PhDNet Blog – Your Online Graduate Student Community

I write a biweekly Q&A blog on Benchfly.com, and I frequently get questions from desperate students who believe they are not “smart” enough for graduate school (to read the Q&A blogs go to: http://www.phdnet.org/deardora.html). They all think they are the only ones who do not belong there. Graduate school is just way over their heads, and they never should have applied in the first place.

Graduate school can indeed by an intimidating and frustrating experience. What if the admissions office made a mistake by accepting you and now they are stuck with you? Believe it or not, these feelings are so common among graduate students, that they actually have a name. Dr. Valerie Young, a life coach with a Ph.D., named this the “impostor syndrome.” (www.Impostorsyndrome.com). The “impostor syndrome” refers to the feeling that you are not good enough, and that other people might soon discover that you are not as intelligent as they thought you were.

Sounds familiar? I hope not, but if it does, you are certainly not alone. When I heard about the “impostor syndrome” (years after I graduated), I smiled immediately, because there were times when I wondered whether I could ever finish. At the time, what helped me the most was to talk with other students, because it helped me to understand that I was not the only one feeling frustrated, or rather, super-frustrated with no idea what the next step should be.

If you ever experience these feelings, remember that a Ph.D. is meant to challenge you. Professors will grill you (and possibly embarrass you as well), but this is considered the “rite of passage” to the Ph.D. world. Consider the following statistics. Each year, over 40,000 students earn a Ph.D., and more than 1,300,000 people have earned a Ph.D. since 1920-all in the United States alone. If they can do it, why not you?

Of course, there are cases where students make a decision to leave graduate school for reasons such as finances or change in career plans. But these decisions should not be based on not being “smart” enough. If you are ever frustrated, feeling alone, remember how many students have earned their PhD’s before you, and many of them probably faced the same challenges as you. Most of the time, a candid conversation with your peers and supervisors can help you make decisions about your thesis and career plans so you can move forward more confidently.

Wishing you the best,
Dora Farkas, PhD, Founder, PhDNet
Author: “The Smart Way To Your PhD:200 Secrets From 100 Graduates.”
www.phdnet.org
dora@phdnet.org

When we think of social networking and job searching in the same context, LinkedIn immediately comes to mind. While LinkedIn is the number one professional networking site, there are several others that can be very useful for job seekers. In this blog, I would like to introduce you to two new networking sites for life scientists. Both of them were founded by Clifford Mintz, a life scientist himself, a former Professor (University Of Miami School Of Medicine) and industry Research Scientist.

The first site is BioJobBlog (http://www.biojobblog.com/), which focuses on training and career development issues that are facing scientists and other bioprofessionals. The blog offers career development ideas and advice for bioprofessionals and also provides insights into hot topics and debates taking place in the life sciences industry. Clifford started the blog because of the career difficulties he faced while making the transition from an academic scientist to freelance science writer. Cliff hopes that by sharing his experiences with others they may be able to more easily navigate their own career paths which is often difficult, frustrating and emotionally- draining!

Clifford created a second site, with co-founder Vincent Racaniello, called BioCrowd (http://www.biocrowd.com/), which is online networking site for scientists and other life sciences professionals. Built on a flexible and highly interactive social networking platform, BioCrowd was designed to foster scientific and business relationships between its members. While science is the main driver of our community, it takes a host of other bioprofessionals in addition to scientists to create successful life sciences ventures. To that end, BioCrowd provides its members with immediate access to world class academic researchers, industrial scientists, consultants, recruiters, venture capitalists and other life sciences professionals. The goal is BioCrows is to provide a socially-interactive “one-stop-shopping” solution for bioprofessionals who are interested in advancing their careers or seeking new business opportunities in the life sciences industry.

If you decide to try either one of these sites (or have tried them already), we would love to have your feedback. Simply click on the orange “Reply” button (must be logged on to see the button).

Wishing you the best,
Dora Farkas, PhD, Founder, PhDNet
Author: “The Smart Way To Your PhD:200 Secrets From 100 Graduates.”
www.phdnet.org
dora@phdnet.org