Tip #2: Graduate school is not like college
Graduate school looks kind of like college. You have a pretty unstructured life, go to classes at certain hours, read and write stuff, drink lots of coffee/tea in the day time and have ample opportunity to level out with lots of beer/wine in the evening. This all takes place in a lovely environment with recreational athletic facilities most adults pay lots of money to enjoy. You can enjoy free or heavily subsidized music most weekends. You don't earn much money but probably more than you did in college. Plus you still get spring break and summer vacation in addition to various dead people's birthdays off.
Don't let all of this fool you. Graduate school is a totally different beast. You started your career the day you showed up here for visit day. You may not choose to stay in this line of work, but for the time being you have committed yourself to a professional preparation program focused on giving you the skills you need to be a successful researcher and teacher (in that order and with a big gap between the first and second). Here are some things to be aware of when you think about how to make the most of graduate school.
1) The fact that you are here shows that we believe that you have the necessary skills to succeed in a program as demanding as ours. And we're usually right. It does NOT mean you have skills sufficient to succeed in this line of work. We believe you will succeed if you choose to invest the time and effort- that last bit isn't supposed to be scary. But writing a good term paper, earning excellent grades and performing well on the GREs only gets you in the door. The hardest parts of the job, I think, are coming up with good research questions, framing or pitching a paper well, crafting the argument and just being persistent. The methods may seem difficult now, but they are comparatively straightforward in most applications. It's a marathon, not a 100 meter race. All you have done so far gives you a solid platform from which to build. What I do and what you have done, however, are still pretty different.
2) You don't actually get spring break and summer vacation in addition to various dead people's birthdays off. The calendar says you do but it's not true, not if you want to succeed in this line of work. You should expect to work 40-55 hours a week all year round. Of course you should take days off here and there, maybe even extra time for the holidays that are central to you and your family for religious or other reasons. But this is a job (for some of you more literally than others), it's not college.
3) You do indeed have time to go out drinking, partying, etc. You do not necessarily strike me as the types who do that a lot but a word of caution nonetheless- this is not college. Missing class is most definitely not OK, nor is showing up too wiped out to participate. And be mindful of the social networks for both present and future-- faulty and fellow students. Don't make an ass of yourself.
4) On the other hand, missing class because you are going to a conference is completely acceptable for students and faculty alike, so long as it's only a couple a year. If there's a talk you really want to attend that is scheduled during class, I suggest you check in with your professor. This is about TRAINING, and class is one important form of it, but certainly not the only form.
5) If you are inclined to take advantage of the excellent athletic facilities at your disposal you should definitely do that! It's a benefit of membership. Same with music, theater, etc. Grad school is a great time to take advantage of your scheduling flexibility to enjoy life. I used to bike around Lake Monona almost every day before lunch, go see stuff at the Terrace and the Harmony, have a subscription to a string quartet series at the Union theater, etc. Working 50-60 hours a week (roughly what I think I did in much of grad school) still leaves a lot of time for other stuff.
Bottom line: treating graduate school more like professional a job and less like college will substantially improve your chances of success.
Jobs have some set hours, productivity and behavioral expectations.
Graduate school only looks like college; it's not really.