Alan B. Tyson II

PhD Student, Music Technology

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis

Purdue School of Engineering and Technology

Department of Music and Arts Technology

Sometimes I find myself wondering if I am doing enough. As a full-time graduate student I have, by default, given most of my time and energy to school. Sometimes it feels like I live in two worlds—there’s school, and then there’s everything else. Most of my academic career, I’ve been able to separate the two. I mastered the art of not letting my school life bleed into my personal life and vice versa. I’m not sure that was always a bad thing, but more recently, like many others, I’ve had a hard time processing everything that is currently happening in the world, while simultaneously managing school responsibilities. I’m going to tell a quick story. Hang with me for a second.

Recently, I added a new faculty member to my dissertation committee. We met on Zoom so he could get caught up on my research. His first question to me was “What are you passionate about?” I replied by telling him about my research. I somehow thought that a slightly extended elevator speech was an appropriate, “not too formal” and “not too casual” response. He then followed by saying, “That’s great, but let’s step back for a second. I really just want to know what drives you. What is your passion?” I couldn’t recall the last time someone had asked me that question. I knew the answer, but I was so conditioned to give an academic response that I totally missed it. It was at that moment that I was reminded of something very important— school for me is a very important, but smaller part of a much bigger picture in my life. It is a pertinent step in the process that will help me accomplish some of the goals I’ve created for myself.

After the zoom call,  I found myself revisiting the vision statement, mission statement, and core values my wife and I created for our family. They are what drives us and it is our goal to make sure that everything we do fits into that framework. Side note—if you have never written a vision statement and mission statement for your own life, I highly recommend it. They are powerful tools that help everyday life fit into “the big picture”. Now, I will try to bring this all together.

Over the past few weeks, I’ve had several conversations with people who share similar feelings—that is, they are having a hard time managing school and life outside of school. Like I did with the faculty member on my research committee, the people I’ve talked to separate academia and external life pursuits so much so that goals for school sometimes feel completely disconnected from overall life missions. Hear me correctly, I am not saying that school life should become personal life and vice versa. That is, undoubtedly, a disaster waiting to happen. I am, however, pointing to a more underlying concern. Many students desire to be impactful in ways outside of academia. Moreover, the idea of waiting to finish school to be impactful is not a viable option, especially given today’s climate. So what’s the answer? How can you make and impact now?

I think it is somewhat complicated, and the answer may different for each person, but I’ll give a few suggestions that helped me become more confident about my approach. I am choosing to write somewhat broadly, because I do not want the word “impact” to take on a meaning that is too narrow. Making an impact looks different for everyone.

1. As I mentioned before, take time and write down a vision and mission statement for yourself. It will become the driving force for everything you do, so take your time with it. This will help you determine exactly where you are going. Secondly it will help you filter through ideas that are connected to your vision vs. simply “good ideas”. In terms of making an impact, you will likely discover that the way you choose to be impactful right now may look different for you. As it relates to school and extracurricular activities, it will help you connect both to your overall vision for your life in a way where school and “everything else” don’t feel so disconnected.
2. Determine your audience. Who are you connected to? Who do you feel “called” to? Your overall vision for your life will connect you to groups of people. Start with them. Understanding who you are connected to will help you be intentional about the people you are looking to reach and the impact you want to make, in and out of academia. This is not always the case, but I’ve found that sometimes people, including myself, who question whether or not they are doing enough either 1) don’t know their audience or 2) have lost track of who their audience is. Sometimes we make the mistake of comparing other people’s audience to our own. Consequently, it can cause us to feel like we aren’t doing enough.  Understanding your audience will help prevent you from jumping at every opportunity that seems like a good idea. Instead, it will keep you focused on your own path.
3. Let graduate school be a step that drives you to be the best version of yourself. I am fortunate to be around some brilliant minds at IUPUI. Even more so, I am fortunate to be around individuals in academia who have no desire to hide behind a degree. They are committed to excellence in and out of academia. That being said, there is sometimes an internal struggle with individuals who are wired to be academics and “get your hands dirty” kind of folks. I know because I am one of them. There is the thought of attempting to make a significant impact now vs. later.  Later means time has to be split between school and other meaningful causes until school is finished. This has been a discussion that me and some of my colleagues have had.  For me, I know the spaces in which I desire to be someday. Simply put, graduate school is a piece to the puzzle that will help me get where I need to be. Long-term I will be most impactful having completed my graduate studies. Being in grad school right now does not mean I forfeit my opportunity to be impactful in society now or later. I may have to adjust my approach temporarily, but with a clear vision and understanding of my audience, I have discovered there are creative ways I can be impactful in the moment.

