Being a PhD Student

Being a second year Ph.D. student at Virginia Tech is both a rewarding and exhausting experience for me. Trying to balance the demands of classes, research, and assistantship usually keeps me fully engaged in campus activity seven days a week with not a lot of time for jet-setting and all-night partying. However, it is also personally a very rewarding experience for me when projects come together to produce new information or improve people’s lives. Since going back to school in August 2010, I feel like I have had the privilege and opportunity to really dive into the research. I have taken the time to try and figure out what I want to build my career around, as well as decide what I would like to explore for the next couple of years. Reading the literature to learn about how other researchers and scholars have approached an issue or designed a study still fascinates me. I think it probably always will. Having the creativity to self-explore the literature and then put your ‘own take on things’ is still the primary reason why I chose to pursue a career in higher Ed. So how about you, why did you decide to continue on in a graduate program? The money and fame…?