This week, Nature Magazine released their first podcast in a series of career podcasts about mentorship, and one quotation stood out. When speaking about her mentees, Neta Erez of Tel Aviv University said, “they start as my students, but I want them to graduate as my peers.”
 
It reminded me of two specific experiences I’ve had this year with mentorship — and the essential nature of having a mentor to guide and direct you.
 
The first story is about getting mentored by an experienced, mid-career scientist. The second is from my self-appointed role as my roommate’s peer mentor. 
 
I experienced a lot of insecurity and imposter syndrome when I began my Ph.D. program. I found myself trying to hide my inadequacies, and as a result, did not communicate well with my mentor. I tried to avoid even casual conversations in case she realized that I was a fraud. Thankfully, I am not actually a fraud and she is a patient and humble teacher. It has taken time to view my mentor and my committee as teachers who are on my side and not as overlords looking to punish me for my failures. They know that my success will place me among them as a peer, and as a result, they are eager to prepare and shape me for the future. Once I was able to discuss my weaknesses with my mentor, I’ve been able to experience the boons of having someone to teach and mentor me.
 
I’d be lying if I said this process was always comfortable. Last November, she and I had a progress meeting where we reviewed my goals for the year, and she pointed out that I had made virtually no progress and would not be able to graduate when I planned. At the time, that devastated me and we couldn’t even finish the meeting that day. But it lit a fire under me.
 
The next few months, I spent so much time in the literature addressing all the weaknesses in my knowledge that I had previously ignored because I didn’t want to admit that I didn’t know something. My mentor was quick to answer questions and we were able to discuss my progress more frequently and find ways for me to find small successes more often. I was finally able to bring my own questions and ideas to lab meetings, and I finally felt ownership over my lab work. 
 
My mentor commented that mentors are never able to predict when someone will be ready to graduate. They are waiting to see a change – a scientific maturation – that happens at a different time for each student. She was happy to report that I was experiencing those changes.
 
She pushed me beyond what felt natural to me and I grew as a scientist. My way of thinking matured in a way that I could not have without her pushing me to grow, but also being there to support my weaknesses. She has helped me to take ownership of my education and pushed me from being a student towards being a peer (though I’m not quite there yet!).
 
What I’ve learned from my mentor, I have been able to share with my roommate as she begins her Ph.D. Lately, she’s been sharing how her mentor is constantly changing his mind about what classes she should take and what she should focus on in lab, even giving her thesis project to a new student and assigning her to something else. She was rightfully upset that her passion project was so casually given to someone else. She was in a situation I think many of us find ourselves.
 
Yes, she could just follow orders and work on whatever her mentor put in front of her, but if she spends the next 3-5 years on something she doesn’t care about, she just becomes an expert in something that doesn’t matter to her. It would set her up for a career that pleased her mentor in the short term but that she would be unhappy with in the long run. I encouraged her to speak up to her mentor; after all, it’s her career and her mentor should be helping her get to what she wants, not directing her path. She probably could have gotten to this on her own, but I like to think that my input helped her to stand up for herself.
 
Ultimately, she worked up the courage. She set a meeting with her mentor, and she expressed that she wanted her project back. Her mentor articulated that he hadn’t realized that she felt that strongly about it, gave her project back, and now my roommate gets to pursue the project that she feels passionately about.
 
Mentorship can come from someone miles ahead of you, or someone just a few steps ahead. It is invaluable to have someone who can see your path forward and can help you get there.
 
– Kalen Johnson

Kalen is a doctoral candidate in the College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences.