FIVE TOXIC MYTHS ABOUT GRADUATE SCHOOL – A SURVIVAL GUIDE

Another academic year has just begun in most US-based universities, and as we are welcoming a new class of graduate students to campuses nation-wide I wanted to take a moment to briefly discusses some issues surrounding graduate school system. What the current data amounts to is a clear picture of an out-dated graduate-level eduction that is systematically letting the trainees down. And although many are actively trying to change things, I fear that implementing concrete solutions and building paths toward improvement will take a long time to materialize.

But: I am impatient, and done with waiting for the systemic institutional changes, so I want to offer a survival guide for all of you navigating a graduate school or a postdoc right now in hope that what you learn from this article will make an immediate difference.

I focus on some of the long-standing myths which I view as most damaging and toxic to anyone navigating advanced training process (graduate school and/or postdoc). I recognize that this is not a complete list, and that there are other myths, traditions, cultural habits and preferences, perpetuated inaccuracies, and frankly collective delusions out there and I invite you to share and comment below.

It’s time for open and honest conversation of what works and what does not when comes to training of the next generation.

Busting the Myths

MYTH NO. 1: MY RESEARCH IS MY LIFE

In my view, this is the most toxic of all the myths. It’s the view that while in graduate school you must eat, breath, and dream of science. That you are failing if not committed to your research 24/7. We’ve all seen letters from the advisors to their groups that impose and promote such values. And, if you are a trainee it is very difficult, almost impossible not to fall into this trap. So, first of all – BEWARE! Beware of Ph.D. advisors who are known for this sort of lab cultures and stay away from them. There is nothing to be gained from working for them even if they have won a Nobel Prize or two!

You can fool yourself into thinking that it is a real privilege to work for such a person and that you are not worthy of their time or space, but this can’t be further from the truth. The best way to be successful and satisfied in graduate school is to choose an advisor who respects and trusts you – the whole of you, weird hobbies and all - and who you can respect and trust back. So: vote with your feet, and go where you will be allowed to flourish in your own way, and encouraged to be better than your advisor.

Still, keep in mind that even with the most supportive of the advisors you will run into challenges, probably on daily basis. That’s science for you! And if you are not running into challenges you are probably not asking questions that are worth asking or on projects that are worth pursuing. And, in addition to scientific problems, you will encounter people problems too, because not only is science hard, but it is also being done by people who work hard and enjoy pushing themselves and their ideas to the limit (and that’s even if their advisors advise them to slow down!).

This means that you must prioritize your well-being and self-care. The latest data suggests that anxiety and depression are prevalent among graduate students and that a majority lacks a healthy work-life balance. I would argue that each PhD advisor must prioritize well-being of their students, and if you are a student, things that you can and should do are:

• prioritize eating right, exercising, practicing mindfulness, and sleeping;
• nurture hobbies and external interests;
• volunteer in the community;
• keep family and friends in the loop;
• master smart time management;
• take vacations, even if they are staycations and all you end up doing is hanging in your pajamas until dinner time; and
• pay attention to your short-term (immediate debt) and long-term (retirement funds) financial health as well - credit for this piece of advice goes to my PhD advisor, Prof. Thomas C. Pochapsky, who I had a pleasure to catch up with recently after about a decade.

But if after all that something does not feel right and you feel emotionally and physically unwell, do seek help and get the care you need.

MYTH NO. 2: ONE SIZE FITS ALL

Another dangerous myth that has mired the conversation about graduate school education is that those who decide to pursue PhD have only one career path that they should aspire to: the academia, more specifically a professor position in a research-intensive institution. This has been a mantra heard from many corners, usually accompanied by strongly held beliefs that those with a PhD who leave academia do so only because they can't make it in the hyper-competitive world of academic research. Views and commentaries perpetuating this opinion have prompted many to provide a more balanced view of career options for PhDs, and I found this recent piece helpful.

So, having interests, passions, values, aspirations and skills that could be best employed outside the academic ivory tower is not unusual and should not be discouraged. However, the system is currently ill-equipped to help graduate students figure out what career path is the best fit for them. Many trainees get stuck either by not realizing the range of options that are out there, or by not fully understanding what skills and experiences they actually need to move themselves towards a subset of careers that appeals to them.

Part of the problem is that their PhD advisors, who they heavily depend on in terms of future letters of references and support, have usually had only one career path, the one of academic pursuits. But another part of the problem is that universities have not yet widely adopted the process of Individual Development Planning (IDP), which allows each trainee to figure out a career trajectory that is right for them. Through an IDP, a student can make an assessment of their skills, values, and interests as well as start to identify the types of careers that may be a good fit for them. But for the plan to work, it must be specific and supported by well-defined goals, with timelines and some sense of what expected outcomes are going to be and how the progress is going to be measured.

One thing to note about "One Size Fits All" myth is that it is time-dependent as well, meaning that a career that fits you today may not be the same one that fits you tomorrow, and we will talk about that as we bust Myth No. 4 below.

MYTH NO. 3: PHD IN SCIENCE TRAINS ME ONLY FOR RESEARCH

The one thing that everyone knows and agrees is that by the time you finish your PhD you will be expected to gain deep domain-specific technical skills and conceptual knowledge, and produce evidence, usually through publications and a thesis, that you have actually produced results that advance your field forward. This view is appealing because it is linear and easy to grasp for students, their advisors, thesis committee members, institutional administrators, funding agencies, prospective employers, and so on as so forth.

