American Chemical Society AMA: Hi, we are Chemjobber and Gregory Eells
here to chat with you about what most of us (if not all) had to deal
with ? graduate school stress. AUA!
Abstract
Hello, everyone! We are Chemjobber and Gregory Eells, and we’re here to
chat with you about graduate school stress. A little bit about us: My
pseudonym is Chemjobber, as is the name of my blog. I am a Ph.D. chemist
in industry. I mostly cover the chemistry job market, but I also like to
talk a lot about life as a chemist, whether it’s how to find a job, how
to relate to your coworkers and also just how to get through the
journey/adventure/joy/living hell that can be getting a graduate degree
in chemistry. And my name is Dr. Gregory Eells; I have a Ph.D. in
Counseling Psychology and am a licensed psychologist in the State of New
York. I have worked in higher education mental health for 20 years and
have served as a director of a university counseling service for the
past 17 years. I am currently the Director of Counseling and
Psychological Services at Cornell University. Hi, Chemjobber again. One
day in late 2012, a chemistry blogger (Vinylogous) and I decided to
write a five-part series on different mental health aspects of graduate
school. It was quite a journey, with lots of people jumping in,
including prominent chemistry bloggers and also full professors talking
about their difficulties with the vagaries of research. Everyone has a
story to tell about this, and a lot of them came out. It’s Greg again.
Graduate school stress is in fact a big problem. In the time I have
worked in higher education mental health, I have seen hundreds of
graduate students struggling with mental health and general life
concerns. Graduate school can be an incredible time of discovery and
professional development and can also be a time where work expectations
are very high and students often do not have some of the same
protections of undergraduates or faculty members. In my graduate
training I was very fortunate to have very supportive faculty and at
times I did find the transition from graduate student to new
professional very challenging and difficult. Feel free to ask us
anything that’s on your mind, we’re here to help. We’ll be online at
10:00am ET to begin answering your questions! For more on grad school
stress, check out these articles in the Sept. 14 issue of C&EN: Opening
Up About Stress In Graduate School:
http://cen.acs.org/articles/93/i36/Opening-Stress-Graduate-School.html
Grad students share strategies for taking their minds off work:
http://cen.acs.org/articles/93/i36/Stress-Relief.html Also, check out
Chemjobber and Vinylogous’ five-part series on grad school stress:
http://chemjobber.blogspot.com/2013/01/is-graduate-school-in-chemistry-bad-for.html
CJ and I were just talking about graduate school stress and we thought
it was worth discussing the role of alcohol in how many graduate
students manage their stress and anxiety. Obviously, alcohol use is a
part of social life and many social gatherings in the US and other
countries. However, graduate students can turn to alcohol or other
substances as a way to escape stress. There can often be a “work hard
play hard” component to some graduate school cultures. The challenge is
this use can become problematic and evolve into dependence. Alcohol use
is not an effective long term strategy for stress management. This is
Greg and I have to sign off for now. Great discussion everyone. UPDATE:
CJ here, it’s 11:20 Eastern, I’ll be back in an hour or so.