Is Graduate School My Rite of Passage?

In graduate school the oral part of my qualifying exam was the toughest. I had 1 week to prepare a review of a journal article and defend it in front of a committee. The oral exam was only about 1 hour long (compared to 7 hours for the written part), but it was emotionally exhausting. To put it succinctly, we were “grilled”, and well-done at that. My self-esteem was below the detection limit, as was my pulse, when I came out of the room, and sat down in an office chair waiting for the decision.

Interestingly, my spirits were lifted instantly by one of the administrative assistants even before the announcement that I passed.

“Don’t worry,” she said “It just a rite of passage. They grill everyone to toughen you up.”

“You mean I am not the only one who looked foolish in there?” She shook her head “I don’t think so.” “Wow”, I thought, “this was part of the process.” It was at that point that I understood that the PhD program was meant to be an obstacle course. The purpose of grilling was to prepare us for the scientific world where ideas are constantly challenged and critical thinking is essential for high quality research.

This brief conversation kept my spirits up for many years in graduate school as I ran into hurdles with my experiments, and my manuscripts were critiqued, and even rejected. For some reason once I understood that uncertainty and forks in the road were part of the process, I had the confidence to keep going and strive for my Ph.D. degree.

This week: Take note of the most challenging aspects of your thesis.Whatever the obstacle, realize that it is part of the learning process in graduate school. Is it the thesis itself, the writing or relationship with your supervisor or coworker? Conquering any one of these obstacles will prepare you for the workplace or academic environment, where you will encounter an array obstacles in both research and personal relationships.