The Iron Ring

I did not enjoy graduate school.

And I realize this statement puts me in good company.

Having worked in several different labs at this point in my career I can testify that most graduate students do not enjoy graduate school. I have seen students suffer from a serious lack of mentorship that left them floundering for years. I’ve seen many students bear the consequences of their PIs departing, forced or otherwise. I hear stories about postdocs bullying technicians, about technicians sabotaging graduate students and about PIs playing favorites. I’ve noticed that despite the wide range of institutions and labs and PIs there is something uniquely universal about obtaining a PhD in the life sciences. How else can you explain the popularity of this and this and of course, this.

But it isn’t entirely universal because some people just have an easier time obtaining their PhD due to circumstances beyond intelligence. And our PhDs don’t come with a number that indicates difficulty. In the same vein, some people develop a strong mentoring relationship with their PhD advisor that gives them the confidence to launch their careers whereas others feel disenfranchised and exploited by their PI. Why else would we have this?

When I began my postdoc I promised myself I would put graduate school behind me. I changed fields of study and I was in a place where no one knew my graduate school colleagues. I didn’t want to share war stories. But I find myself wondering where I fall on the spectrum of graduate experience. I was depressed, overworked and discouraged, but how much of that was the PhD experience and how much was my PhD experience?