has a Bugatti cop car? Like, also, what are the taxes in that city for that to be a thing? Um, so >> I think the showcase Dubai at that time. Dubai has it. >> You know what? Facts. Nice to meet you. >> All right, Pine. Pine got Monopoly on the board. Pun intended. Uh Hassan um put down Sakiro Shadows die twice. Okay, I'm intrigued. I'm intrigued. Um Sydney, hey Sydney from Georgia. Um Rummy. Okay, I haven't played that. Oh, this is my friend Demon. Hey Don. Um, and is an amazing resource from UCCC, our career services. So, if you have not hollered, please tap the resource. Um, Red Dead Redemption 2. Yes, I love Red Dead Redemption 2. I still haven't beat it yet. Um, we got Dennis. Hey, Dennis from Costa Rica with Super Smash Bros. Um, hi Anthony. Oh, okay. Plating soccer. I'm intrigued. from Peru. Okay, thanks Spence for letting me know. I've always finished the Monopoly games. Okay, you got to give me tips. You got to give me tips. Um, we have Yoshan from China. Please let me know if I said your name correctly. Um, and Slay the Spire is the my best. Oh, okay. We got Victoria. Hi, Victoria. Uno. Yes, a love. Okay, well, thank y'all so much. It's a pleasure to meet everybody. So, I'm going to go ahead and get started. Um, just to let you know, this is being recorded. Um, so if you have any questions, comments, concerns, lows, loss, hopes, or dreams about that, um, feel free to enter them in the chat and we will do our best to address them. So, thank y'all so much for joining the hidden dossier, investigating the unwritten rules of the academy for master students at Michigan. Um, we're going to talk about how we can make graduate school um, more visible about the expectations and have that easier to identify, discuss, and navigate. And you're probably wondering, who am I? So, hello. My name is Vanessa Thompson. I use she her pronouns, and I am an academic program manager here at Rackom um, at the University of Ann Arbor. Um, I have been here two years officially, so it's very exciting. Um, and I'm excited to talk to you about the hidden curriculum, expectations, language, practices that may shape your graduate experience, even when no one has explained that to you directly. So, I'm going to give you the cheat codes and let you know all of that upfront. And because I do love video games, here's me in the virtual space. So, we're going to play a little game. Um, and it's like, yeah, it's a good game because if you've seen Saw, anytime someone says that, it's not a good game. But this one is a good one. Um, so we're going to play game connections based on the popular New York Times game. You are going to see um 16 words um in a 4x4 grid. And your task is to put the words in a common theme. You once you select all four, you're going to submit your guess. You're going to continue grouping the words until you reveal all four categories. When you finish, you're going to copy and paste your results in the chat. The game link will be in the chat right now with the instructions just in case you need them in text form and then I'm going to give you about um 5 to 7 minutes or so or once we have a good flow of what's going on. So, feel free to take your time and we'll get started in um at 10:17. All right. All right. So, we're going to go ahead and get started um with all the things. And so, thank y'all so much for participating. We will use each category to examine a different part of the hidden curriculum. But before we unpack that, let's define the hidden curriculum together. And so before I offer a definition, I want to see what this phrase hidden curriculum may mean to you. So feel free to type um in the chat or if you feel um courageous enough, feel free to unmute and share. Um just know that there isn't a perfect answer. We're just here to see what comes up for you. So, Alex said, "The hidden curriculum is valuable information that is not normally covered in general orientation or informative meetings." Um, Demit said, "Am conventions and standards that aren't explicitly taught but are expected to be known." U Lauren said, "The hidden and implicit rules um and expectations of higher institutions that people are assumed to have already know." Yeah, for sure. Um, Sydney said, "An unspoken set of expectations that people assume everyone knows." Yeah. Um, Abdu um Abdu Allah, please let me know if I said your name correctly. Um, the lack of transparent communication, internal politics that quietly shape decision-making. Um Spencer said it can be academic, social, and professional. Yeah. And we're going to tap into that. Um Vant said, "A cheat sheet to help us navigate the general curriculum better." Yeah. Yang said, "Rules people act and um accepted as standards but without formal acknowledgement and not spoken explicitly." Yeah, you all could basically do this whole thing for me. But um so thank y'all for sharing. So there's been tons of research that talks about the hidden curriculum. Um and then there's also research that talks about the hidden curriculum for specifically graduate students which I think is pretty cool. So according to Jeangier Mullen Collins and Doe this um the hidden curriculum are a set of unwritten rules, opaque expectations and unspoken norms of graduate education that are often puzzling even to those who have navigated the system successfully. So you all being graduate students, you've done this before, but now you're getting ready to do it again. Unlike the formal curriculum like syllabi, degree requirements, the hidden curriculum involves