Grad Students Finish

Several of my graduate students finished in the last few weeks. Each is going on to bigger and better things including a PhD program (Dave), an exciting job at Electronic Arts (Paul), a doctoral program in remote Japan (Dan) but it's still quite sad in a way, since each was an exciting person to work with. In addition, a promising doctoral student is also taking a leave of absence. All in all, it makes for a very bittersweet month.

In terms of "stress scales" finishing a degree, especially a graduate degree, is a known stressor. Even good things can cause significant stress due to the changes they imply. Of course, finishing a graduate degree is typically stressful for both the student, the supervisor and their loved ones since there is typically a major flurry of work that has to be completed, re-edited or presented in various ways.