The five mentors every student needs

This is a great article by Naledi Saul, Director, Office of Career & Professional Development. Student Academic Affairs.

Published in Synapse, the UCSF student newspaper.

The first thing you should know is that you don’t need a mentor – you need five of them. It’s almost impossible for students to find in a single person the full range of academic and professional mentorship that they typically need. Instead, students do well when they find multiple mentors who embody different aspects of the five types of support that define well-rounded mentorship. Here’s what you need:

1. A field mentor: someone who knows your area of work

This mentor is a content expert who helps you learn the information and skills required to develop as a clinician or researcher in your field of study. The biggest mistake students make in choosing a field mentor is picking someone who is well regarded, but unavailable. So if you have a big-name but too-busy mentor, consider rounding them out with a second, more accessible field mentor.

These can be people just a few years ahead of you in their own training. For example, if you’re in the lab, your mentor could be the postdoc who gives great feedback when you get stuck. Or, if you’re a medical student, ask 4th years about the best study resource for your shelf exam. Mentors are defined not by their seniority, but by their willingness to give you their time, attention and advice to help you achieve your personal and professional goals.

Often, field mentorships have short life spans. Your relationship might be a micro-mentorship of a few weeks, limited to the length of a particular project, clinical preceptorship or work experience.

2. A career mentor: someone who knows your career path

This mentor offers guidance on how to position yourself to pursue a particular career path. In a perfect world, your field mentor and career mentor would be the same person. But unless you’ve chosen the same career path as your field mentor, they probably won’t have the background or knowledge required to offer you sufficient direction, opportunities and contacts.

Read the full article at:

http://synapse.ucsf.edu/articles/2014/10/22/five-mentors-every-student-needs

The Terrible Mental Health of Graduate Students at UC Berkeley

This is your mind on grad school

By Denia Djokić and Sebastien Lounis

Excerpts:

50% of self-reported suicide attempts [at UC Berkeley] are made by STEM graduate students.

“Graduate school is the first time that you really fail, and really feel like a failure in the one thing that you are really completely invested in.” This observation by a former UC Berkeley PhD student rings true to many that have experienced deep frustrations while in graduate school. “When I think about my years as a graduate student at Berkeley, I think of days filled with a vague, ever-present cloud of guilt and anxiety,” describes another former student. “Most days in lab were spent surrounded by brilliant people striving for something great rather than by supportive people looking to facilitate each other’s growth.” A current graduate student echoes that “there is a deep, pervasive anxiety that seeps into every day of your life, a constant questioning of your capability, intelligence, and whether or not you are cut out to be here.” Another former student says, “It took me many years to realize that ‘normal’ for many grad students means deeply—and secretly—depressed.”

A broader culture of wellness may prove even more elusive in the face of a rigidly hierarchical academic culture that often rewards drive and sacrifice without encouraging balance. In this climate, graduate student mental health advocates—students, staff, and administrators—face an uphill struggle in the years to come. The consequences of this struggle tear at the very fabric of the academic experience and suggest fundamental misalignment of priorities.

Read the full article at the Berkeley Science Review:

http://berkeleysciencereview.com/article/mind-grad-school/

"15 ways to improve the way you write about medicine"

Michelle Guillemard, the Editor and Founder of Health Writer Hub, offers 15 tips for medical writing. This is a great skill to develop during graduate school. Writing about any technical subject -- medical or not -- for a broad audience is an essential skill. 

1. Study the art of writingLearn about grammar, spelling, punctuation and sentence structure
2. Examine your previous published workIdentify where your weaknesses lie
3. Compare your writing to other people’s writingSpot the similarities and differences
4. Get to know your voiceTune it, and work on making it unique

Visit the link to get read the full article.

http://www.healthwriterhub.com/advice/15-ways-improve-way-write-medicine/

Obama Touts “Progress” in Fight Against Campus Sexual Assault

Obama Touts “Progress” in Fight Against Campus Sexual Assault

Video: http://www.cbsnews.com/videos/obama-touts-progress-in-fight-against-campus-sexual-assault/

President Obama gives a great speech about how the answer to sexual assault on university campuses is a change in culture. "How much do we value the lives and dignity of our wives, daughters, and sons?" asked the President. 

He mentions the wave of student-led activism. But there is no mention of administration-led or faculty-led activism. Why not...?

Sexual harassment can have the same damaging effects of sexual assault. Sexual harassment is a problem for undergraduate and graduate students. 

Let's think about this. What makes, participates in, and perpetuates culture? People do, meaning a person is the fundamental unit of change or lack thereof. That's me. That's you.

Sharing Experiences for the Benefit of Others

This blog is for graduate and professional students, past and present, to share about their experiences in graduate school for the enlightenment -- and sometimes, entertainment -- of others. 

Articles will be tagged into the following categories (more to come over time):

Mental health

Navigating coursework
Learning experimental research

Discrimination
Sexual harassment
Qualifying exams

Adjusting to a new school and city

Advisers

Thesis committees

Thesis

Dissertation

Dissertation committess

Thesis defense

Etc.