the quote unquote common sense knowledge about how to navigate academia ranging from professional etiquette and jargon to the strategic timing of milestones. Um, Yonhan, you had your hand raised. Okay, no worries. I'll keep going. So some of the key pillars of the hidden curriculum are um the black box effect. So many graduate school processes such as applying for grants, identifying mentors or understanding institutional hierarchy are seen as black boxes structures that shape a student's trajectory but remain unclear or inaccessible without prior social capital or knowledge. the ivory tower socialization. And this describes the transition from making sense of the unknown structures to attempting to live and learn within a culture that may feel at odds with the one's personal values or community background jarring just to positions. And this often experience a clash of worlds where the idealistic or individualistic um high pressure demands of the academy conflict with familiar roles and community responsibilities. And lastly, building capital and research. So navigating these hurdles requires graduate students to leverage their unique lived experiences to enrich their research while simultaneously laboring to build new networks and professional capital from scratch. So a lot of you already mentioned a lot of these things and so I'll feel free to add this in our resource document that you'll get at the end. Um so you'll have all these resources for you. So, if you played Connections, you know that there is a color scheme. Um, yellow is probably the easiest and it goes all the way to violet being the hardest. Um, and this also works really well because it fits into our University of Michigan color scheme. So, the first category that we will be talking about are financial maps and pathways. And this category is about understanding the language pathways and resources connecting to funding your graduate education or as I like to say securing your bag. So what I would like us to do is we're going to play a little bit of a waterfall. So I want you all to think of one word that describes how you feel about the financial aspects of your master's degree. I want you to type the word in the chat, but don't hit enter yet. Don't hit enter yet. I'm gonna say on the count of three and then we'll submit the submit it at the same time and create a waterfall of responses. So, I'm going give you a couple moments to think of a word or something along those lines. All right, on the count of three. One, two, 3. Oh no, they're all coming so fast. It is literally a waterfall. All right, we have unsure, uncertain, nervous, nervous, expensive, haunting. Yeah, confused, unstable, stressed, expensive. Yes, limited, uncertain. Yeah, these are all great words and all valid. So hopefully I'll be able to help you shed a little light into that. So master's degrees are often funded differently from doctoral degrees and the opportunities vary from program to program. So there are three terms that you'll probably encounter. Um fellowships, grants, and stipens. Fellowships generally provide support towards tuition and living costs. Grants pay for a specific research project, travel, or approved needs. And a stipen provides regular income while you complete your degree or perform an an eligible role. The words sometimes are used and differently across units or sometimes interchangeably. So always read the specific eligibility rules and ask what a funding package does and does not cover. So here are some examples within our rackom ecosystem that we have. Um we have rack merit fellowships or RMF connections and that week is August 17th through the 22nd and is a commu community building program an orientation for newly admitted masters and doctoral students who are recipients of that specific fellowship. Um so if you have received that fellowship I'll be sure to connect with you later on um in August for sure. Then we have the RACKOM graduate student research grant. Um, and this is designed to support RACKOM graduate students who need assistance carrying out specific research that advances their progress toward their degree. And it could be anything pertaining to their research project. And then we have graduate student assistants, um, instructors or research assistants. Um, these are coveted positions um, and sometimes connected to doctoral students. However, there are some opportunities within certain departments that are open to having master students in these roles. So, it's always helpful to ask um and to figure that out, right? A Rackom resource that will be helpful for you is finance and fellowships. And they did a workshop um yesterday that talked about how to finance and support financially your um master's degree. And it's an important starting point for learning about graduate funding. So we have a lot of resources um and for financial assistance and guidance for educational and living expenses but the details depending on your degree program eligibility the purpose of the request etc etc. So, I would definitely review the official information first, but if you do have any questions or concerns about that or want to get more information about funding, I would definitely recommend that you email um finance and fellowships and I will put their email in the chat. And then I would also recommend that you reach out to your program's funding contact within your um school. All right, finance is already done. It's the easiest yet the hardest all at the same time. So our next category is virtual