I am reminded that being able to connect graduate school to the big picture is important. Often we train ourselves to completely separate school from every other aspect of our lives. The reality is that school and “everything else” should point us to the “bigger picture”. If you’ve experienced some of what I’ve discussed, my hope is that this blog helps you understand what this ongoing process looks like for me and that you can use some, or even all of these tools to help you connect everything you do to your “big picture”.

By: Michael Ainbinder

First Year Doctor of Physical Therapy Student

I’m nervous and worried. Covid-19 as brought upon many unknowns for all persons across all countries due to the fact that there is no timeline, no perfect plan and no concrete answers. We are unsure about what life could look like today, tomorrow and into the future.

Being a student during these times can bring upon some advantages as well as disadvantages. I would like to share my outlook, as I am a first year Doctor of Physical Therapy student.

As most students are either learning fully in a virtual setting, on-campus or in some type of hybrid model of both, some of the advantages can be lost the shuffle. Minimized travel time, to and from campus and the classroom, allows students to have more time to complete tasks, plan their day and enjoy activities they love around their virtual class times. In addition, if your class involves an asynchronized structure then you have much more control of how you consume the course material. You can watch lectures at any time of the day, pause lectures to better understand a challenging topic and skim through parts that you feel confident. You are in more control of your learning.

The disadvantages can be the first thoughts many have during these unique times. I personally had many as I began my studies within my DPT program. How am I going to connect with my classmates/cohort? How am I going to learn how to properly assess a patient? How am I going to support and impact my community during this time? Other common feelings that I feel students might have are, what if I have a certain learning style and virtual isn’t conducive to my success? How can I best keep myself motivated with so much unknown? These disadvantages are valid and understandable. It is healthy to listen to those feelings and best approach your learning environment with them in mind. Outside of the resources provided below, communicating with your faculty and program is a great first step as they might specific ideas or plans in place best provide you the best experience.

Before I provide some student-focused resources to better answer some of the questions above, I want to emphasize that there is no right or wrong way to approach being a student during this pandemic. What works for you, might not work for me or another classmate. Finding what keeps you motivated, engaged and most importantly as happy as possible during these times is great! We all are figuring this out in real time.

Please see a few resources and articles that can help students:

https://studentaffairs.iupui.edu/health/counseling-psychological/emotional-wellness-and-covid-19.html

This article is directly slightly more toward college not grad students, but many skills discussed are transferable:

https://grownandflown.com/college-student-distance-learning-covid-19/

By Daenique Jengelley

Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

Since March, the phrase ‘we are here for you’ has been echoed by so many but my fear is it will not be followed by action. I fear this is a trend and not a transformation and that black people and people of color will continue to be silenced in our jobs, academia, homes, and in the world. I fear we will continue to become absorbed with our lives and forget those who are still suffering and grieving. I am grateful for the pause the entire world had this year. The veil of ignorance lifted on some and for the freedom fighters, they were joined by many who used to remain and even suffer in silence.

So how do we move, not on, but forward?

-By taking the phrase ‘we are here for you’ and standing by it

-By having continued conversation and promoting awareness training

-By allowing and creating safe spaces for students of color to have conversations where they are supported by people that look like them

-By being fearless and not afraid to shake things up

-By de-tokenizing the Black, Indigenous, people of color you know

-By not thinking of this is a job, where you only pretend to care, but to truly transform and become anti-racist

-By not delaying change because you are afraid of it

For a transformation to even make a dent historically there is so much more work to be done. We are over 400 years behind, so please, do not be offended if we are not applauding you or patting you on the back for your efforts. It’s not enough.

We all have an urgency to stay connected, to step up, to keep up because communities are still grieving, protesting, and living in horror.

I wrote the beginning piece of this blog over a month ago. I was chewing on the idea because I knew I was assigned to write for the month. But I wanted to include the latter portion.

