Mentorship, Mistakes, and Mastery: Succeeding in Graduate School

Are you considering grad school or currently on the graduate education journey? The latest episode of “Victors in Grad School” offers a wealth of insightful advice, candid reflections, and actionable tips for students at every stage of their academic careers. Hosted by Dr. Christopher Lewis, Director of Graduate Programs at University of Michigan-Flint, this episode features guest Lucas Langdon, Assistant Dean of Students at the University of Michigan - Flint and a current PhD candidate.

Personal Journeys: Decisions and Mentorship The conversation begins with Lucas Langdon sharing his unique path from undergraduate studies to a thriving career in student affairs and eventually to graduate studies. He emphasizes the importance of mentorship and how key advisors helped him realize his passions could turn into a profession. For first-generation students, like Lucas, pursuing graduate studies can be daunting; strong mentors and professional opportunities, such as temporary staff roles after graduation, can be transformational.

Choosing the Right Program One theme that resonates throughout the episode is the process of selecting a graduate program. Lucas Langdon recalls nearly rushing into a decision due to deadlines but ultimately taking the time to research top programs, visit campuses, and evaluate the fit. The lesson: don’t let urgency override intention. Prospective students are encouraged to engage deeply with programs, faculty, and campus environments before making their choice.

Finding Financial and Professional Support The episode also highlights the value of graduate assistantships. Both Langdon and Dr. Christopher Lewis discuss how assistantships—whether in student affairs or other fields—provide not only crucial financial support but also practical experience relevant to students’ future careers. Listeners are advised to inquire early about assistantship opportunities, scholarships, and tuition benefits—sometimes available through employers.

Balancing Life and Studies Graduate school often means balancing academic, professional, and personal responsibilities. Lucas Langdon provides honest advice about managing these demands, sharing his own experiences juggling full-time work and doctoral studies. He underscores the necessity of creating boundaries, finding peer support, and maintaining perseverance—even when motivation wavers.

Building Networks and Planning Ahead Finally, listeners learn that faculty and cohort peers become an invaluable professional network. Lucas Langdon advises students to nurture these relationships and focus papers and projects on topics of personal passion, laying the groundwork for future research.

Ready for more inspiring and practical grad school insights? Tune into “Victors in Grad School” for expert advice and personal stories that can help you confidently chart your own path to graduate school success.

TRANSCRIPT

Dr. Christopher Lewis [00:00:01]:
Welcome to Victors in Grad School, where we have conversations with students, alumni, and. experts about what it takes to find success in graduate school.

Dr. Christopher Lewis [00:00:11]:
Welcome back to Victors in Grad School. I'm your host, Dr. Christopher Lewis, Director of Graduate programs at the University of Michigan, Flint. Really excited to have you back again this week. You know, every week I love being able to sit down, talk to you, to work with you as you're going through this journey that you're going on, this graduate school journey. And no matter where you are in this journey, there are things that you can do right now, right now, while you're sitting there listening, that can help you to be better prepared and better successful in this graduate school journey that you're on. You could just be starting to look and thinking about graduate school. You might have applied, you might have gotten accepted.

Dr. Christopher Lewis [00:00:52]:
Maybe you're in graduate school. There are things, no matter where you are in this continuum, that you can learn from others that have gone before you that will help you to be successful in this, this journey. And that's why this podcast exists every week. I love being able to bring you different people with different experiences that can share those experiences with you to help you to learn, to grow, and to be able to get some new tools for your toolbox to help you find success sooner. Today we got another great guest, Lucas Langdon, who's with us. And Lucas is the assistant Dean of students at the University of Michigan, Flint. And Lucas has his own journey of going to graduate school, and he's currently a graduate student right now. So we're gonna be talking to him about this experience and this journey that he went on himself.

Dr. Christopher Lewis [00:01:45]:
And I'm really excited to have him here. Lucas, thanks so much.

Lucas Langdon [00:01:47]:
Thanks for having me, Chris.