drum roll please. The spoken code. So this is the verbal rules and shared language people use to signal that they understand the environment, their study, things of that nature. So every environment and field develops vocabulary that makes communication more efficient for insiders. Um, the University of Michigan and Rackom are no different. Jargon includes the technical words used in your field, department, or institution. And jargon is not automatically bad, but it becomes a barrier when people use it without defining it or assume that everyone already knows what it means. So, we're going to play a game. We're going to see what those Michigan jargon terms are. So, um, the first one is the grad. So, what would be the grad if you know? And feel free to enter in the chat or feel free to unmute. Spencer, no idea. Oh, okay. Rockcom graduate school. People who have graduated. Yes. I love the fearless tries. I love it. I really don't know the university in general. Save space. Yes, it is the Harlon Hatcher Graduate Library. Yes, you as a Michigan graduate student have an exclusive library that is all for you. Um, and so people will say the grad, I'm heading to the grad. Um, and they typically mean the graduate library. So, thanks. All right. Big blues. So, when you think of big blues, I think of eyes, but I'm pretty sure that's not what this is. Ah, the football team. Yes. Yep. Those That's a solid guess. Anthony Dennis, solid guess. Go Blue. Sports team hockey. Okay. love that it is actually a common name for the buses and the bus system. So, um they if you've been on campus, if you um have the opportunity, you will see these big blue buses um and they're that Michigan blue and they're basically free to for you with a M card, but you'll be able to go around campus going from central campus to North Campus to the medical campus. So, yeah, if you've heard that before. All right, I feel like we can get this one. Football Saturdays. What are football Saturdays? Game day. Yes, but it's a special type of day. Um, I wouldn't even put this as football Fridays. um we say in Rackom, but this is basically the home game, but that changes the climate of campus. So, this changes traffic, parking, transit, and the overall rhythm. And this is not just the actual game, but this is a little bit of time before as people like to tailgate and three and a half hours after the game. And if we win, it might be, you know, several days. So, it just depends. Um, but definitely if you have the opportunity to go to a game, please go to a game. It's definitely an experience. And lastly, the big house. I think we have an idea. Way to go, Sarth. Yes, that is our football stadium. So, um, so yeah, thanks so much for participating. Ah, Rackle. Way to go, Sydney. Oh, the third largest stadium. Okay, Spencer with the facts. I am not mad at it. Um, so hopefully um the this point is not to me memorize the trivia, but it's a notice to that local vocabulary often carries particular information about how to move through campus and the community. So, thanks for playing. So, then we also have scripts and acronyms. So, scripts are the standard ways people ask a professor for help, request feedback, follow up after a meeting, and raise a concern. Acronyms such as DSI, GSR are common shorthand, but if you don't know a term, always ask. And a useful script would be, I want to make sure I understand. Could you define that acronym and explain how it applies in this context? Asking for clarity is a graduate level skill and not um not evidence that you don't belong. So, always ask. And then we also have a pitch. A pitch is a short audienceawaware way to describe your work to someone outside your field. Over time, practice explains what you study, what why it matters, and what questions or problems you are addressing without relying on specialized knowledge. For example, I have a master's in technical and professional communication. The technical way would be that I create documents, social media, or anything like that where I communicate out to the audience. Um, another way to say was that I can do anything from social media to speaking engineer. Um, but just making sure I connected to the masses. You may use this skill in networking, interviews, interdisciplinary teams, funding applications, conversations with family and community members. You may not know the wording yet, and that is okay. It develops with practice and time. So, learning that spoken code can help you communicate clearly with faculty, staff, and peers. The goal is not to erase your own voice or imitate someone else's. It's to understand the available language well enough to make informed choices about when to use it, when to translate it, and when to ask that it be explained. And a great Rackom resource if you have any questions about that would be G-Specs or the graduate student and program consultation services. um they are an amazing resource that if you have any questions, comments, concerns, loves, loss, hopes or dreams about the um system or reaching out to your faculty or anything like that um they are a great resource to help demystify things that might be confusing, difficult or hard to name. All right, so we are halfway done. So we talked about finances, we talked about the spoken code, and category three would be the nonverbal or the silent code. And these are non-verbal rules communicated through norms, etiquette, protocol, and expectations. The silent code is not only about what you say, it's about how, when, and through which