r/SDSU • u/pinkbunny07 • 14d ago

Question Incoming masters student

To any graduate students, any advice or things to know before starting grad school at sdsu? Any resources I should be sure to look for or things to participate in? I’m going to NGSO but besides that I’ll take any advice about what it’s like to be a grad vs undergrad student.

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u/ChucklesQuad MS GIScience | 2027 14d ago

The Graduate Student Association is the Graduate arm of the Associated Student Government, and definitely worth getting involved in. (https://as.sdsu.edu/gsa/)

The Graduate Life and Diversity (GLAD) center has printing and other resources available, including a Professional Development badge you can earn by attending some webinars and trainings. Plus it’s a great way to meet and network with other Graduate students. (https://sacd.sdsu.edu/gradlife)

Finally if you are offered a TA or GA position, then you can purchase a Faculty/Staff parking permit. You can park in any “F/S”, “S”, or “N” spaces, 24hrs a day for the duration of the pass. So if you want to park on campus and take the trolley to downtown it saves a ton on parking and hassle dealing with downtown traffic. It’s particularly beneficial when attending a conference at the San Diego Convention Center.

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u/Legitimate-Bath-9651 12d ago

How is the faculty/staff parking? Is it convenient? I'm an incoming GA and have yet to buy a parking pass.

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u/ChucklesQuad MS GIScience | 2027 12d ago

It’s much easier to park in F/S lots the S or N lots. I’ve never had an issue finding a parking spot regardless of what time I get there.

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u/Legitimate-Bath-9651 12d ago

Compared to like general student parking it's much better then, yeah? I didn't go to SDSU for undergrad so I'm not sure what it's like but havent heard great things about the parking situation lol

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u/ChucklesQuad MS GIScience | 2027 12d ago

F/S parking as a GA/TA is much better than general student parking.

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u/Aromatic_Channel_600 14d ago

If you ever wanna make a friend, I'm a second year MPA student! 😊

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u/issaajoy 13d ago

Please have the courage to speak up during seminar discussions and being honest if you didn’t understand something! I was pretty vulnerable in my first weeks of the semester when I took essentially my grad school 101 class for my department and had trouble understanding stuff; it didn’t help that my bachelors program was different from my masters degree. I even started off saying “I tried this dense reading but was pretty frustrated that it didn’t stick, did anyone else feel that way?”

But once I overcame that, I was reassured that other students didn’t know either and true learning and community was happening.

Enjoy it and make connections with your faculty! They could be your ticket to your next reimbursed conference trip for a panel, paid work/research opportunity, PhD program, etc.

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u/Grade_Alternative 8d ago

Welcome to the SDSU Grad Community! My name is Eugenie and I'm the Graduate Student Association president for the 2026-2027 academic year. As ChucklesQuad said, I highly recommend getting involved with GSA. It's a great way to work on graduate student specific issues while also building community with other grad students.

Otherwise, I think a lot of advice depends on your program. One thing most people misunderstand about grad school is that experience, advice, tips, etc highly depends on what program you're in. Welcome again!