Dr. Christopher Lewis [00:01:50]:
You know, I'm really excited to have you here today. And I know, I love starting these conversations, really making you go back in time, because I know that you did your undergraduate work at Eastern Michigan University. You did your Bachelor of Science in English Liter and Language and also Communication and Theater Arts. And then there was some point in time where you made a decision. You made a decision that you were going to continue on. And what I would love for you to do is to take me back in time. Take me back to that moment, that point in time where you said to yourself, I'm not done. I want to continue, and I want to move forward and get that graduate degree.

Lucas Langdon [00:02:32]:
So, as you know, my career has been in student affairs, and that started as a student who was very involved. I did something that would be unthinkable today. I delayed my undergraduate graduation by a year because I was involved in so many sort of outside of the classroom experiences that I wasn't ready to give up on. And so I kind of deferred that and during that year of deferment, really struggled with what am I going to do with my life? One of my mentors sort of made the obvious connection for me. You can continue to do the kinds of things that you're really passionate about here as a professional. And so, as luck would have it, there was a temporary staff opening at Eastern about the time I was graduating. And so I was able to jump into a staff role for that first year while I was figuring out what grad school looks like and had the ability to have those mentors who were supervising me there walk me through because I was a first gen student. So the idea of college was challenging, but the idea of graduate school was completely unheard of in my family.

Lucas Langdon [00:03:32]:
So having those mentors kind of talk me through, what does a grad school search look like? What are the important things to think about and sort of save me from a couple of maybe hate hasty decisions I could have made there. And then as that first temporary position was coming to an end, another one opened up, and that one sort of filled my time until I started graduate school the next fall at Florida State University.

Dr. Christopher Lewis [00:03:57]:
So, as you just said, you decided to attend Florida State University, and it sounds like you did your due diligence in trying to look at different options and look at different schools and try to decide for yourself what was the best fit for you. Talk to me about that process, what you did to go through that. You mentioned avoiding some mistakes. So maybe talk about some of those possible mistakes you may have made and what made you finally ultimately choose that Florida State was the best.

Lucas Langdon [00:04:27]:
So what I was really alluding to with the mistakes is I almost rushed my search. And what I mean by that is I decided a little late in the cycle of things at that time with application deadlines, that I was going to go on this graduate school journey, as you put it. And almost every school's deadline had passed. All of the ones that my mentors were recommending as good student affairs graduate programs had passed, with the exception of one, which I won't name. But I didn't end up going there. I'm sure they're fine, but I had hastily decided, oh, I'll just apply to this, the only one I can apply to, having never been to campus to see it or really know anything about it. And So I sort of wisened up and decided, okay, no, I'm going to wait. This employment opportunity with the 10 position luckily came up.

Lucas Langdon [00:05:07]:
That afforded me the ability to do that, to wait a little bit longer and do a graduate school. The search the right way and what the right way looked like for me in my field of higher education, student affairs, was really doing some research into what are the top programs in my field, setting up some visits with them and at the time was willing to travel across the country and start over somewhere else for a little, for two years for graduate school. And so I convinced one of my buddies to do a road trip with me and I did back to back visits at Florida State University of Florida, University of South Carolina. And I think there might have been one more in there and at the time had pretty, pretty high rankings in my graduate program that I was interested in. So I went. I probably made some naive cosmetic assumptions about the schools that now having been in the field for a long time, I maybe wouldn't care so much about. But what it came down to is how I felt when I was there. And the reason that Florida State sort of won that, not that it was a competition, but won the competition for me, what a prize was that when I got there, they made sure that there were folks from the program to talk to me.

Lucas Langdon [00:06:10]:
They showed me around. It already felt like they were treating me like a human being and not a number. They did have a really good reputation at the time. I think they, they might have been the number one or number two student affairs program in the country at that time. And they were extremely welcoming of me. Now what? The other piece I didn't know that I wish I had was about what graduate assistantships were all about. And this might be buried in your question somewhere, but so I didn't initially know that that was a thing you have to plan for and apply for in advance and all that. So when I went to, I forget if it was a visit day or if it was like an orientation.

