Need for Support Groups
S-1 - “When I was in graduate school years ago, nearly all the graduate
students I knew in my program were full time. . . . Look what happens
now: fewer and fewer full-time students, more and more working spouses,
and the commuter student has arrived. . . but briefly because he or she
must commute back home each day, and isn’t around to party, socialize,
or co-mingle with full-time students. Today, faculty are like that too.
. . fewer and fewer full-time faculty, more and more part-timers, more
with working spouses, less time to get together. . . . Times have really
changed. What used to be natural and commonplace is rare today. To foster
the collegiality we used to take for granted now takes hard work.”
S-2 - “I’m a 1st-year graduate student and am considered ‘non-traditional’
because I’m 46 and from a working-class background, and have spent
the last 20 years working in a variety of jobs unrelated to academe. I
walk around believing that everyone knows something I don’t. Frankly
I don’t know how well I’m navigating the system, or whether
my paranoia about my ignorance is legitimate.”
S-3 - “I’ve been enrolled full-time in my program for a year
now, but because I’m working full-time outside my department, I’ve
felt out of place. I sometimes feel I’m treated like I don’t
belong by faculty members and the other more involved students. Or they
imply I’m not as dedicated to my studies as I should be. I don’t
have time during the day to ‘hang around’ the department,
and all my courses are in the evening. Most connections I’ve made
are with students in classes I’ve taken and in the one association
I belong to.
“I’ve felt so disconnected from my cohort that I’ve
considered quitting the doctorate and going for a master’s only,
or quitting school altogether, or quitting my job so I can fully participate
in my program. . . . I’ve decided I’ll work only part time
and take out more loans. I really feel this is the only way I can be accepted
as part of the program and learn the secrets that have eluded me thus
far. I really want to make the most of this experience.
“I’ve often thought about what I need from the department
beyond a certain level of acceptance. I don’t know what the department
can do for people like me who don’t have time to shmooze. One thing
that might help is some sort of orientation for new students so they know
up front what to expect and what will be expected of them.
“But I don’t know if that would work because of the competitive
nature of the PhD track. Those students who’re fully involved seem
to be quickly indoctrinated into the ‘unhelpful’ attitude
of most faculty. Since enrolling, I’ve felt I was expected to know
exactly what to do, but I know no one with experience who’s willing
to help me.”
S-4 - “I personally think the feeling that you’re walking
around perpetually a few steps out of sync, not knowing what’s going
on, is such a horrible feeling. It’s so isolating and it’s
easy to feel stupid or like you don’t belong. Here are a couple
of things that have helped me:
“First, I’ve reminded myself about all the things I know that
others don’t. I find I have a certain down-to-earth common sense
that’s often missing in the academic environment.
“Second, I formed a group with four other women in my college. We’re
actually a pretty diverse group—there’s a 25-year-age range.
We’re from all over the country. I’m the real ‘working
class’ person, but there’s middle and upper-class women too.
We’re not even in the same programs.
“This group has made an enormous difference for me. One woman is
so politically astute she makes my jaw drop. She’s a great resource,
but we collectively talk about our struggles as grad students. And we
come up with different ways of thinking about and approaching situations.
This group also gives me a place to laugh at some of the silly things
we do as we try to survive and thrive in academe.
“What this group did for me last year was to give me a place where
I felt I belonged. I also got a sense of identity being part of the group
even when I doubted whether I was really a scholar.
“There’s been great benefit in meeting regularly, but even
when we can’t do that, we use e-mail to keep in contact and give
support. By the way, the group started one night in one of my classes
when I told another woman how isolated I felt. She seemed to be so nice
and smart. To my surprise, she said she felt that way too. By the beginning
of the next quarter we’d invited some other women to join us even
though at that time we weren’t really sure what we wanted to do
together.
“You can tell I’m enthused about this experience. It’s
really made a huge difference to me.”
S-5 - “If it had not met at 10:00 am, I might have joined a thesis
support group at my university. Now I’ve moved off campus—in
fact, back to my home country—to earn some money. I’m terrified
that my 6+ years of graduate education will disappear in a haze and be
for naught. I’m working full time and have no energy whatsoever.
I’d love to get in on a local thesis support group or get one going.
