To Review or Not to Review: That is the Grad Student’s Question

As we all know, being a graduate student means having a lot on one’s plate: taking and teaching classes,  assisting professors, conducting research, studying for comprehensive exams, and of course, working on our dissertation. It can all seem overwhelming at times and these are only the tasks that we are required to fulfill. But what about those tasks that we may be asked to do that are not mandatory? Even if we have the time, what if we do not feel we have the requisite skill set to perform them? Here we would like to discuss the issue of reviewing for journals as a graduate student. In our conversations with our colleagues and faculty mentors, it appears that there is no consensus about graduate student reviews; some feel they are important, others not so much. Some feel graduate students should do them, others that they are not qualified. This leaves graduate students with many questions unanswered.