Lucas Langdon [00:06:42]:
There just happened to be a vacancy in one. And so somebody had got a different role and moved on or something. And I, I got the assistantship and that paid for my room and board, my tuition, working for housing, not in a live in position the first year, but that was huge financially for me to be able to take a graduate assistantship which I knew nothing about, but to take this job that they told me would pay for all of this stuff and give me practical experience while I was doing the academic side of the program.

Dr. Christopher Lewis [00:07:12]:
And one thing I'll. I'll mention to you that that are listening about graduate assistantships is that not every program requires an assist assistantship. Sometimes they do. So like the program that Lucas is talking about. His program required that students had assistantships, and that's a part of the program. But there are other programs that that's not the case. There may be ones that are available that you can apply for, but you need to do your research into that. Some assistantships can be full time, some assistantships can be part time, and the benefits can vary vastly based on campus and what you're doing.

Dr. Christopher Lewis [00:07:53]:
So you do have to do that research to be able to look into that, to make sure you understand what it is, what you have to do to apply and what you have to do to be considered. But don't automatically assume that an assistantship is going to be waiting for you, because at the campus that you choose to go to, there may not be assistantships, but there may be scholarships or other opportunities too. So you think you choose to.

Lucas Langdon [00:08:13]:
And those are the right questions to ask Chris, that I didn't know to ask, which is, are they the same timeline for application for both of them? Are they different timelines is like you said, is it? Everybody gets one if you get into the program. And as the market for graduate students in student affairs has shifted, some of those requirements have shifted. So at Florida State at the time, you weren't going to be probably a graduate assistant in a student affairs office if you weren't in the program for student affairs. But I know a lot of schools now, they need graduate students, and so they're a little less picky about which field you're studying while you're there. If you have the time to commit to the work of the assistantship, you might still be able to pull that off even if you're not going into higher education, which opens up a lot more opportunities for folks who might otherwise basically be looking at is there a teaching assistant job or a research assistant job? And that's really all that you used to be able to pick from. But now there's all kinds of offices. As the field of higher education manages financial difficulties for lots of reasons, the number of professional staff going down in some cases means they might be more willing to take on more graduate assistants do the work. So I would encourage anyone, if your life will fit a graduate assistantship role financially and experientially.

Dr. Christopher Lewis [00:09:26]:
It's really a great opportunity now as any student moves into a graduate program. Actually, no, I want to ask another question first. Now, I also mentioned you're a current graduate student now, and I know that after a number of years of working, you decided to continue your education and you decided to work work on a PhD and you're working on that right now. So same question. Talk to me about that point in time. What made you decide that you wanted to take that step at that point in your career to go back to school after working for a While on a PhD and you, you ended up choosing to attend Eastern Michigan University? Same question. Why did you decide to attend Eastern University?

Lucas Langdon [00:10:08]:
My PhD question has a lot to do with sort of the ceiling for advancement in my career. And so I've been in this program now for over 10 years. Like I'm going to have to file an extension to be able to graduate for a couple of reasons that sort of, you know, Covid and some things sort of delayed that. But I had mentors telling me, you got to get the PhD. You're working at a university that will pay for. I was working at Eastern as at the time, as a director of campus Life. So Eastern would pay the tuition part of the bill for that, which amounted to, I don't know, 20, $25,000 worth of an education that I didn't have to pay for doesn't mean it was free. I had to pay all kinds of fees that I'm not working there.

Lucas Langdon [00:10:45]:
I obviously pay for the credits, but it was a huge chunk of financial burden that I didn't have because I worked there. So if you can get a job at the place where you want to study, that's often a tuition benefit comes along with that. So at the time, I didn't know exactly what I wanted to do next, but I knew it would be a step up, hopefully in my career. And I was looking at vice presidents, student affairs jobs, or sociovi presidents, or in this case, assistant in a student's jobs. And I knew that to be competitive in the field, I was going to need to have that credential under my belt to be operating at a higher level of leadership at a higher education institution. The credential is important, especially on the academic side, to be able to be considered a colleague by academic peers, being able to say, yes, I've gone through the same academic, can we call it academic hazing that you've gone through. I've earned this. I know my stuff.

