31: Grad School Opportunities and Challenges

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

Hello, everyone. I hope you're all doing okay and staying safe. Today, I am going to be talking about grad school opportunities and challenges. This is actually a workshop that I just gave to my McNair Scholars who are participating in a summer program and conducting research. It's the first workshop of the summer to really get them to think about what is graduate school? What's grad school like? What are some opportunities that grad school will bring up? And what are some challenges that are going to come up as well? Really, I'm going to be focusing on five main benefits or opportunities, and five main challenges or disadvantages. As usual, my target audience is low income, first gen students of color, so a lot of my examples will be based on that. The purpose of today's podcast is to really help you gain a deeper understanding of the pros and cons of grad school, especially as it relates to low income, first gen, and students of color. And to highlight in some ways how to best prepare for said opportunities and challenges to set yourself up to thrive or to succeed.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

Alright, so let's get back to the basics. What is graduate school? For me, graduate school refers to any academic program that provides training, and training in particular as it relates to a discipline beyond the undergraduate level. It's often rigorous. It's career focused, and involves research. When I think about graduate school, I'm thinking about two different types of programs in particular. I'm thinking about masters and PhD programs. Master's- when I say master's, I'm referring to one to two year programs. These programs often have little to no funding, but they provide you with a set of experience and professional skills that in theory should help you get a well paying job. This type of degree is often necessary for advancement, and for certain types of management positions in non academic careers. Now, when I'm talking about the PhD, I'm referring to programs that are typically about four to ten years long. They often come funded, either partially or fully funded. They provide you with a set of experience and skills also necessary for certain jobs, but they also provide you with a credential as an expert in a field. A PhD is often necessary for research or academic careers, and it can be applicable in certain non academic careers as well.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

Now, I just said two different types of programs. I also want to mention that there's another type of program that we talk about less. I think we talked about it less because fewer students, at least my students, fewer of my students apply to these types of programs. These are called post bacc programs, post baccalaureate programs. These are programs that are designed to prepare you for a competitive Master's and PhD program. Like a master's, they tend to be one to two years long, but they do often come with funding. They also- because they're intended to help you get into competitive programs, competitive PhD programs, for instance- they will provide GRE prep. They'll provide application assistance. Those are great for students who maybe have a gap in their profile, maybe don't have the GPA that they want, maybe don't have the GRE score that they want. They feel they need that extra help.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

So that's what I mean when I'm talking about grad school. Now, like I said, five opportunities and five challenges I'm going to focus on today. The five opportunities are that you gain a deeper understanding of a field, you gain experience and skills, you gain greater earning potential, you can satisfy a degree requirement, and you can gain mentorship and expand your network. So those are five opportunities.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

Now, what are the five challenges that I'm going to point out today? Again, there are more more than five opportunities, more than five challenges. But for today, I'm just going to focus on the ones that are prominent, at least for me. The challenges are microaggressions, impostor syndrome, family achievement guilt, isolation and mental health issues, and finally, time, stress, and financial management. Let's talk a little bit more about each of them.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

Opportunity number one, gaining a deeper understanding of your field. What do I mean by that? I mean that you get to learn more than surface level material on a topic of your choice. You get to be an active creator of knowledge as opposed to passively consuming knowledge, and you get to fill research gaps and contribute to a field. A lot of my students are very passionate about what they study, and this is precisely the reason they're going to grad school.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

Now, the next opportunity, gaining experience and practical skills. In many grad programs, you're gonna get hands on experience in a field through coursework, through research, through internships. Some programs provide internships where you're placed with a company, or in a specific industry, or you're working with a nonprofit, or you're working in a school setting, so you'll get hands on experience in that career. The skills that you gain- there's a number of skills, but just to pinpoint a few- you'll gain critical thinking skills, writing, public speaking, teaching, communicating, people management. If you're working with a committee of very different people, and they're very different personalities, you're learning to manage up. You're learning to manage people. You're gaining problem solving skills, collaborating, learning how to work independently. You're learning project management- how to manage organizing a dissertation, for instance. You're learning to analyze data. In many fields, you may be learning very specific computer software that you can use elsewhere.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