I am visiting my parents for a week and they live in a suburb in Georgia. Last night, I went to pick up dinner. As I am waiting at the curbside pick-up, a truck drove past with a huge flag on the back. It looked similar to the American flag, yet it wasn’t, but a version of it with a blue stripe. I thought hmm, it truly represents America because this does not represent pride for anything other than being a racist. Yes, it’s a police/blue lives matter flag, however, being an officer of the law is a job and being black is for a lifetime. To boldly claim you stand by injustice no matter what, quite honestly, disgusts me. I am disgusted by the caucacity in 2020. I’ve always been disgusted but it’s something about having access to all the resources, being completely aware yet choosing to turn a blind eye and cut down trauma that just doesn’t sit right with me. From sitting in meetings and being told we are here for you, except we can’t talk about politics, as if black lives are a political issue, to seeing an armed white gunman walk by police officers unscathed, it all doesn’t sit right with me. Please, we need to do better.

Resources:

https://www.insidehighered.com/views/2020/06/09/defeat-systemic-racism-institutions-must-fully-integrate-truly-diverse-subject

https://blacklivesmatter.com

https://www.naacp.org

https://www.cohortsistas.com

https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2019/04/lack-of-black-doctoral-students/587413/

https://www.whenweallvote.org

Anti-racism resources

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1BRlF2_zhNe86SGgHa6-VlBO-QgirITwCTugSfKie5Fs/mobilebasic

By: Kevin Hillman,

Fourth Year PhD Student in Urban Education Studies

I am not ashamed to say that I am someone who lives with Anxiety. I was diagnosed in 2016 and have been off and on with therapy and medication since. With my diagnosis I came to understand that my anxiety fluctuates between moderate and severe, meaning I have some really bad days sprinkled into most of my good days.

Since starting my PhD program in fall of 2017, it has been a journey with self-care and self-worth. According to PsychCentral blog, “self-care is any activity that we do deliberately in order to take care of our mental, emotional, and physical health.” Self-worth, according to Merriam-Webster dictionary is “a sense of one’s own value as a human being.”

When I started this journey, I thought self-care and self-worth were all about distancing myself from people and things that were negative and caused me stress. I thought planning weekly activities such as going to the movies, intentionally making time to spend with friends and loved ones and regular exercise would be a great self-care routine. Though these were great activities and a good beginning routine, I failed to recognize and acknowledge one major area. I didn’t realize that I needed to truly examine how I cared for and valued myself. It wasn’t until recently, in light of the pandemic and racial unrest, that I came to this realization.

Pursuing a PhD is one of the hardest, if not the hardest thing I have ever done. I have been challenged, stretched, and taken out of my comfort zone- ultimately changing and reshaping how I view and move throughout the world. Through these changed eyes, I decided to look inward and saw that I had not been good to myself. I didn’t give myself grace when I didn’t understand something, at times I had unrealistic expectations for myself, negative self-talk, and pushing myself- at times resulting in no sleep and contributing to my own anxiety. I had to have a hard conversation with myself, recognizing my own self-sabotage and burn-out. If I continued, I knew that I wouldn’t finish my PhD.

How could I value my knowledge and research, hoping it would have a great impact on the world but I couldn’t value myself-the person behind all the work?

Currently, I am going into my fourth session with my new therapist and I wish I had done this sooner. I can see how much this could have benefitted me in my first 3 years of my PhD program and even though I didn’t start 3 years ago, I started now and that’s what matters.

Resources for students:

https://studentaffairs.iupui.edu/health/counseling-psychological/index.html

https://studentaffairs.iupui.edu/health/counseling-psychological/emotional-wellness-and-covid-19.html

http://www.iccmhc.org/providers

By Jasmine Beecham

Graduate Student – Applied Social & Organizational Psychology

As you are likely aware, the world is a mess. We are in the middle of a pandemic, as well as a revolution. This revolution has been a long time coming though so this is a mess that we need to embrace for now. While many of us may know this, particularly fellow POC in academia and Black academics, it can still be hard to keep energy consistent for a revolution. There are plenty of resources out there about spreading your voice, helpful information to educate ourselves, and resources to support various communities. There are people speaking out about being #BlackintheIvory where they have the freedom to speak up. Unfortunately, not everyone has this freedom.

