First, figure out what you want to do. Most people don't do this soon enough, me included. I went to grad school thinking a PhD would be the magic cureall, an

First, figure out what you want to do. Most people don't do this soon enough, me included. I went to grad school thinking a PhD would be the magic cureall, and put off figuring it out, although I knew 100% I wasn't interested in academia and traditional research didn't interest me. All I did was put off key decisions, which when combined with financial issues set me back 3 years after I left grad school. I rediscovered a love for web development almost 15 years after I first experimented with it, and I've been a happy camper ever since.