This talk will highlight the new stressors that all graduate students are having to navigate as graduate school adapts to workplace, national, and global pandemic safety measures. These stressors include reduced collaborative research, shifting to online learning, and reduced ability to maintain social interactions within the school and surrounding community. New graduate students tackle the transition from primarily being a student to also becoming a young professional and researcher. This transition can be fraught with a common “out-of-body” experience known as imposter syndrome. The COVID pandemic has increased this fear amongst graduate students who have been unable to complete rotations, forced to halt their newly started dissertation projects, and unable to pursue new friendships, mentorships, and professional avenues. Additionally, the current restrictions placed on the reopening of labs has led to increased isolation of graduate students and difficulties getting into a routine without the usual creative and collaborative energy of a busy lab setting. The ability to overcome these new and old challenges is one of the greatest feats of early graduate students.