Lucas Langdon [00:11:32]:
So all of those things, would I do it again? I don't know. It depends on what day you ask me and what part of the stress of the PhD program I'm in. But I had all of those mentors and sort of the career path telling me, you probably need to do this, so you might as well start now. And I'll also add that when I worked for five years at an institution in Kentucky, that they didn't have a PhD program, but they had an MBA program that I could have done for free twice in the time that I was there. I didn't think I was going to be there that long, but I liked it. And I ended up staying. And I regretted not taking advantage of that benefit of education. Could have just had that extra credential and that knowledge.

Lucas Langdon [00:12:06]:
And so when I got to Eastern, they had the PhD program. And I thought, I can't make the same mistake twice.

Dr. Christopher Lewis [00:12:12]:
So true. And a lot of times when individuals are working at any type of company, one of the things that sometimes students don't look into is going to that HR office and saying, do you have an education benefit? It's always a great place to go and ask. It doesn't hurt to go in and just ask the question. They could say no, they could say yes. But always look at the fine print. Make sure you know what you're signing and make sure you know what the hooks are. Because sometimes there are hooks to the financial aspects to that as well. But it's always a possible financial possibility for you as a student.

Dr. Christopher Lewis [00:12:50]:
As you're thinking about graduate education now, Lucas, as you transitioned into your master's degree, into your doctorate degree, there are transitions that you go through. Now you went from undergrad into a graduate program, and there's a transition there because the way you're taught as an undergraduate student is different than the way you're taught in the expectations that faculty have of you as a master's student. But then going from work into a PhD student, again, different way, different way of being challenged, different way of looking at things. So think to those transitions. You were able to find success in your master's degree, you've been able to be successful in your PhD degree. And as you found success in graduate school, what did you have to do to set yourself up for success as you transitioned into the program, and what have you had to do to maintain that success throughout the steps, throughout the program?

Lucas Langdon [00:13:56]:
So start by saying, I don't think I transitioned particularly effectively or intentionally into a master's program, because again, I had no idea. To me, this just felt like, like the next year of college. But what I came to learn very quickly is that even more than undergraduate, the things that were going to be Important to my success were the peer network in my classes and the faculty relationships, which are important in undergrad, but even more so in the master's work. So that transition was initially maybe a little rocky. Again, I sort of picked up and moved to a different part of the country. So I knew no one there, knew nothing about this thing I had decided to jump into. But luckily, because I had that assistantship role on campus, that put me into a network of other graduates, graduate assistants who would be taking classes with me. And we're also having parallel sort of job experiences that, that could sort of bond us together as well.

Lucas Langdon [00:14:47]:
And if you know anything about working in housing, you have a lot of weird things that happen when you're running residence halls. So could have got those things to bond over. And so creating that social network there, which I was a little slow to develop because I just didn't know how important it was going to be, that became monumentally important. And then also the people who are in your program with you and your faculty become your initial network professionally. So I always tell students, even the undergradu level, particularly your major faculty, that's your first network. And so they are the ones who know the field you want to enter. They're your first recommendations. More importantly, they are your first connections when it comes time to get a job.

Lucas Langdon [00:15:22]:
And so those two things and then sort of the expectation, at least at that time at Florida State was if you're here, you are also participating in sort of a national level of professional development. Right. And so being involved in our national profession professional conference, my program hosted at the time a national professional conference. So we were sort of volun told we were going to be involved as volunteers at this thing and helping out, which turned out to be a remarkable experience. And I got to meet some of the scholars in my field who had come to this conference. Right. And so taking those opportunities, I think helped. Back to your transition question.