channels you act. Norms are common behaviors people follow in classrooms, labs, or studios, and teams. And these are the things that we notice really prevalently in the hidden curriculum when everybody seems to know where to go. You have etiquette which is the professional and I use air quotes manner expected in the department. Protocol is that formal or informal chain of communication used to solve problems and expectations are the goals instructors and supervisors may have for your performance even when those goals are not clearly and explicitly stated. The safest approach is not to guess forever. Absorb those observe those patterns. Ask direct questions and request examples. You might ask, "What does strong participation look like in this course?" Or, "If a concern arises, what is the usual first step in this program?" So, you might be saying, "What are some examples of the silent coal as a master student?" I'm glad you asked rhetorically. So, I got some examples for you. So here are some things that we would navigate as a master student here. Um some norms would be first the active and high engagement dialogue sitting quietly in the back and absorbing information is what we perceive to be undergrad behavior and we are graduate students at the University of Michigan. So the norm in a rackom seminar workshop lab is active participation and you get to define what active means whether that's commenting in the chat unmuting yourself or anything like that. You are expected in especially in coursework to challenge ideas and ask insightful questions and most importantly drive the discussion. The digital pulse is another norm. It expects heavy reliance on Slack, Canvas, Zoom, and University of Michigan email, especially if you are a um remote or virtual student. Um checking these platforms at least once or twice a day is that is the standard for keeping up with lab updates, classroom shifts, and especially what's going on in the global um campus as a whole. When we're talking about etiquette, there is the professor default here. Um, always address faculty, staff, especially if they have um, PhDs and if you know or doctorates or anything like that. Um, professor last name or doctor last name in person and over email. Many University of Michigan faculty and staff are pretty easygoing and so they will eventually say, "Please call me Vanessa." Um, but always let them make that invite. Um, you have email responsiveness and closeness. Um, write emails that are concise and actionable. So there should be some type of movement with their emails. Um you want to acknowledge faculty emails within 24 to 48 hours. Um that's just that that unofficial standard even if it's just to say received thank you. I'll look into this and get back to you on Thursday. um with protocol. If you experience an issue, whether it's a grading dispute, conflict with a lab partner, or misunderstanding about degree requirements, um you want to make sure that you um pay attention to the University of Michigan's protocol. Skipping steps and going straight to the top, or as I like to say, go straight to the manager, um will result, um and you politely being asked to go back to the first step. Um, so this is definitely a monopoly, like go back to start. Um, and you got to go make it all the way around before you collect your $200. Then you also have the direct source. So discuss issues privately with the course instructor, lab PI, and your faculty advisor. If there's um any reason why that that is a barrier for you, going to the graduate um G-specs or reaching out to um other peers and things like that can be helpful in navigating that. And lastly for expectations, we're going from consumer to producer. Um, in undergrad, the goal was to memorize and repeat knowledge. Now, you are expected to critique and generate knowledge. They want to see you question the methodology of a case study, not just summarize its conclusion. This includes being proactive to solve a problem. Your instructors want to see that you can not only provide problems that come up, but also possible solutions to solve them. Alrighty, we're going through this really fast and I want to make sure and be respectful of time. So, our last category is wellness. Your health and well-being are not separate from your graduate education. And all the things that you saw talked about when you're feeling about finances could also impact your health as well. Um they learn um they can affect your ability to learn, work, connect, and persist. And your health is a priority here. Wellness includes your physical health, mental health, emotional well-being, and sense of peace. Where identity affects how you navigate campus, your program, relationships, and access to opportunity. These dimensions are connected in the same environment that may feel supportive for one person can feel isolating and safe for another because people encounter this institution um from different social locations, life experiences, etc. So, I want to ask you all and feel free to share in the chat. How do you think your mental health, physical health, and identity may affect your pursuit to graduate education? You do not have to disclose anything that you are working with and navigating through personally. Um, but just talk about how this could possibly impact you. Yang said, "If I feel supported and connected to others, I'll be more productive in achieving my academic goals instead of feeling lonely and worrying about fitting in." Absolutely. Um Spencer said it may impact the path