I don’t even have library privileges at a university (except at
my school back in Canada), so I’m feeling pretty removed from academia
and I don’t like it at all.”
Departmental Support Groups
S-6 - “I started a thesis support group within my department very
successfully. It helped me stay on track, gave helpful comments on my
writing, and reminded me I wasn’t alone in my struggle. Time is
short for any grad student, but the time you spend reading other students’
work is well repaid if everyone participates fully in the group. It’s
good to keep aware of interesting research outside your own niche; we’re
all too easily buried in our own work.”
S-7 - I’m now in my second semester of graduate school and feeling
quite overwhelmed. My husband and I separated 6 months ago, so I now work
part time, take a full load of courses, and care for our 5-year-old son.
Daily I struggle with whether I should be in graduate school at this time.
I have a long way to go, but I still feel interested in school regardless
of the difficulties I face in my personal life. I was encouraged this
past weekend to learn there is an informal group shaping up in my department
for students like myself who are interested in meeting other students
for practical guidance and support. Although my time is limited, I’m
thrilled to take part. It seems to have come along at the right time for
me. Although my doubts continue, the road ahead is long, and the politics
of academia disappointing, I’ll persevere.”
S-8 - “The transition from class-taking student to research-oriented
ABD is difficult, especially in terms of the isolation factor. Different
ways of combating isolation we’ve discussed include the following:
“1. The department can set up dissertation clubs—monthly meetings
of all ABDs in the department. I admit I attended during my first year
as an ABD but now I don’t go, primarily because it’s chaired
by a faculty member and I’d rather have a less formal meeting.
“2. Small groups of people can meet, so call your friends for coffee!!
I drove to a meeting with another ABD and a recent PhD which was better
than any formal meeting I could have had. The point is, you need to relax,
gripe, commiserate, socialize, and share your experiences with other people
in the same situation.”
S-9 - “In our PhD program in adult learning, we have a very supportive
environment. The faculty have organized monthly research meetings at night
because most students hold full-time jobs. The meetings are carefully
structured so that we’re grouped according to the phase of the program
we’re in: qualifying paper groups, proposal groups, and thesis writing
groups. Each group is headed by a student who has recently completed that
phase. The meetings aren’t mandatory, but it’s been made clear
that attending the meetings so other students can read and comment on
our work results in faster response rates from our advisors. We also contribute
to databases of research articles, qualifying papers, and proposals for
other students to use. Students give practice presentations of their defense,
which is very helpful for all of us.”
S-10 - “I can attest to the importance of having some sort of support
system in place, especially since my program is low-residency to begin
with. The school encourages networking and communication among students,
even providing an e-mail system specific to the institution which students
are encouraged to use. I don’t use it any more but found it very
helpful in the beginning of my program. In addition, we have one-day seminars
which are geared toward students meeting one another. I’ve made
a couple of good friends through these seminars, which has helped a great
deal. We have a regularly published student directory. And the doctoral
committee is set up to provide ongoing support. Students are to select
advisors they know are supportive and helpful, beyond academic specialties
and interests. Two key members of the committee are fellow students who
have expertise in the area of study and are intended to serve as supporters.
I’m often on the phone with one of my committee peers and often
communicate via e-mail with the other. I have a standing luncheon date
with another student for whom I’m the committee peer. Because our
school is a distance education school, support systems are even more vital
than in residential programs. Without support, as has happened far too
often at our college, students feel isolated and drop out when they feel
no one cares.”
S-11 - “The way our program is structured, once we finish coursework,
our department leaves us largely on our own. Yet faculty observe that
those students who belong to some sort of support group are more likely
to finish the program.
“I’m not confident that the groups we’ve unofficially
created are optimally organized or run. We’ve asked the faculty
to build a formal mechanism into the curriculum to provide support and
we want to make specific suggestions as to how it should be implemented.
So far we’ve considered the following:
“1. If such support groups are a part of the regular curriculum,
will students receive credit or pay tuition to participate?
“2. Do people find academic support or emotional support most valuable?
“3. How are groups organized: by cohorts? by sub-disciplines? by
advisors? by topic area? by career goals? by geography? by some other
convenience factor?
