New column alert! So why do we do this to ourselves? Is it the yearning to learn more? The prestige of more degrees? The money? The fame? There is always a reason to go back to school. This column will explore those reasons with grad students in various disciplines. First up, we have Kenneth, a PhD student out on the west coast, also my little brother :) Let's find out why he is in Grad School.
Why are you in grad school?
As an undergrad, I got involved in research and really enjoyed it. As
I am in the biological sciences, it's basically required to get a PhD
in order to not hit the proverbial "glass ceiling." So here I am,
starting year 3 of my PhD program in immunology.
What do you plan to do once you get your degree?
Good question. If I want to continue on the academic track, I'll do a
post-doctoral fellowship (where you go another lab and work on a
high-profile project that you can hopefully spin-off into your own
lab). There's also the possibility of going into industry or trying
to complete a science-policy fellowship.
Why did you select the school you attend?
Stanford has incredible research, and the people here in the program
seemed very supportive of each other in a genuine way. Plus, the
weather here is considerably nicer than in Boston, where I was also
considering going. Additionally, (and non-trivially) as there are
VERY few people of color in the sciences, seeing that there was an
active minority support community & seeing a couple of black students in the program who seemed to have similar life experiences and that were enjoying themselves here made me comfortable in coming all the way out west.
What is the best thing about grad school? The worst?
The best thing is that I (more or less) have complete control of my
time. No one's looking over my shoulder to see that I'm in the lab
from 9-5 or anything like that. The worst thing about grad school is the pay :).
If you could change one thing about your current experience what would it be?
1. More people from more diverse environments around.
2. I would try to change the culture of science where things other
than lab work are valued. While I know that I'm here to gain
scientific training, I know that being skilled in the lab is not
sufficient to sustain me as a person (and I'd venture to say many
others as well). If professors would encourage people to explore
their other interests, I think that it would be to the benefit of
everyone.
Nice. Good luck little brother. Thanks for sharing :)