I am among the privileged who have not had too many poor experiences in my time in academia. It is unfortunate that it is a privilege but I am going to use my space and freedom to share some thoughts. Obviously I cannot share everyone’s experience or perspective, this is just what I know and feel the freedom to share. Knowledge is power and instead of gate-keeping, I want to make it accessible and share it with those I can.
When the pandemic started it was a bit rough for me, but I could handle it. Much of my work could easily be done online, I got a desk, and I just had very flexible hours so I could rest when I was overwhelmed. My advisors were understanding and I didn’t try to over-push myself. However, when the racial justice revolution began, it took a pretty big tole on me.

I am a Black-White biracial female who studies discrimination and bias in the workforce – this revolution was so much of my life experience and passion of research combined. I should have been ecstatic that so many people were talking about this, not just people of color or academics, but people who have the privilege to not experience many of these things and still speak up. I wish we didn’t have to be so shocked and proud that people speak up about injustices that don’t impact them; I wish it was a standard to expect us to respect all lives, but since we are not to that place yet I still wish to commend people for educating themselves and educating those around them. Knowledge and truth cannot lie, it will only lead to growth for us and for society. However, this post is not about patting White people on the back so back to me.

I was feeling very drained by all the videos of violence towards Black people shared all over social media, all of the killings, all of the uprooting of past injustice and stats, all the legal and illegal violence towards Blacks – many things I knew but was now being overwhelmed with. I couldn’t get away from it in work, as I was currently researching laws about legal discrimination towards minorities within dress codes. In my personal life I wanted to be a vocal advocate but was worried about the privilege I have as sometimes presenting as White. All of this had me losing energy through the emotional toll. However, that all turned around when I went to my first protest.

I wanted to show numbers, show that this cause matters to people and was keeping movement, even if I just stood around for 2 hours. I went to my first sit-in and immediately felt ‘this is the safest group of people I can be around for myself and my identity right now’. It was actually the place I had seen the most people also wear masks so I felt even more at-ease. We sat and listened to the speakers, giving space to minority politicians and Black women. I felt safe and I felt revitalized by the end. They had said many of the things I thought of and felt. I realized it made me feel good to share this information. I tried not to focus on the videos of violence, reminding me of my concerns for when I or family members go out alone at night, or get pulled over. Instead, I focused on finally speaking up. I wasn’t going to let others speak for me, or assume that they would learn, because I decided that whoever followed me on social media was going to learn today.

I called out those who complained about the protests but weren’t doing anything to incite change themselves. I explained to people when they shared stats, how they were being misconstrued or missing portions of history. I said my piece on police brutality and you know what? It’s the best I’ve felt this whole pandemic. I got tired of worrying if I would upset people or how they would react because finally enough people were backing me where I wouldn’t be in the minority speaking out. I could stand up and have support if I needed it. I could point out stats without the subject being changed because the subject was everywhere! I’m tired of being kind and quiet and considerate in how I word my arguments – if they’re not being considerate of human lives I will not pretend to agree to disagree. The past 400 years haven’t worked, we’ve just legalized discrimination in many cases, so might as well try speaking for some change and see what happens! It’s not like I have any more to lose than is already being threatened! I am proud of the policy change I have seen but I am still just as hungry for more. I won’t stop speaking, I won’t stop calling people out, and I won’t stop educating.

I know not everyone will be energized by these same things. That’s alright. Find what energizes you and use that to create change in that domain. Use the energy you gain in comfortable spaces to compel forward lasting change. While I do commend my friends who have done a great job of educating themselves, I also fear that me saying ‘good job’ or giving them a thumbs up will make them feel ‘okay, I have received validation from a Black person and that’s the true sign, that’s all I need’ because it’s not. I don’t want them to do things because it looks good to me – I want them to learn about these experiences because it is good for them. If you never have to put yourself in someone else’s shoes, you are very privileged, but it doesn’t mean you cannot help. Use that privilege to your advantage – call out people who are in positions of power, call out your loved ones, check them on their assumptions and help them remain educated in these conversations. Those without power may face greater backlash than you.

Black Americans are tired of always having to speak up about this, of having to ask for change, of seeing so many deaths and injustices swept under the rug yet again. You might feel burnout and tired, but you likely don’t have the same fears they do. So, if you are tired, push through, because so many Black Americans have to every day – it’s not a choice for them so treat it as if it’s not a choice for you either. That is the way to see change – we have to let society know change is not a choice and we will be granted it whether they give it to us or whether we vote them out until we hold the power to grant that safety to ourselves. Either way, I’ll wait, and until then, I’ll keep speaking out.

by Maribel Hernández, B.S.

