"We are way too stressed": Balancing Academic Priorities with Mental Health and Wellness Among Life Science...

Recent calls to prioritize mental health discussions in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathemathics (STEM) have gained momentum, driven by alarming reports on the prevalence of mental health issues within STEM disciplines. Research has extensively studied anxiety and depression in both STEM graduate and undergraduate students, but there has been little focus on the overall mental health of life science undergraduates. We examined how undergraduate life science students perceive support for mental health in their classes, how their major influences their mental health, and how students manage these challenges. To investigate these ideas, we conducted semistructured interviews with 20 life science undergraduate students at a commuter, primarily undergraduate institution with a diverse student body. Our findings indicate that most students prioritized academics at the expense of their wellness and perceived a lack of support for their mental health from STEM instructors. Despite these challenges, some students used various strategies to maintain their mental health and many remained committed to their degrees, viewing the pursuit as worthwhile despite its adverse effects to their mental health. These findings underscore the critical need for more comprehensive and sustained mental health support in undergraduate life science education, ensuring students are not only academically successful but also emotionally resilient and well supported.