黑料社区

October 23, 2023

黑料社区 school is a time for students to push themselves, try new things, and explore. It鈥檚 also a time when students are likely to experience what feels like failure. These small or large challenges along the way to your degree are to be expected, and most faculty members experienced such stumbles themselves in graduate school.

To share stories of successful people who have overcome the setbacks that come with pursuing a graduate degree, we鈥檙e interviewing faculty members about how they 鈥渇ailed鈥� in their academic careers. The Faculty Who Failed series highlights how resilience can carry you through the tough times in your degree program and come out of the experience stronger and better prepared for future challenges.

Read about Deputy Provost and Professor of Immunology Professor ‘s experiences.

Can you describe a time you felt like you failed in graduate school? This could be a time when an experiment didn鈥檛 work out, you considered leaving (or did leave) your program, etc.

At the end of my third year in graduate school, I had to change advisors and labs and start a completely new project in a different lab. I almost left graduate school at that time, but I felt that I couldn鈥檛 give up, so I eventually started over in a new lab.

How did you bounce back from your perceived failure, or what got you through to the other side?

I felt that I couldn鈥檛 give up and disappoint my family who were so proud of my accomplishment, so I eventually redoubled my efforts to complete my Ph.D.

What lessons did you learn from this experience?

I learned that even though I did not have any formal 鈥渞esults鈥� to show for the first three years of graduate school, it was an extremely valuable experience, because I was learning to do science during that period, making all the mistakes one could make. This made it a lot easier (and faster) to start a brand new project as I now knew what worked and what didn鈥檛, and made a lot fewer mistakes.

How did you use this experience to become better at what you do?

This experience made me realize that no time is truly 鈥渨asted.鈥� There is always something that can be learned (e.g., what doesn鈥檛 work), which is equally as valuable as learning what works. This view can be hard for those early in their careers as students, as we don鈥檛 always portray the value of learning from mistakes.  

What advice do you have for current graduate students who might be struggling or in a comparable situation?

The graduate student experience is but a small part of your eventual career, and taking the time to step back to appreciate all aspects of the journey, the highs from the new discoveries and progress being made, but also the lessons learned from mistakes and setbacks. It鈥檚 all valuable in the end. The graduate student period is a truly unique opportunity to develop and learn, as this is the place and time to have such formative experiences in preparation for future success.