Additionally, Sheth suggests that students move away from the traditional model of relying on a single "master" adviser. By seeking out multiple mentors—including committee members, senior graduate students, and postdocs—students can build a support network that distributes the intellectual and emotional weight of their training. This "mentorship by committee" reduces the pressure on any single relationship and provides the student with a more diverse range of perspectives and support styles.
Perhaps most importantly, Sheth wants students to understand that struggling is not synonymous with failing. The very nature of doctoral training is designed to stretch a person to their absolute limits. Feeling overwhelmed or uncertain is not evidence of a lack of belonging; it is a natural response to a demanding process.
The prevailing narrative that academia is inherently and necessarily brutal is a seductive one because it absolves individuals and institutions of responsibility. If suffering is viewed as an inevitable rite of passage, then no one can be held accountable for the harm caused along the way. But Sheth rejects this fatalism. Mentorship, she argues, is not an unchangeable force of nature. It is a practice—a set of behaviors and choices—and practices can be changed.
The path forward does not require mentors to be perfect. Instead, it requires a commitment to reflection, transparency, and the prioritization of people over prestige. It requires institutions to change their incentive structures so that good mentorship is rewarded as highly as grant acquisition and publication counts. When Sheth reflects on her own experience as a mentor, she finds that she doesn’t remember her students’ citation counts; she remembers their questions, their excitement, and the immense responsibility she felt to support their growth rather than "toughen them up."
The academic world will always be demanding. The competition for funding and jobs is fierce, and the work of pushing the boundaries of human knowledge is inherently difficult. However, Sheth’s message is clear: this difficulty does not need to be compounded by preventable emotional harm. By being honest about the ways they were hurt and brave enough to break the cycle, the current generation of scholars has the opportunity to build a new culture—one where rigor and respect coexist, and where ambition is tempered by empathy. It is a future where the next generation of researchers can thrive without having to endure the same scars as those who came before them. The cycle of toxic mentorship can, and should, stop here.
