Graduate study is a demanding and exhausting experience. I did not study in the Ivy League, but I have two graduate degrees from a top program in my discipline. I was miserable in graduate school despite the support of my wife and committee. The experience is exhausting at top schools, and, while I have sympathy for suffering students, their problems are not the product of just one individual such as a demanding advisor. Instead, they often stem from years of behavior and an inability to cope with adversity and failure. What we must do is prepare students for the realities of graduate study when they enter the program, and also counsel them that failure in graduate school is not failure in life.
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