ABSTRACT
Ling has been an extremely successful student her entire life. Very few have the opportunity to receive full funding to pursue a doctorate in the United States. She knows that success comes with great sacrifices and hard work, and so, when she started the program she knew that she had to continue working hard to succeed. Although she has all the energy and focus to spend long hours working in the lab, for the first time in her life she feels lost. She can't understand why her advisor is not giving her specific instructions on what she has to accomplish. Moreover, he is asking her to come up with her own research questions and follow her instincts. This is radically different from what she is used to doing. She even has problems questioning previous research, which according to her advisor, she needs to do. She fears she is going to fail this time. She desperately needs guidance and cannot find it.
