Even though the dissertation is the pièce de résistance of the program, it’s good to think ahead. Here is some advice from your peers about this final aspect of your studies:

• Think about and identify dissertation topics really early.

• We are able to do the multiple journal article option instead of the long, archaic dissertation paper.

• You probably won’t know your dissertation topic at the time you’re taking your statistics class(es), so don’t assume (like I did) that you won’t need statistics for your future research anyway.