Lucas Langdon [00:15:56]:
Helped transition mentally to oh, this is kind of professional. Like I'm not quite a professional yet, I'm a paraprofessional, but I have to start thinking like one. And so those kind of experiences help put you in the mindset of that and then the transition to the PhD. I will tell you, it is so much easier to be a student when all you're doing doing is be a student and maybe the graduate assistant or you know, a part time job on the side, but as a full time professional trying to take classes. Been out of the habit for a while too. Right. So that's another thing I would say to students, thinking about any of these transitions is when to do it is important. As I had been so far out of my master's program by the time that I started the PhD that I had forgotten how to student, my study skills, the ability to sit down and read academic materials.

Lucas Langdon [00:16:40]:
Like I had to dust off all of those skill sets. The flip side of that is because I had waited a while. I have real world experience to draw knowledge from when I'm in those classes, having those discussions, so it meant more. And so when in my field, when students ask me, and I think this is really specific to higher education, but maybe some other fields ask me if they, when they should do these things, I would say wait a little while so you've got some professional experience. And then further, I get into this program, wait a while to see. Is this something you really need to get to the goal that you have? Because if it is, great. If it's not, it's a whole lot of investment in time and energy and tears and anxiety attacks and whatever else comes with, with doing. It's a big lift to do a PhD.

Lucas Langdon [00:17:23]:
The coursework other than the research coursework, not terribly harder than master's work if you can work in groups and you can read and you can synthesize information, do a lit review here and there, those sorts of things. But when you get to the self directed research parts of that, it is a lot more than just writing papers as an English major in college. So that transition was, was a little rocky. I took too many classes at first, was trying to max out the amount of credits that I could take so I could get through it. And then maybe two semesters in, I realized, no, I have to do this one at a time. I just for me at that time, with everything in my life, I had to do just one class at a time. But I worked through it and checked them off one by one.

Dr. Christopher Lewis [00:18:00]:
Well, a lot of graduate students and individuals that are looking to be graduate students are balancing a lot of things. They may be working, they may have families, they may have other responsibilities, they're doing other things along with, with this. Talk to me about balance and what you had to do. And maybe it was more so balancing things at the PhD level than when you were a Master's student. But even now, as you have been a PhD student, what have you had to do to balance school, work, family, any other personal responsibilities while you've been trying to be a student as well?

Lucas Langdon [00:18:38]:
Yeah. So great question. I don't really even think the concept of balance occurred to me in my master's program because it was my, my job and my. Yeah, everything all sort of bundled into one. And then my second year of the program, I moved from an assistantship that wasn't live in to a live in graduate hall director position. And so I was literally living where I worked and everything just kind of spilled over. Balance was probably awful, right? Like just in retrospect, there were probably no boundaries at all and I probably worked way more hours than I should have. But it also felt fine because I was young and I had the energy.

Lucas Langdon [00:19:09]:
When you get later in life and you're doing the PhD, that balance is a little harder. And I think, like I said, sort of figuring out what I could take on each semester was an important realization that I had what my capacity was. I don't have kids, so I am amazed by folks who balance that in addition to. I sort of look at, in awe at those folks because that's. And there's a whole bunch of them in my program. Some of them finished before I did and did a great job of it. But when I was coming in, they'd sort of tell you, don't take a new job, don't get married, don't make any big life decisions that are going to add because. And of course you have to, right? Because life happens whether you want it to or not.

Lucas Langdon [00:19:45]:
But they sort of warn you that balance is going to be a problem. What I didn't take into was when I got to the stage where I'm mostly self directed, right? Like that's the. One of the huge differences, I think, between undergrad and graduate work and definitely between Master's and PhD is the degree of autonomy you have to move yourself forward. And the lack of people sort of kicking you if you're, if you're behind you get a good chair and they're going to encourage you. But really it's your timeline. And so I maybe let the balance shift too far in the other direction for a while with that and have just maybe in the last year really decided, okay, I do need to sacrifice part of my weekend every week or every other week just has to be devoted to this so that I can finish this thing. And that's hard. Again, when you're used to, you have a workday that goes sometimes till 6, 7, 8 o' clock if you work in my field and then you go home and like the last thing I want to do is look at a computer screen and try to write right now.

