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Where Mental Health and Graduate Education Intersect
Some students are better prepared than others
Recently, I was having a discussion about biostatistics with a student when she mentioned having a hard time “visualizing” the odds ratio. She confessed that her knowledge of number theory was limited, because she never had to understand numbers in the way that one does when trying to understand statistics. Sure, the Graduate Record Examinations (GRE) has a mathematics section, but it is hardly the kind of math one needs to understand the difference in odds of exposure given disease between groups.
Later, I had a conversation with another student about their job prospects upon graduation. They were concerned they would not find a job locally at a health department or non-governmental organization doing epidemiological work. I told them that this was possible for many reasons, and that they should be flexible in their living arrangements if a good job comes up in another part of the country. This was unacceptable to them. “My partner has a good job, and picking up the whole family to go somewhere unknown is not in the books.” Because of that answer, I told them to wait until a job materialized in the area. “After all,” I said, “you’re up against 20,000 or so other public health students graduating this year alone. And you’re in a congested area with no…