All right. Opportunity number three, you get greater earning potential. In general, a graduate degree holder will usually make on average more money in their lifetime or over their lifetime than a bachelor's degree holder. The amount more really depends on your major, on what you get your degree in. According to a 2015 Georgetown University study, college graduates with a bachelor's degree earned an average annual salary of $17,000 less than someone with a graduate degree. So in this study, those with a BA earned $61k a year, and those with a graduate degree earned $78k a year. Now, this is not to say that for sure, if you get a BA, you're going to make $60k. For sure, if you get a Master's or PhD, you're going to make $78k. That's not necessarily true. But one exercise I like to have my students try out, because a lot of them want to stay in academia, and they think that they want to become professors, is I have them look up the salaries of the professors that they have now have. Their faculty mentors, or anyone who they've taken a class with, anyone they know. I show them the the UC compensation website online, and I have them look up the professors. They don't have to tell me who the professor is that they look up, but I have them share the salaries. Not surprisingly, a lot of them are over $100k. So it'll be 120, 140, 160. I see a lot of giggles, because it feels strange to look at people's salaries. But it is public knowledge, and I do think it's important for students to realize what the salary scale will be for them if they remain in academia, and they gain tenure. That's not to say that they can just look up professors. They can use that UC compensation site to look up staff members as well. That will give them more of a realistic perspective on what folks make, whether they're tenured, non tenured, in a tenure track or non tenure track staff position.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

All right. Now, the next opportunity, you get to satisfy a degree requirement for a particular career. A lot of professions require that you get a grad degree. Among them include, like I said, if you want to be a professor, if you want to be a research scientist, if you want to be a university administrator, if you want to be a specialist of some sort, like an anthropologist, biologist, economist, humanist or historian, mathematician, etc, if you want to be a physician, a psychologist, a therapist, a healthcare administrator. All of those require some sort of advanced degree, and certain industries require at least a Master's degree to move up in a management position. In some cases, sometimes you get stuck in a certain salary scale, unless you get an advanced degree. So the only way to move up in salary would be with that Master's or PhD, usually a Master's.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

Now the last opportunity that I'm going to highlight today is mentorship and expanding your network. By that I mean that ideally, when you go to graduate school, ideally before you go to graduate school, as you're doing your research on grad programs, you want to identify mentors who are experts in your field. You want to also identify mentors who are supportive, and they should be both. You don't just want an expert in your field who is going to be aloof, who is going to be careless, or worse, someone who is going to be racist, sexist, disrespectful, condescending. You don't want to work with those people. What you want to do is find mentors, who provide you with micro affirmations.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

Here's a new word that maybe you might not have heard. What is a micro affirmation? Unlike a microaggression, which a lot of you have heard of, because you've experienced it. Micro affirmations are small acts, which are often ephemeral and hard to see, that often occur wherever people wish to help others succeed. That can include acts of listening, gestures of inclusion, someone opening opportunities for you, someone advocating on your behalf. And so, how do you do this? How do you identify good mentors? Well, when I asked my students, one of them actually said that what she does is she reaches out to grad students. And I thought that was brilliant, because that's true. You want to reach out to grad students who are working with said professors, who will be blunt in their honesty, and sharing advice and telling you yes, you want to work this person, or no, avoid them at all costs. Another way to do this is to meet them. Find a time to meet with them. Schedule a time, even if it's a phone call or a Zoom meeting, and ask them about their mentoring style. A lot of times, the more you get to know them, you'll develop a rapport and you'll get a sense of what they're like even simply from meeting them. Definitely do your homework of identifying good mentors, because those are the people that are going to be part of your network who are going to help you in your career.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

All right, now let's move on to the challenges. Micro aggressions is challenge number one. What is a microaggression? I define it, or I follow the definition that it's a brief and commonplace daily, verbal, nonverbal, behavioral or environmental insult, intentional or unintentional, which can communicate hostile, derogatory or negative messages to target persons based on their marginalized group membership. A microaggression isn't always necessarily racialized. It can be gendered, it can be classed, it can be ableist. There's different ways to experience microaggressions. Here's one common microaggression that I've heard in the area that I live in, in Santa Barbara where there's a lot of white people is, oh, I don't even notice the color of your skin because I don't see color. And yes, I see there's that intention behind it of wanting to be nice and respectful. But this is problematic because it implies that your skin color is something that should be ignored, or something that should be devalued. It can also minimize the struggle that certain individuals endure based on their skin color. Especially right now, in light of BLM, the struggle that black folks are enduring because of the color of their skin. So no, you don't want to be colorblind. You want to see color. You want to talk about color. You want to be anti- racist, and you want to talk about colorism and anti blackness and do your part to not continue to reify racism and colorism.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

