Graduate School Survival Guide Year 4
In the fourth installment of our Guide to Graduate School, we profile what is arguably the toughest year.
Guide to Graduate School: Year 4
My fourth year made Glenlivet and Advil a lot of money…
For most people, this is a brutal one. We’ve been banging our heads against the wall trying to get the project to move forward and things just aren’t working. The long hours and constant failure are taking their toll. As we enter the fourth year, papers are now top of mind and there is an increasing pressure to get them out (if we haven’t already). The reality that we will not graduate until something gets published is starting to weigh heavily on the mind.
It’s usually the fourth year students that graduate coordinators like to keep away from the new recruits…
But it’s important to remember, as my mom says, “This too shall pass…”
Milestones and Actions
Staying motivated
A football player once described an NFL game like lining up 15 feet away from your garage door and running straight into it at full speed. Then repeating for an hour. Sound familiar?…
It’s hard to stay positive in the face of negative results. Often the bitterness makes us want to blame someone for this awful predicament we find ourselves in… “I should have picked another project”, “I should never have come to grad school”, “This is all X’s fault…”
These feelings are normal. Nobody said graduate school would be easy.
What you can do about it
At this point, open the file you created during the first year describing why you came to grad school, why you love it and why this was the best decision for you. I read that note a lot in my fourth year. It really helped me remember the reasons I was there and more importantly, it helped me stop complaining that maybe it was someone else’s fault. It was exactly where I wanted to be, I just needed some occasional reminding.
Everyone has a different way of staying motivated. Personally, I started thinking “there are X experiments left between me and graduation.” Every experiment, failure or success, brought me one step closer to graduation.
The other steps I took were to dial back on the hours a bit. This doesn’t mean mailing it in with 30 hours a week, but it does mean trying to have a more regular schedule. When I looked at my daily schedule, there was a lot of room to streamline my day to make it more efficient. Better planning meant the same amount of work with less time in lab. To my surprise, my productivity increased as did my ability to set up key experiments, not just any experiment.
Burnout in grad school is common – in fact, almost expected. Learning to give ourselves a break at the right time is very important.
Publish a paper
Oh, if it were only that easy…
A paper is our ticket out of grad school. We know that. Our P.I. knows that. With every day, we feel increasing pressure to write something up. Unfortunately, there are no guarantees in science – that’s just the nature of it. So publishable results can be very hard to come by.
What you can do about it
A piece of advice that helped me was to create sketches of the figures you imagine in your paper. Then set up the corresponding experiments to generate them. As the results come in, update the figures accordingly. If the result for figure 2 ends up being the opposite of our hypothesis, figures 3, 4 and 5 will likely change as well.
The other option is to hit a single now and then. Many of us strive for the home-run, high impact mega-paper that will be referenced from now until eternity. There’s nothing wrong with aspiring to great heights – we all should! However, holding out for a publication like this can be extremely risky. Sometimes it makes sense to publish a few singles or doubles as opposed to a home run that may never happen.
As a graduate student, a high-impact paper is a luxury: it’s nice to have, but not necessary. Of course we should strive for them, but with realistic expectations. Many incredibly successful scientists started out their careers with solid, but not remarkable graduate careers. Does it make sense to stay an extra year or two (or ?…) trying to get the big paper, or is it better to move on? Personally, I’d hit a hard shot to the outfield, stop at second and move on. But that’s a personal call.
Set up a committee meeting
A fresh set of eyes and brains can never hurt… See Year 3 suggestions for more details.
Top 10 Reasons to Attend Mount Sinai School of Medicine!
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
- 8
- 9
- 10
Mount Sinai is a research powerhouse.
We were the first to describe Tay Sachs disease (1887), first to publish human blood compatibility antigens (1908), developed the first cystoscope for children (1911), invented the modern ophthalmoscope (1914), developed the first estrogen blood test (1926), performed the country's first kidney dialysis (1947), developed polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis for separating proteins (1959), first to use sequential combination chemotherapy for breast, ovarian cancers (1962, 1963), mapped the influenza virus genome (1977), first direct evidence of the involvement of dopamine in schizophrenia (1985), first blood transfusion of an unborn fetus (1986), identified gene most commonly mutated in prostate cancer (2001), pioneered the use of enzyme replacement therapy by targeting Fabry disease (2003), performed first successful composite tracheal transplant (2005), linked Olig2 to schizophrenia (2006), the first to use adult stem cells to explore the genetic details of a specific inherited disease (LEOPARD syndrome, 2010),and dozens more. We have named many diseases. Come join us and create your own first.
Now is our time. We are the fastest growing research enterprise in New York and one of the fastest growing in the country. Mount Sinai now has America's third highest NIH funding per faculty among America’s 130 Medical Schools. With this success, it's no wonder we have the buzz as the new elite place to train.
Our research diversity. We have established departments and institutes devoted to excellence in neuroscience, microbiology, systems biology, genomics, stem cells, cancer biology, development, immunology, and many many more. What's your area of interest?
Our faculty. We are leaders in our fields and have brought in a new wave of elite faculty including internationally recognized leaders in neurobiology, stem cells, genomics, development, and immunology. You will train with the best.
Our students. We are proud to have created a community of learning, support, and excellence. We value our students' input on both the scientific and social structures needed to be a successful student. Come meet our remarkable student body.
Our diversity. At Mount Sinai we value diversity in our students and in our faculty. Reflecting the diversity of our beloved city, we embrace students from around the world. We are proud that 15% of our M.D/Ph.D. students consider themselves under-represented minorities, helping us to build a new and more diverse generation of scientists.
Our courses. We offer PhD students eight concentration areas tailored to reflect the strengths and priorities of modern biomedical science. We will structure your training to prepare you for the remarkable world of science.
Live in the world's greatest city. Dream of the Big City? Come train with us. Not sure about New York? Let us show you why it is the greatest city on earth- and the safest big city in America. Located on the Museum Mile in the Upper East Side and right next to Central Park, we have a ringside seat to the most astonishing collection of culture you will find. Anywhere. In a city that never sleeps. Warning: if you come here, you will never want to leave.
Dream big. Training at an elite Medical School in the heart of New York will inspire you. Be surrounded by the people who Dream Big and revolutionize the world in every sphere of society from fashion to art to music to finance. And science.
Achieve your dreams. Our graduates have populated many of the world's elite research institutions to do great science. If you want to take part in the magical world of science at its highest levels... then your dreams are our dreams.
