ADHD goes to grad school: what do students and mentors need to know?

During the Kickstarter campaign for Order from Chaos, three lucky folks got a chance to interview me on this blog. I’m happy to share the first of these interviews today.

The subject is ADHD in higher education — specifically, among students pursuing advanced degrees in STEM fields. Whatever your own academic experience or aspirations, you’ll want to read this. The more I wrote, the more I realized this interview expands on a previous post about ADHD in the workplace. Many of the concerns for PhD students mirror those of people with ADHD trying to thrive at the office.

My interviewer is Steven D. Allison, Professor of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology at University of California, Irvine.

Q: I’m a mentor/supervisor to undergraduate and graduate students. What are some best practices to help the academic trajectories of students with ADHD?

A basic familiarity with ADHD in adults — and the popular misconceptions about it — will go a long way. Here are a few ways mentors can help:

1. Guide students to identify their innate skills and passions, then help them choose an appropriate long-term path. They won’t do well if they have to wade through a lot of coursework that doesn’t excite them.
2. Acknowledge that ADHD isn’t limited to children, and many people don’t grow out of it. Survival in academia depends on successful management of ADHD symptoms.
3. Different academic programs have different levels of structure and expectations. Students with ADHD may struggle with the more open-ended structure as they transition from undergrad to graduate work.

I repeat: Don’t underestimate the power of structure

When advising students with ADHD, remember not all academic environments are created equal. Some people — like me! — thrive in a structured academic program, in part as a coping mechanism. But academic success as an undergrad doesn’t necessarily predict the same in grad school or on the job.

Most undergrads have a clear roadmap from start to finish: take these classes within your major, get X total credits by the end of your senior year, and you’ll have a bachelor’s degree. One former PhD student with ADHD described their program to me as an open-ended problem. Everyone was expected to come in with the skills to create their own structure and accountability.

Most people with ADHD will flounder when asked to figure out what needs to be done (and when) and do it. Mentors should recognize that these skills must be learned. They aren’t innate, nor are they common sense. Charting a course requires a sort of long-term thinking and planning that doesn’t come naturally, in part due to our distorted perception of time.

Vague feedback about how we need to do better, try harder, or be more organized won’t help. We already know. And we’re probably struggling with the expectation — from ourselves and others — that we live up to the potential of our IQ. We need specific, actionable guidance to help us develop a framework for accomplishing our goals.

Q: What percentages of students — both undergrad and graduate — in STEM fields are affected by ADHD?

I didn’t find much data on this, but I’d suspect the incidence of ADHD in these fields is similar to the general population. ADHD doesn’t predispose anyone to become an artist, a scientist, or an entrepreneur. And it doesn’t predispose us to success or failure in any of those areas, either.

Anecdotally, I know someone with a math PhD who’s gainfully employed doing what they do best. I also know someone who came inches from getting their graduate degree from an Ivy League engineering school. They feel like attempting it at all was the biggest mistake of their life. I’m sure these outcomes depend greatly on the individual, the program, the field, and the mentor-mentee relationship. Unfortunately, people with ADHD are often more susceptible to these variables. We don’t necessarily thrive in any situation you throw at us. Our intellectual aptitude often feels disjointed from our real-world achievement.

Q: What are some of the most significant challenges facing ADHD students in an an institution of higher education?

Unfortunately, most are cliches:

• Fear of stigma and judgement re: needing accommodations and/or medication
• Slogging through the coursework we don’t find exciting
• Finishing what we start
• Managing an open-ended trajectory where we set our own pace and work steadily over time
• Dealing with distractions from roommates in group housing environments

But then there are a few sneaky ones:

• Balancing academic work with personal relationships
• Behaving appropriately in social situations that may have long-term career impacts
• Managing a job search while trying to finish a degree/dissertation
• Wrapping our minds around a multi-step process (e.g. job search, dissertation)
• Overwork leading to burnout
• Increased risk of developing addictions to substances, food, sex, etc., especially if ADHD is not treated effectively with medication
• Time blindness and overwhelm — feeling like a difficult time will last forever

Q: Should students with ADHD discuss it with their mentors or supervisors? What are the potential risks or benefits of such a conversation?

This is a thorny question. One former PhD student I talked to summed it up this way: “You’re looked down upon if you disclose, but judged based on standards designed for a mold you don’t fit if you don’t.”

In academia and the professional world in general, supervisors and mentors don’t always react favorably when someone discloses their ADHD. Disclosing can backfire if others see it as an excuse or an attempt to game the system.

The common wisdom is that it’s best to ask for accommodations sans labels if you can. That means saying something like, “I work better in a quiet environment. Is it possible for me to have a workstation in the corner, off the beaten path?” Other reasonable requests include noise canceling headphones, more frequent check-ins with mentors or supervisors, etc.

If a student fails to get needed accommodations simply by asking for them, a formal discussion may become necessary. I can see an undergrad wanting to request a coveted single-occupancy dorm room, for example. Some fields might require drug tests or disclosure of psychoactive medications.

However, it’s important to remember the “reasonable” in reasonable accommodations. An ADHDer is entitled to reasonable accommodations in the workplace, if and only if they’re otherwise qualified to do the job. Accommodations aren’t intended to make every job accessible to everyone. They prevent otherwise qualified individuals from being shut out of opportunities on the basis of their disability alone.

This is especially important to consider for students who plan to enter academic careers after receiving their degrees. These students should consider whether they are suited to the type of work that will be expected of them in their future labs and offices.

Q: What resources are available to students with ADHD?

This varies from one university to the next. There are even a few universities dedicated specifically to students with ADHD.

If students want to disclose their ADHD formally, they can request accommodations from the university’s disabilities office. Many colleges also have general supports in place for first-year students. In any case, a call to health services or the disabilities office will usually yield a list of resources.

More important is to know what resources are not available. Unlike K-12 schools, colleges and universities don’t, and can’t, proactively single out students and recommend them for ADHD evaluation. Nor can parents disclose an ADHD diagnosis and request accommodations. If a student needs support, they must seek it out independently.

Q: What advice would you give to a PhD student with ADHD?

Full disclosure: I’ve never been in a PhD program myself. I did around half of a master’s program (because my free classes ran out, not because I lost interest) and I thrived there. So this advice is from me as a person who reads and writes a lot about ADHD, and from a couple people I’ve spoken to for some firsthand accounts. Here’s what I came up with:

Before you start that PhD….

1. Make sure your chosen subject area is one where you have a longstanding interest and passion — something that engages your curiosity and hyperfocus.
2. Beyond that, make sure your intended career path requires an advanced degree. Sometimes we feel like we should continue our education because we’re smart enough, or because others have done it before us.
3. If a PhD is necessary for your desired career, take a hard look at what that career will look like. You’re likely to be facing burnout by the time you need to buckle down and finish your dissertation. Will your work afterward offer any relief, or more of the same tasks you already struggle with?
4. Manage your schedule and obligations as much as possible. People with ADHD tend to be poor judges of what they can handle and how much time each commitment will require. Try not to sandwich in other huge milestones like having a baby or getting married. Otherwise, you may find that either a.) your degree takes an impractically long time to attain or b.) your other responsibilities and relationships suffer.
5. Manage your ADHD symptoms. Out-of-control ADHD will make it very difficult to stay on track in your program and work well with others. This is not the time to claim your ADHD is a gift or a special trait that will help you become uber-successful. Take your meds if you need them, get outdoors for regular exercise, eat a healthy diet, and for heavens’ sake get a good night’s sleep once in a while. And use some of your reading time to learn about the neuroscience of ADHD, not just the sensationalist fluff you’ll see in the New York Times.

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