Graduate Student – Addiction Neuroscience

Before joining a PhD program you hear that the work is hard, that finding a great mentor is essential, and that you have to be tenacious and resilient, which are all very important and undeniably true; however, you are never truly prepared for the other aspect, which is navigating academia. During your PhD, there are several moments that challenge you and sometimes you start to think “why am I even here?” Imposter syndrome is no stranger to PhD students. Self-doubt strikes when you least expect it and promotes negative emotions and feelings in fields that promote competition.

Imposter syndrome is especially prevalent among students who are first-generation and/or underrepresented minorities, which already face many unique challenges in academic settings. In my experience as a first-generation Latina I found it difficult to navigate many of aspects of my STEM program and even more so because I had not made sense of them. When I tried to talk to my family, I ended up explaining what a PI is, what my research is (for too long), and why I am pursuing this degree only for them to say, “Mija, yo no se pero échale ganas.” While I love them and it’s always nice to hear your family encourage you to keep at it and work hard, that’s sometimes not enough. Feeling like you don’t belong somewhere or that you aren’t good enough doesn’t just go away. Therefore, it’s important to find and talk to someone who can help you through the imposter syndrome; you are not alone in this experience. Eventually I found a phenomenal support system made up of students who have similar experiences outside of my field. Talking with students who can empathize with you helps because now it is not just you, but y’all. A group slowly navigating experiences together is far less scary than a single person. Also, having students in different majors can help you step away from the immediate and look at the bigger picture. Sometimes, we get tunnel vision because of our surroundings, but acknowledging and talking through the negative feelings allows us to take a step back. While this is not the only way that can help you navigate these challenges, finding a support system close to you is a definite must.

Overcoming imposter syndrome is possible. While it may be a slow process, there are resources, like the ones listed below, outlining a few things that can help. Reflecting and reminding yourself of a few things can be helpful as well:

Remember, you did and are still doing the work! You work hard! You are in the lab and taking the same courses, so frequently reminding yourself that you are deserving is extremely important. Ultimately, you fought for your seat at the table and you are there because of how hard-working, intelligent, and motivated you are.

Remember, there is an end goal that you set out to accomplish. Thinking back to why you started and revisiting all of your goals helps you reset. Sometimes I revisit mine and then set deadlines for smaller goals when I feel overwhelmed, which has made things more manageable. It also allows me to push through because I know that I have something I am still working towards.

Remember to celebrate all of your successes. Everything you have accomplished is important. When the experiment finally works, celebrate! When you get an A on an exam, celebrate! These small victories help remind us that we are capable.

Lastly, remember that you are always growing as an academic. There are so many things that can change and improve throughout your years as a graduate student. This can happen through practice, by talking with mentors and other academics, by presenting at conferences, etc. This past year I went to the Southern Regional Education Board (SREB) meeting in Atlanta, Georgia where I was able to attend their annual graduation ceremony for the 2019 SREB doctoral scholars. One of the SREB Scholar graduates quoted her mom, “Keep it moving. Time is going to pass whether you get your degree or not, so keep it moving and get your Ph.D.” Use this quote to remember to focus on you and your path. You are exactly where you are supposed to be because you made it happen. Keep going.

Resources:

1. https://www.chronicle.com/article/How-to-Overcome-Impostor/244700
2. https://stephanieschuttler.com/13-tips-that-really-work-to-overcome-impostor-syndrome/
3. https://www.apa.org/gradpsych/2013/11/fraud

If you are on twitter, check out #AcademicChatter or follow @firstgendocs @WeRepSTEM

by Milan Nguyen,

M.S. in Social Work

I grew up in a small town 40 minutes outside of Indianapolis. My family was one of three Asian families in the entire city. For the majority of my life, I felt like a misfit in my community, and I continued relentlessly searching for a sense of belonging in the places I travelled and lived after I left my rural town. Ever since I was a little girl, I worked hard to blend in with the culture I was surrounded by and compromised my heritage for acceptance. While I was very successful at blending in seamlessly, I always felt a deep sense of personal loss and confusion. My racial identity felt complex, and I was never sure how much of what I was emulating was truly part of me or something I felt I needed to enact to feel safe in the public spaces I occupied.