“4. What’s the optimal size?
“5. What rules are used (if any) for maintaining attendance?”
S-12 - “I’ve participated in both formal (department-sponsored)
and informal support groups. The one sponsored by the department was more
successful. Two faculty members met with us on a monthly basis. Anyone
in the department could participate. We didn’t receive credit nor
pay tuition. I don’t know if faculty members received compensation
or recognition.
“The process was fixed so that everyone presented an update on what
he/she had done since the last meeting. Written pieces were distributed
for later feedback, although short pieces were addressed during the meeting.
We kept a mailing list which currently includes seventeen students, although
only about six people come regularly.
“A year ago a few of us felt we weren’t progressing quickly
enough, so we started having a second meeting each month without the faculty
member. These take place at a local restaurant, usually on a Saturday
morning. This gives group members another chance to bounce things off
each other and get motivated if they haven’t done anything since
the last formal meeting.
“All but one person in the group is employed full time away from
the college. Meetings with the faculty are more focused on academics;
meetings over breakfast are more social. Actually the social interaction
at breakfast meetings has made the faculty meetings more social as well,
which has lessened tension.”
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Non-Departmental Support Groups
S-13 - “In my humble opinion, regardless of the size or structure,
thesis support groups are extremely valuable. Graduate school and the
process of researching and writing a thesis can be lonely and isolating.
No one else can do the work for you, but it’s important to surround
yourself with a supportive community.”
S-14 - “A writing group is a source of moral support. You’re
all going through the same process, so you can understand, vent, bolster,
encourage, sympathize, and crack the whip. Fellow students are the best
procrastination detectors.”
S-15 - “Student peers are often harsher critics than faculty. Practicing
a proposal defense or making a conference presentation before the group
irons out kinks. Group members familiar with the work ask harder questions
than most audiences. You build confidence when you answer your peers satisfactorily.”
S-16 - “Our cohort (2nd year) organized a group to talk about papers,
issues, thesis proposals, and of course to socialize. There are five of
us who attend regularly. We’ve started to attract some of the 1st-year
cohort to our meetings. Initially we had trouble finding a time convenient
for everyone, but we’ve managed to meet regularly, largely because
everyone decided this was so necessary and important.”
S-17 - “I find my support group invaluable . . . it is my lifeline.
Without peer support I think I’d quickly become less vested in the
thesis process. Our group consists of four people from different programs.
We meet once a week in a coffee shop to share problems, successes, laughs,
and tears. These meetings are loosely structured. We have a check-in period
of about 20 minutes when each person updates the group on progress. Sometimes
one of us will ask the group to read a chapter or comment on a problem
with committee members. Sometimes the discussion focuses on family problems
or stress reduction.
“Two of us in the group are also in a required course for proposal
defense. Both the formal course and the informal group have merit. In
forming support groups, I think you should limit the size and time commitment
(we’re usually done within 2 hours). Also, having guest speakers
and sharing stories with other graduates is invaluable when isolation
or paralysis sets in.”
S-18 - “I’d like to share a bit about the support network
I’ve been involved with. In the first course in my program, the
professor stated he didn’t want to be the first person to read our
papers and suggested we get together to read each other’s work.
None of us knew one another, but I approached a classmate and we agreed
to meet to comment on one another’s drafts. When the next papers
were due, she suggested inviting another person to join us with whom she’d
worked in a different class. The three of us provided feedback on our
papers that first semester, and in fact, through prelims. We brought each
other through everything from the trials of formatting to our fears about
the quality of our work.
“I once suggested to another classmate that she get involved in
a study group, and she asked, ‘What if what I want to discuss isn’t
what the group wants to discuss?’ I told her that the business of
the group was the coursework at hand; otherwise it wasn’t a study
group but a bull session.
“Somehow our triad was able to work together, respect one another,
and not feel threatened by the strengths of each other. We acknowledged
and dealt with the reality of competition in graduate school. But we had
similar enough interests to maintain the interaction. Through fear of
writing something utterly stupid, we took the professor’s advice
seriously and worked together. We know it’s pretty remarkable that
the relationships among all three of us have worked out as well as they
did.
