What is mindfulness disposition and what does it have to do with you? How do you figure out which professor would be a suitable mentor in grad school before starting grad school? What are the strongest and weakest parts of Mariam's application to an extremely competitive program? What's listening to traumatic experiences like on the therapist's side? Listen to my conversation with the lovely Mariam Hussain for answers to this and more.

Approximate (or exact) timestamps:

13:00 Why did Mariam choose a PhD over a PsyD?

16:00 What drew Mariam to neuroscience?

20:00 I talk about the Gut-Brain link. And about a book about perfume and smell and how that drew me to the study of the brain (episode #001 explains the latter more).

24:00 I ask her about her involvement in a study that looked at stress in individuals whose cancer went into remission.

30:00 What is “mindfulness disposition?”

36:00 How many studies did she help conduct in undergrad and what was it about her lab experience that inspired her to pursue grad school?

39:00 What made it hard for me to figure out whether I wanted to be in medical school or graduate school.

42:00 I talked about when I shadowed a doctor and asked a Parkinson’s disease neurologist why she chose med school over a PhD. Also, I bring up the work-life balance conundrum that can manifest in academia versus industry.

45:00 I talk about my YouTube-binging videos about people who dropped out of grad school. I ask Mariam if she knows anyone who has.

47:00 I ask Mariam how important she thinks mentor-suitability is in grad school on a 1-10 scale.

51:00 I ask how one would find out who’d be more or less suitable as a mentor before deciding on a program. Exact or nearly exact question: “Is there a network or something?”

56:00 I ask about graduate school unions.

58:00 I ask Mariam whether graduate school has been harder than undergrad.

1:01 Has it been easier for Mariam to form networks and friendships in grad school versus undergrad?

1:09 I ask about her graduate school application process, specifically what she thinks the strongest and weakest points of her application were?

1:10 How long did I have to explicitly prepare for the GRE?

1:13 Are the mental health issues associated with grad school over-hyped?

1:15 Mariam’s professional ambitions?

1:17 Have her family and friends criticized her for being in grad school given the potential it has to restrict other parts of someone’s life, e.g. personal relationships?

1:21 I shout-out Muslim Women of Color Conquer Grad School, a group initiated, at least partly, by Amelia Noor-Oshiro.

1:22 Has being Muslim impacted her academic and professional life?

1:29 Mariam talks about working with veterans and having worked with active duty military personnel.

1:31 Mariam talks about operating as a therapist to veterans as part of her clinical neuropsychology program.

1:36 Therapy can be difficult for the patient, but has Mariam, as a therapist, experienced emotional suffering given the traumatic experiences she hears about?