That's one example of a microaggression, that's a racialized microaggression. Here are a few more. Have you ever heard someone say, where are you from? No, really? Where are you really from? Or your English is so good. Or you should smile more or- and this one is one that I have heard recently because of my status as a pregnant woman. You're pregnant? Was it planned? Are you sure you want to keep it? That's none of your business. Second of all, the only acceptable reaction you can have when someone tells you that they're pregnant is to congratulate them. Here's another one, you're overreacting. That one I think a lot of us have heard. Or another one, being poor is your choice. And here's one last one- this one I hear a lot as someone with a chronic illness. Oh, but you don't look sick. These are all microaggressions, and a lot of us have heard them, experienced them. Sadly, yes, academia, like I mentioned in a previous episode, is a very white space. It's a very male space, ableist, middle class space. And because of those reasons, you're going to experience a number of different microaggressions.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

Alright, challenge number two, imposter syndrome. What is impostor syndrome? I think a lot of you, like myself, have experienced it. But not enough folks are actually doing the work of reading up on it and trying to counter it, trying to battle it, trying to fight it, trying to overcome it. Imposter Syndrome refers to high achieving individuals who perceive that they are a fraud, that they cannot meet expectations regardless of their experience, skills or other qualities. Imposter syndrome is especially prevalent among first gen, low income and students of color, especially students underrepresented in their field.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

So what are some examples of imposter syndrome? This one affects me, and I'm sure it may affect some of you, but perfectionism. Feeling like you're rarely if ever satisfied with your work. Here's another one that's common among my students- workaholism. Feeling that you have to push yourself harder than others to try to measure up. Having trouble asking for help. Sometimes students don't ask for help because they're ashamed, or because of the fear of shame, of feeling like oh, I should know better. I should know this already, so I'm not going to ask for help. There's also self doubt and self sabotage. Self sabotage is so prevalent, where you're holding yourself back from applying to things because you don't think you're good enough, or you apply and you get in and you're doubting whether or not to participate in it because you don't feel like you're good enough. Or thinking that you're only successful because of luck. Oh, I only got that because I was lucky. Or oh, maybe they made a mistake. Having trouble accepting compliments, accepting praise. Then of course, this paralyzing fear of failure, of like, no matter what, no matter how hard you try, always worrying that you're gonna fail. If you feel like you are experiencing some of that, if some of what I've said resonates with you with regard to imposter syndrome, just know that you're not alone. Just know that most people experience it to some degree or another, some of us more so because of our intersectional identities, because we are oppressed on more than one level. And you know, you got to do the work of finding ways to combat it. Look it up, and keep reminding yourself that you're there for a reason, that you earned whatever spot you got, that you deserve to be in the space that you're in. You deserve to be heard. You deserve to learn. You deserve to represent.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

All right, next challenge is family achievement guilt. I think family achievement guilt is not talked about enough compared to imposter syndrome and microaggressions, at least in the academic settings I'm in. There's not a lot of literature on it, surprisingly, at least compared to the other two. What is family achievement guilt? This refers to the guilt that students may feel for having more educational opportunities and college success than their family members. This is especially prevalent among first generation students. Consequently, students may feel that they have to minimize their academic success when around family members. How do you know you're dealing with family achievement guilt? What are some examples? Like I said earlier, if you feel uncomfortable with your success around your family. That's one example. If you notice conflicting value systems between your family structure, between your culture, and the university's culture. If you feel a lack of belonging in both spaces, so not feeling like you belong at home, not feeling like you belong at school. Also having this deep responsibility for the welfare of others. That's a very big burden to carry, whether it's making sure you lift up as you climb, and you're helping others in your community, or sending part of your stipend, part of your part time paycheck to your family members. It's constantly feeling like you are responsible for them, because you're the one that made it out, or that's making it work. Those are some examples of family achievement, guilt. And it's not something that gets that much better as you move up with regard to your academic degrees. With regard to getting your BA and your Master's and your PhD, it only further intensifies that guilt.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