What it fails to account for is that graduate school should also provide you with a learning environment, and an encouragement, to develop critical thinking, analytical, communication, mentoring, teaching, leadership, interpersonal, time, budget and project management skills. All these skills are transferable and essential to being successful in any career track you choose, especially if you decide to take your advanced training and apply it to a career that does not involve research. If you feel you are not getting trained on anything except how to do research, you should demand, politely but firmly, that your advisor, your program and your school provide time, space and resources for you to do so. Moreover, your should ask these questions before you accept an offer from your graduate school - and avoid going to places that are only interested in churning out monolithic cohorts of trainees.

Of course, you can always take things into your own hands to create these sort of learning opportunities for yourself, and you should definitely feel free to do so. In the past this was what I had advised people to do, but I have reached a point where I think we need to put a pressure on graduate schools to shape up and recognize that there is more to Ph.D. training than research.

MYTH NO. 4: THERE'S ONLY ONE PERFECT CAREER PATH

PhD or no PhD, the reality of the 21st century is that the career you choose today is most likely not the career you will have ten to twenty years down the line. The time of joining one company or one university and staying there for life is gone! Our careers are constantly evolving and changing, and so must we. On average, many are now saying that a person will go through 10 to 15 jobs before they retire, and many are starting to recommend that you change a job every couple of years.

To prepare yourself for this new brave world of micro-careers, the best thing to do is to learn how to learn fast, how to be open-minded, a fearless when it comes to taking on new challenges, and highly emotionally, socially and self-aware. These attitudes, coupled with flexibility, high degree of curiosity, robustness and perseverance - many of which come naturally to someone who has spent years doing scientific research - will equip you to deal with the new workplace that is more sub-specialized, more chaotic, and more unpredictable than ever before.

Admittedly, the academic career path may seem to be insulated from these changes, especially for those in tenure-track research or teaching roles. It may seem like you will be a professor for life and for the most part be able to carve out career stability and tranquility. Technically, this is true, but practically speaking faculty have been moving institutions more frequently than in the past, as well as moving from academia to industry, especially in biomedical sciences. In addition to this, the funding is becoming more and more uncertain suggesting that the role of a faculty at the research intensive institutions will most likely undergo major changes over the next decade or so. Therefore, no matter whether you embark on a career that seems like a stepping stone, or the one that feels like a fit for life, it is necessary that you keep taking yourself out of a comfort zone each and every day in order to gain new knowledge and experiences.

MYTH NO. 5: ASKING FOR HELP IS A SIGN OF WEAKNESS

Graduate school is stressful and full of challenges. You will need to work hard and face failure on almost daily basis. This, of course, is almost entirely due to the nature of research, where we spend years hunting after answers to some pretty complex questions. To make things worse, PhD is still viewed as an individual endeavor, and under those circumstances asking for help may not seem like an option. As a graduate student you may find yourself thinking that asking for help is a sign of weakness, and that if you do seek help, advice and guidance you will be viewed as insufficiently driven, lacking commitment, capacity or tenacity. Put those fears aside, and do ask for professional help as much as you need.

If you are wondering where to find help, here is the list of people and/or organizations that can and do assist with professional development:

• your advisor and your thesis committee - these are the people whose primary responsibility should be your career growth and development, so use their insight, connections, and advice
• your mentor - a person (or people) who has expertise and knowledge usually complementary to that of your advisor and the thesis committee. Mentor is there to provide additional coaching and professional support and you can expect to have many different mentors as you advance through different stages of your career. Keep in mind that a peer can be an exceptional mentor!
• your network of contacts, including your alumni organization - these are colleagues, friends, family, and many others you encounter through personal and professional interactions. The more robust your network is the better off you are, as your contacts can be a powerful source of information, advice and support now and in the future.
• your institution - although likely underfunded, graduate school offices are a great place to find resources and people that can help you.
• your scientific society and/or professional organization - joining a scientific or a professional society is an excellent career building opportunity. But: it is not enough to pay your membership dues and take a step back, you must be an active participant. So, join a committee, volunteer, engage and get yourself out there. You will meet like-minded people, gain important experiences, and raise your profile within a relevant community.

Lastly, I do want to point out that having a PhD is not a guarantee of a satisfying career, as well as that many research and non-research careers in sciences do not require a PhD. You should definitely consider very carefully what your motivations for doing a PhD are and be honest about whether getting a PhD is the best use of your resources and your time. Even if you decide not to venture down the graduate school path, you can take and use some of the advice here as it is universally applicable to all career trajectories.

If you are looking for more suggestions on how to thrive in graduate school, Science Careers had a brief post about it, and nature career column also featured some useful advice to help navigate Ph.D. and postdoctoral training. For those of you who are interested in learning more about current biomedical and other workforce realities, these are some of the resources I found useful when thinking about these issues:

• Survey of Earned Doctorates, by the National Science Foundation
• The Next Generation of Biomedical and Behavioral Sciences Researchers by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine
• Graduate STEM Education for the 21st Century by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine
• Next Generation Life Science Coalition
• Advancement of Women in the Biomedical Workforce: Insights for Success
• The Postdoctoral Experience Revisited by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine
• BIOMEDICAL RESEARCH WORKFORCE WORKING GROUP REPORT by the National Institutes of Health