Grad school isn't scary (or is it?)

 As someone who just finished their PhD, I can assure you grad school is scary. But why? When I think back on my overall experience, there was very little that I actually needed to be afraid of. Many people I know feel a lot of anxiety and imposter syndrome about graduate school. This starts with whether or not they have what it takes to be admitted and lasts into their defense and job search! So why is this?

I personally believe that there are many parts of academia that are "for show". In many situations, academics love to brag about how hard they work, how little sleep they get and how they have no time for a personal life. While this may be necessary at certain times in your career (I have had many 14+ hour days in the lab and many weeks where I was working on data analysis from sunrise to sunset) this is not and should not be the norm. In my opinion, people who claim that this is what their life looks like in perpetuity suffer from poor planning and/or poor time management (i.e., people who say they work 12 hours a day but spend at least half of those hours on their phone at their desk). (Of which I am of course also guilty). 

Beyond this, I think that a lot of people think that academics are naturally brilliant people who know absolutely everything about their field of study. I can tell you first hand that this is generally not the case. While grad school is full of incredibly intelligent people, what makes a successful grad student is hard work and dedication. Yes, classes and understanding subject material are important. However, it is equally (or more) important that you are interested in the subject matter, you are willing to put in those 14 hour days when needed, you can admit when you don't know something, and you know where you can find answers. One of the most important lessons I learned in grad school was how to say "I'm not sure, but I can speculate or tell you where I would look for that answer." I can tell you without a doubt that I do not know everything about my field of study, even after finishing my PhD (and you won't either). I truly believe that one of the marks of an expert is realizing that you can't know everything and that is okay!

I also think there is a lot of information that is "gatekept" in academia. Even as a newly admitted student, I did not fully understand the process, jargon and terminology that people used. Some of this may be due to the different expectations/requirements that different schools and programs have- but also I think there are just a lot of trade secrets that people prefer to keep quiet. I was lucky enough to have an older graduate student in my lab who helped me with some of the nuances for my first two years, but without her I would've been absolutely lost. For people who don't know anyone in grad school, this has to be a huge and scary hurdle to overcome. 

For these reasons, I plan to publish a series of posts giving advice and explanations of some of the "scarier" parts of grad school. I plan to reach out to some fellow grad students and get their advice/experience as well to try to make it a more well-rounded approach. (Please message me if you would be willing to help me out with this!)While I don't know everything about the grad student experience, I hope that by detailing my experience (and the experiences of others). I will be able to give advice that will make the grad school experience not seem so scary. 

Lets do the (not so) scary thing together!