Alright, the next challenge I want to point out is isolation and mental health issues. Grad school environments are- I like to say it's like a Petri dish for all the things that you would need to develop some sort of mental health issue, especially depression. In a 2014 study from UC Berkeley, they found that 47% of their PhD students showed signs of depression. That's huge. That's nearly half of their grad students. Then in a 2018, Harvard study, they found that grad students were three times more likely than your average American to experience mental health disorders. Again, it's very, very high.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

So what are the conditions that can negatively affect your mental health? Here are a few. First of all, in grad school, you're underpaid and overworked. On average, students work over 60 hours a week. Keep in mind, if you have a regular full time job, you're only working 40 hours a week. And you're often only making $20,000 to $30,000 annually. That's if you have the privilege of being fully funded. Being exploited, and living on or under the poverty line, those are conditions that can affect you. Working in isolation for extended periods of time can affect you. Feeling like there's a lack of time for self care and recreational activities, or being pressured to not prioritize those things and instead, solely prioritize your research. Then of course, in grad school, it's a never ending kind of scenario where you're constantly criticized. Your work, especially with the good intentions that perhaps your advisors may have, they are trying to strengthen your work and to do so they provide a lot of criticism, a lot of feedback. When you're dealing with that, plus impostor syndrome that can only make your self doubt go up, your self esteem go down, and that can affect your mental health. That could affect depression, anxiety, and so on.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

Alright, challenge number five- time, stress and financial management. With time, like I said earlier, feeling like you have little time to do anything other than your academic work, or being pressured to only focus on your academic work. Stress- academia and grad school is particularly stressful because of the perpetual deadlines, never ending deadlines. You've got deadlines for your courses, for coursework. You've got deadlines for your dissertation writing, for conference presentations, for funding opportunities- if you're applying to a grant, if you're applying to a fellowship, the deadlines go on and on.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

Of course, that is very stressful. And there's also finances, so if you're living at or below the poverty line while managing hidden expenses, that can be especially hard to manage. I like to mention the hidden expenses because I think even if you're fully funded, there are costs that come up that you don't anticipate that can affect you. That includes conference, travel and registration. So if you go to a conference, you've been accepted and you're expected to go, you got to pay for airfare, for lodging, for registration, for food. A lot of programs provide funding and they say they're fully funded, but they may not provide any summer funding. All of a sudden, you've got three months out of the year that you have no paycheck. That's very stressful. There are also certain university fees that come up as you move up, as you add advance that few people talk about. So there are a lot of expenses that just come up that make graduate school especially hard to manage, when it comes to managing your finances, managing your stress, managing your time. So that's challenge number five.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

Why am I mentioning these opportunities and challenges? Because it is my responsibility to be honest and forthcoming with you about what you're getting yourself into, if you plan to go to graduate school. Yes, there are a lot of benefits. Yes, there are a lot of opportunities. I some cases, you may be required to go to graduate school for whatever career you're interested in. But I also don't want to shed just a positive light on academia and on grad school. There are some disadvantages. There are some challenges, some struggles that you're going to face, especially like I said, if you have multiple intersecting identities that puts you at a disadvantage if or that marginalize you.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

So what can you do then? I would say, focus on taking advantage of the opportunities, do what I said earlier about seeking mentors that uplift you, about working on research that excites you, about learning, whatever skills you need to learn and finding any additional requirements that you may need for your career of choice and pursuing them. Then, of course, to manage all of the challenges, you've got to have a firm, a strong support system. In fact, you should have multiple support system to manage the challenges. You want to have multiple mentors, femtors. You want to have one or more therapists. Join a support group, join an affinity group. Attend workshops, attend trainings. Learn to advocate for yourself, and then learn to utilize your own privileges to advocate for others whenever you can. So long as you have that strong set of support systems, and you know you're taking advantage of the opportunities available to you, I do think that there are opportunities for you to thrive despite everything else that can come up.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

I hope that this was helpful with me identifying some of the opportunities and some of the challenges. Of course, I can talk about each of the topics in more detail in a future episode. But this is just kind of an overview, especially as we are starting the summer. I know there are a lot of folks that listen to my podcast, who are current undergrads, who are participating in their own summer program. I hope that this topic is relevant for you at this time. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend, and I will talk to you all next week.