Women of Color in Graduate School
Recently, I've been asked (by a few people) how it feels to go through graduate school as a woman of color. And, to be completely honest, it's incredibly exciting and exhausting all at the same time. Being a woman of color -- specifically a black woman, particularly in STEM -- has a lot of challenges. If you simply search the phrase "black in graduate school," you will get statistics that are very humbling; articles and think-pieces on how different the Black or person-of-color experience is from students who are not minorities; and other outlets detailing how little support many Black and non-Black students of color feel that they have.
In fact, the Council on Graduate Schools recently reported that, in 2017, Black students made up just 11.9% of all first-time graduate students in the United States. (That said, 68% of them were women! So, we are making p r o g r e s s.) I'm not sure what the numbers are at Boston University, but it doesn't seem that far off from the average. On top of that, seeing the number of Black graduate students who actually finish their programs is even more sobering. In fact, it can lead to developing "imposter syndrome" well before a student steps through a university's doors.
Now that I'm in those shoes, I think it's more important than ever to at least try to help those behind me in preparing for the long haul. I'm so happy that I was invited to partake in a panel on Women of Color in Graduate School for the Emerging Scholars program. Being surrounded by other women of color, despite being in very different programs, was re-assuring. It helped calm that 'feedback' I was getting, and it also became a bit cathartic in that we all had a place to express the similar challenges we were facing. Moreover, it was wonderful to be able to provide that type of support mentioned to undergraduate women of color -- the very specific, contextualized, and socially-aware guidance that many can't find from their program's offices, faculty, or classmates.
It was just such a treat to be able to give back in that way. Even if I didn't necessarily have it fully for myself, someone coming down the path hopefully won't cross the same pitfalls. So, I absolutely have to send thanks for the invitation to participate.
In fact, the Council on Graduate Schools recently reported that, in 2017, Black students made up just 11.9% of all first-time graduate students in the United States. (That said, 68% of them were women! So, we are making p r o g r e s s.) I'm not sure what the numbers are at Boston University, but it doesn't seem that far off from the average. On top of that, seeing the number of Black graduate students who actually finish their programs is even more sobering. In fact, it can lead to developing "imposter syndrome" well before a student steps through a university's doors.
Now that I'm in those shoes, I think it's more important than ever to at least try to help those behind me in preparing for the long haul. I'm so happy that I was invited to partake in a panel on Women of Color in Graduate School for the Emerging Scholars program. Being surrounded by other women of color, despite being in very different programs, was re-assuring. It helped calm that 'feedback' I was getting, and it also became a bit cathartic in that we all had a place to express the similar challenges we were facing. Moreover, it was wonderful to be able to provide that type of support mentioned to undergraduate women of color -- the very specific, contextualized, and socially-aware guidance that many can't find from their program's offices, faculty, or classmates.
It was just such a treat to be able to give back in that way. Even if I didn't necessarily have it fully for myself, someone coming down the path hopefully won't cross the same pitfalls. So, I absolutely have to send thanks for the invitation to participate.
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