wijsman at max1.u.washington.edu wrote:
>I need some advice on an issue which I am sure has come up for other people
>who read this newsgroup. What do you do when you have a bright female
>graduate student working for you and that student gets sufficiently
>discouraged about her own abilities to consider quitting grad school even
>when from the faculty perspective there is plenty of evidence that the
>student is really very talented?...
> Despite my attempts to reassure her to the contrary, she is
>still not convinced that she can do a Ph.D. in biostatistics. Any advice?
>Past similar stories with happy/sad endings?
>If I had a nickel for every time I seriously considered quittin grad
school....!
For me, I was discouraged most of the time during graduate school (I just
graduated last summer). I know that many of those times were related to
many variables besides confidence in my abilities: impending divorce,
general unhappiness in social life, wondering if it was worth it to wait
another 4-6 years before I could make a salaray good enough to supply
food, and worth the wait before having a family. I think there may be
other things in her personal life that are contributing to her
discouragement.
Also, have you reassured her with specifics about what you think makes
her a bright scientist? You've told us: she asks the right questions,
etc. I have found that many times when I need reassurance, it helps if
someone gives me the specifics of why they have faith in me, so I can
repeat those things to myself to help my self-esteem.
If this is what she wants to do, I wish her success!
Page Briscoe
University of Alabama at Birmingham