Lucas Langdon [00:20:41]:
But at some point you just have to suck it up and do it.

Dr. Christopher Lewis [00:20:44]:
So as you think back to the opportunities that you've had both at the master's level, at the doctorate level, and as you think about this entirety of your graduate education and you think of others that are thinking about graduate school and thinking about possibly taking that jump into becoming a graduate student themselves, what are some tips that you might offer them as they consider graduate education that would help them find success sooner?

Lucas Langdon [00:21:10]:
I mean, I'll briefly summarize some of the ones I've already mentioned, which are if you can find an assistantship, it's a great opportunity. Your faculty or your first network, make sure to get to know the folks in your cohort because they are also part of that network, but more importantly, they are going through it with you. So that your support system. It also helps to figure out which ones are bright enough to be in the groups when you got to do group work, because that is in most programs, probably a part of what you're going to have to do. And one of the things that luckily somebody did tell me early on, if you can, if there's something you're really passionate about in your field, anytime you get the choice of what you're going to study, do that thing and save all that research. And so I did that in my master's program. And so when I started my PhD, I didn't know exactly what my dissertation was going to be on, but I knew the area and I had, well, at that time you had printed copies of things. I had a big box of printed articles ready to go.

Lucas Langdon [00:22:00]:
I needed to find some updated ones, but something to start me off. And so throughout the PhD program too, whenever I had the opportunity for my self directed work in a class to be what I wanted it to be, it was all moving towards the same focus topic so that I wasn't duplicating my efforts later on, if that makes sense. So anytime you can do that, think ahead to, to where you might need that. Save everything. If you know you're going to continue the education. Save everything. You never know what going to go back. Now when I get this one, I am done.

Lucas Langdon [00:22:29]:
No more classes. So there'll be a big bonfire. But up until here, I've got everything that I've ever done academically in my graduate work and it has helped me tremendously. I think I already mentioned the faculty relationships, but I'll say that one again, just because some of the most interesting conversations I had in my master's program were with the faculty there. Most of them have retired now, obviously, because that was a long time ago. But I got to work with some of the minds that were leading my field. And so getting to know what your faculty's interests are, what their research is, if you can partner with them on that. For me, it ended up being helping at those conferences.

Lucas Langdon [00:23:02]:
But if I was a graduate student, work in the sciences, there might be some really cool research you could get your hands on. Working with a faculty member. There might be something you get to publish with a faculty member in any number of fields. So don't sleep on that relationship. It can be really valuable.

Dr. Christopher Lewis [00:23:15]:
I really appreciate your time today. Thank you for sharing all of these amazing tips with us today. And I wish you the best as you continue your own graduate education. And I know you're going to make it. You're going to get there, you're going to finish this up and get past what's called abd, everyone. Abd. You don't want to stay there when you're working on your doctorate. So he's working forward, he's going to get this done.

Dr. Christopher Lewis [00:23:39]:
And next time we talk to him, he's going to be Dr. Langdon. So, so soon to be Dr. Langdon. Thank you so much for your time today. Really appreciate the opportunity to talk to you and thank you for sharing your wisdom with us.

Lucas Langdon [00:23:53]:
Thank you, sir. Appreciate it.

Dr. Christopher Lewis [00:23:54]:
The University of Michigan Flint has a full array of master's and doctorate programs if you are interested in continuing your education. Whether you're looking for in person or online learning options, the University of Michigan Flint has programs that will meet your needs. For more information on any of our graduate programs, visit umflint.edu/graduateprograms to find out more. Thanks again for spending time with me me as you prepare to be a victor in grad school. I look forward to speaking with you again soon as we embark together on your graduate school journey. If you have any questions or want to reach out, email me at [e-mail].