When I began graduate school, I felt very thankful for the opportunity to join diversity groups that allowed me to explore my racial identity. Over time, I became more comfortable with returning to my heritage and learning things about my family and history I chose to ignore for external outcomes that I perceived to be more important than my own authenticity and internal experience. I became close to many of my fellow graduate students who were also members of minority groups and finding this support has helped me navigate mainstream culture as my most authentic self. I am now better able to recognize how to deal with barriers that I face as a woman of color and find my own voice to advocate for myself and others.

Recently, I have been doing clinical work in my field and ran across racial challenges in the professional sphere. While many of my colleagues, bosses, and teachers were supportive of my work, they do not appear to think clients might perceive me negatively because I am a minority, and due to lack of relatability, have been reluctant to validate my feelings and experience as a woman of color. I have struggled with people reacting negatively to my presentation and race, yet dismissed when I brought these situations to light with upper management. No matter how much I am able to blend, I still have to make sure that others are not uncomfortable because of my presence.

So how do I show up at my job, do good work, and navigate implicit biases against my race?

I chose to be honest with my feelings and racial identity, and continue to speak up when I face racial discrimination. I found support in my peers who listened to me and validated what I was going through. And most importantly, I began to realize that I did not need to convince others as much as I needed to be true to myself without tying my internal experience to an outcome. It is still a difficult journey of self-discovery and awareness but I am becoming more confident in facing racial barriers with courage and advocating for racial justice in the workplace.

Resources for students interested in learning more about gender and racial discrimination in the workplace:

• Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead by Nell Scovell and Sheryl Sandberg provides perspective on women and leadership. While it still takes a dominant cultural stance, it does give its audience great tools and resources to navigate gender in the workplace.
• Forbes has an article on the “bamboo ceiling” that affects Asian women’s advancement in their careers. This article provides insight to the experience of many working Asian women, like myself who are struggling to find their voice as professionals.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/andiekramer/2020/01/22/why-asian-american-women-arent-advancing-into-senior-leadership-positions/#5be0652473d2

• Spotify has a podcast that talks about the struggle of women of color in professional roles, along with triumphs, empowerment, and how to find authenticity while moving forward. Worth a listen!

https://open.spotify.com/episode/0KXLekvkw9QxARrEYOtDhX

by Alan Tyson

Fourth Year PhD Student in Music Technology

When I started my PhD program in 2016, I knew how it was going to go. I knew how long it would take. I knew who my advisor would be. I even had a general understanding of what my dissertation topic would be. All I needed to do was follow the plan, and everything was going to be just fine.

Here’s the thing–I walked into my PhD extremely ambitious. Ambition is a good thing in most cases. It keeps you moving forward. In my case, however, my ambition led me to spell out my entire graduate school career before it even started. Although my intentions were good, being overly ambitious led to little room for flexibility.

I am currently in my fourth year. My experience has been that being flexible is just as or maybe even more important than being ambitious. Let me explain what I mean.

When I first started graduate school, one of my goals was to master coding so that I could create an app that would serve as a grade school classroom learning intervention. I took several strides to learn the right programming language. I met with my advisor on a weekly basis and he was able to help point me in the right direction. Everything seemed okay in the beginning, but there was a problem—my approach was putting me on track to graduate much later than what I initially anticipated. Within a couple of semesters, I was confronted with the possibility of my plans not panning out the way I thought they would. I needed to make some decisions. After much thought and advisement, here were my options:

Option #1- Master a programming language enough to build an app. Who knows how long it will take? Who knows how much money it will cost?

Option #2- Partner with someone from my department or another department who might be interested in developing an app. I’d have to find them first and I’d probably need enough preliminary data to convince them (at that point I had very little).

Option #3- Develop an intervention that is not in the form of an app, but still targets my initial aims.

To be fair, none of the options were bad, but I chose option 3 for a few reasons. First, option 3 would not forfeit my initial goals at all, but it would allow me to move forward at a consistent pace and stay on track to graduate. Side note: always keep graduation at the forefront. As graduate students, we can sometimes become more concerned with completing every goal we set for ourselves without considering that we have a lifetime to contribute to our field. When “getting PhinisheD” is aforethought, you will naturally prioritize accordingly. Remember, later does not mean never. Secondly, option 3 allowed me to focus on the feasibility and acceptability of the intervention through pilot testing. It gave me a chance to incrementally make quick adjustments based on feedback from both teachers and students. One model I use is the technology acceptance model. Lastly, option 3 helped me strategize about how I will collaborate with others in the future. This was huge for me. In my first year as a graduate student, I had a mindset that I had to do everything on my own. I now know the power of collaboration. This approach has given me the ability to focus on strategically presenting strong preliminary data to those who may be interested in helping develop a future app.