taken, ability for success and overall experience in the program. For sure. Um Hager said um and please let me know if I said your name incorrectly. If you're not taking care of yourself and maintaining a healthy, positive mindset, you're more likely to feel worse in class and not participate or challenge yourself to grow. Absolutely. Thank y'all for sharing. Absolutely. It makes it really hard. Um, Alex said, "Physical health can determine the ability to participate actively in courses. Mental health can affect your um can affect engagement. Um, and motivation and identity helps determine what path you choose to take." Way to go, Alex. That was very succinct. I love it. Ran said, "I think it could help me understand better and get a high GPA." Absolutely. Anthony said, "I think mental health is crucial over to overcome my next exciting challenges at University of Michigan." All right, let's go. We can do this. Um, Nikita said, "Making sure I take care of my mental health and physical health while will help make grad school experience more enjoyable and rewarding." Yes, thank you'all for sharing. So um we are going to talk a little bit also about equity and balance. So equity means having access to the specific resources you need to thrive. Um I use myself as an example. Um I have green glasses on. Um and they're an easy example. They don't give me an unfair advantage. They give me access to information that otherwise will be very difficult to see, especially when I am playing um Disney Dreamlight Valley or Need for Speed Hot Pursuit. um but also grad classes as well. Um balance is the ongoing practice of managing academic work alongside the rest of your life. Balance does not always mean equal for everything. Um it means noticing what you need, making intentional choices, and seeking support before strain becomes a crisis whenever possible. The beautiful thing about the University of Michigan is that they recognize that wellness is not a one-sizefits-all. And thriving may require mental health care, physical health care, food security, disability accommodations, financial support, and community. And here's a list of some amazing resources, but I'm not going to go through all of those resources because there's a rack resource. And tomorrow we'll be talking about the whole graduate student. And this will be an interactive workshop that invites graduate students to examine how their personal journeys and professional roles influence their academic well-being. Participants connect with um peers, share strategies to build um to for building supportive networks and considering ways to prevent burnout and practice advocating for themselves in departments and research spaces. So, I look forward to hopefully seeing you all tomorrow where we talk about that in more detail. And then we have another Rackom resource that I have had the pleasure of working on for a year with Kelly Dow in um our Rackom space. Um it is the research leadership in global context. It is a free professional certificate program for about 8 weeks that prepares graduate students um and post-doal ma um students and scholars master students to lead research with clarity, confidence and cultural awareness. The program brings together leadership development, intercultural understanding, project management, ethical research practices for people working in global interdicciplinary and collaborative environments. It literally has it all. So, we're looking forward to you all and hopefully you'll be able to um come and to our information session and our event manager just put a link for it right there. And also um we have also some other resources. So, grad school 101 is also holding a session with counseling services on August 14th and if you would like to get some more information for that, you can go check that out. Thank you, Paul, for putting that in the chat. So, before we go, because we're wrapping up, I want to make sure that you take an opportunity to um fill out the link in the survey. Um we want to make sure that these are beneficial to you and even better. Um oh, Rowan asked, "Where can I find the recording?" We will put that up um in our uh Canvas site as well as some other resources. So, we'll be able to do that and get that for you for sure. And then there we go. And so, I will put the survey in the chat for you all. I think that's the right one. It might not be. Here's the right one. there. We go ahead and go ahead and click that and um I'll be able to continue to conclude while you all take some moments to tell us how we did. So, um you'll also have access to the grad school 101 throughout your time at the University of Michigan. It does not expire, which is always great. Um, so if you do have any questions or concerns or anything like that, you can feel free to um go there as a resource for you because it'll be great to have. And then we also will put in since you all have been amazing participants, I have the resource document for you here. Yes. And then you can also have the game for connections and you can share this with um your friends and see where they um see how they did and make sure that you have a higher score. So if you want to connect with um Rackom or have any questions, feel free to email us at rackom-professional@youish.edu. If you want to reach out to me um you can email me at vp t h o m ps@youish. Um, and I look forward to connecting with you all and hopefully seeing you all tomorrow. So, thank y'all and I'll stay a little bit if anyone has any questions or concerns.