“Can equally effective support groups be structured by the program
or department? I’m not sure. Unless the direct benefit of participating
is obvious, students may not give the group priority. If it’s mandatory
and professors supervise it, the peer quality is lost. And there’s
a real possibility the relationships can’t be sustained beyond the
requirement to meet. It’s all very complex.”
S-19 - “I’m in a student-organized writing/support group which
was inspired by the strong urging of one of our faculty who’s on
all our committees. She doesn’t participate in the group meetings,
but has us over occasionally for a potluck dinner. Members of the group
are in varying stages. We’re all women in the same program, but
our topics vary widely.”
S-20 - “By meeting as students without faculty involvement, students
develop skills in forming an intellectual community, giving feedback,
and developing original research. A group can provide opportunities for
research collaboration.”
S-21 - “I agree there’s a definite need for support groups
and student networks. I’m taking my final three classes and have
found it helpful to connect with other classmates at similar points in
their programs, regardless of discipline. We all share common concerns
and issues as we begin the final phase of coursework and move toward our
exams and the thesis.
“I think faculty should suggest groups based on their advisees and
areas of interest, but I’m not sure whether advisors think this
would be a good idea. I’ve found that support groups form most naturally
out of classes where initial relationships are established. But I don’t
know how to make group support continue once classes are over. I’m
at a commuter college and some of my classmates commute more than an hour
and have professional and family responsibilities, so it’s difficult
to plan a convenient time for all of us.
“I think electronic forums are a useful vehicle, but sometimes you
just want to see another human and laugh and cry with someone who knows
what you’re going through.”
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Electronic Support Groups
S-22 - “I’ve been thinking about the suggestion to establish
an IRC (chat group) to facilitate discourse among students and between
students and faculty. I think the idea is a good one in that it allows
connections that often don’t exist at all. But I’m uneasy
with the idea of electronic communication being the sole means of breaking
the isolation.
“I read an article by Lewis Perelman in The Chronicle of Higher
Education (1/27/95 A22) in which he argues against the idea that electronic/Internet
communication can substitute for in-person interaction. He quoted a university
provost as saying that intellectual work is social work, and the university
is a social institution. The Internet can enhance the society of the university
and quicken the pace of discovery and invention. But electronic environments
can’t replace physical human society. Humans can’t thrive
in a bodiless, frownless, smileless ecology. Intellectual societies can’t
be complete without physical interaction. Perelman suggested this view
is an expression of ‘hope triumphing over logic.’
“On the whole my sympathies lie in the direction suggested by Perelman.
The fact seems to be that the old sense of collegiality which universities
once sought to foster is gradually giving way to changed social conditions.
Without doubt these conditions can be highly problematic for a shared
sense of community. Others have written far more eloquently than I concerning
the rise of anomie in an information age. However, for practical purposes,
I suggest that an IRC forum might be a way to facilitate community among
persons who are physically remote from the university. I reemphasize that
suggestion. We cannot reach the off-campus student population with its
multiple, contradictory responsibilities and involvements using conventional
historic means. Grad students who are married and working full time in
addition to study just don’t have the time to travel 30 miles to
sit down with their colleagues for an hour’s chat over pizza.”
S-23 - “I’ve found that the Internet is a lot more positive
than my local graduate student network. Some of my peers tend to compare
their progress with mine or tell me discouraging incidents they’ve
had to face, and I find this disheartening. I’ve tried, in a sense,
to isolate myself from interaction with most of the other students trying
to finish except those who are naturally encouraging. They are also the
type of people who network with others over the Internet and provide support
for people like me.
“Now that I think about it, I realize I don’t interact with
more than one or two other graduate students on more than a superficial
level. That’s an interesting insight.”
S-24 - “I’d like to say that I successfully defended my thesis
this past August, due in no small part to my support group. But I thank
Doc-Talk for being a source of information and support as well. In particular
I want to thank the Doc-Talkers who encouraged me to stay with the program
when I doubted whether I should continue. To all the grad students out
there who may be wondering if they should quit or continue, no one can
answer that question but you. But don’t let anyone imply that your
doubts mean you’re not sufficiently committed to finishing. That
you have doubts doesn’t mean you won’t eventually make an
excellent professor or researcher. Thanks again, and good luck to all!”
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