I shared a portion of my story to help paint a picture of what balancing ambition and flexibility looked like for me. Circumstances may differ from one student to another. But let’s be honest- grad school is hard. While setting goals (or in some cases, goals being set for us) remember to be flexible. Whatever you do, fight to keep the momentum going, even if that means temporarily simplifying your approach. If everything doesn’t go as planned while you’re in grad school, remember you have a lifetime to contribute to your field and beyond.

by Kevin Wiley

Source: Liana Finck, 2020

No one prepares students for the rejection and failure experienced when pursuing graduate studies, especially at the doctoral level. Rejection not in the sense of submitted publications, but consistent rejection of ideas, questions, or proposals before the research even begins. The type of rejection I am describing comes both from humans and machines. Poorly motivated research questions waft and dissipate when presented to the trained eye of an advisor or mentor while that R code you attempted to run 400 times continues to output errors. We get it; research is hard. Understanding new problems take time and the discovery process is brutally glacial. Rejection forces introspection and induces self-doubt. But this type of failure is important in graduate studies, more so when students learn from them. A common adage in the Silicon Valley startup culture–applicable in this instance– is to “fail fast and fail often”, and eventually you may experience success. The volume of failure and rejection is equally important as the intensity. Preparing for these unfortunate truths requires a good mentor and maybe some psychological resilience. 

Good mentors realize that no one student, however smart, has perfect ideas or even fully understands the research process. Good mentors realize that even they themselves may not always harness the knowledge or data to inform good research questions, although they may reluctantly admit this fact if asked. We hope our mentors teach us good research habits early on like documenting research steps and progress, troubleshooting issues encountered when conducting an experiment, and discussing methods and approaches with peers. Students should also actively pursue strategies and heuristics to simplify the research process. One of the most important habits I have learned and adopted is to embrace rejection and ask thoughtful questions by, for example, admitting when I am struggling with a method or concept. It is also important to establish good relationships with mentors and advisors when crucial feedback is needed. Some students reach a point where they convince themselves of their own expertise and feel they no longer have to ask questions. This is the wrong approach. 

The oft-cited 10,000 hour rule set forth by a Swedish psychologist and popularized by Malcolm Gladwell in his book, Outliers describes the amount of practice it takes to perfect a skill. It has recently been challenged and disproved where researchers have shown that other factors like age, intelligence, and setting also contribute to mastery. Gladwell’s major point is true in most cases: repetition and preparation breed mastery. While graduate students may find themselves in an endless loop of fleeting progress and struggle, the result is deep understanding, whether students want to believe it or not. Additionally, where the “curse of expertise” is absent, conveying difficult concepts becomes simpler as students learn to teach these topics.

Graduate programs have a singular goal: to prepare their students for careers as independent researchers and/or professionals. Programs are providing students with a unique set of skills and the tremendous responsibility that will shape the lives of communities the world over. However, to reach this level of skill attainment students have to endure the travails of failure and rejection when no success seems likely. Students from underrepresented backgrounds face additional pressures that include lack of preparation and research experience, adjusting to cultures where they historically have not been present, and getting through the seemingly unnavigable territory as they ascend through various levels of education. Is it normal to acclimate one’s self to rejection, struggle, and failure? The answer may vary. For students pursuing academic careers, rejection is common. Publication rejection and grant success rates are frequent reminders of the high expectations across academic disciplines. Professional graduate students are met with a labor force that increasingly demands hard and soft skills that are, understandably, learned once on the job. Obtaining that job may come with rejection as well. 

Students apply to graduate schools for various reasons. Chiefly, students would like to contribute to a field, serve a population, make more money and so on. Preferred institutions are pursued, applications are submitted, programs and potential advisors are sought out, and course plans are made. There is never enough to know about what students should expect when programs begin, but the onus is mostly on you to understand the stakes and responsibility of wielding new knowledge. More importantly, students should know that throughout their studies and careers that they will be met with equal and abundant rejection, failure, and success.