It was December of 2002 and I was in the third grade. I opened my school-provided planner and noticed that the word of the week was “doctorate.” It was defined as someone who had reached the highest level of knowledge about a chosen topic, which isn’t entirely accurate, but is explained in a way that a child would understand. At eight years old, I decided I wanted one of those doctorate things.
Throughout the rest of my K-12 education, my career goal changed often, but I kept the idea of a doctorate in the back of my mind. By the fall of 2014, I was a college junior and beginning to think about my future. By this point, I had two years of college under my belt and had participated in undergraduate research. I was thinking about graduate school when a golden opportunity presented itself. I enrolled in the “Exploring Opportunities in Graduate Education” course offered through the Center for Graduate Life (now known as the Thomas L. Reynolds Center for Graduate Life and Learning). In that course, I learned how to apply to graduate school and made the scaffold of my graduate school application which would be used a year later.
During my senior year, I was rejected from my dream graduate program. It absolutely crushed me and I questioned my worth as a scholar and a person. However, my mind went back to the Exploring Opportunities in Graduate Education Course and remembered that many roads lead to a Ph.D. and a longer road is not necessarily a bad road. I applied as a post-baccalaureate student to take some additional courses in my major area and strengthen my application. During the semester, I worked diligently in my classes and prepared two applications: one for a master’s program in my undergraduate major field and the other for a certificate program in a related area of study. I received yet another rejection to the master’s program and an acceptance into the certificate program.
I went into my certificate program with low expectations with all of which were exceeded in my first semester. In my certificate program, I took classes with students in the master’s and doctoral programs and we did the same work. I began to see this certificate program as a door to a master’s program in my new major field and a month before I completed the certificate program, I was admitted to continue as a master’s student. Since that point when I have been asked about my experience as a graduate certificate student, I tell people it’s like a trial run for a degree program. The certificate gives you an idea of the workload, departmental culture, and what opportunities for research and collaboration are available. You can evaluate how it fits in your life before you commit to a full-fledged degree program.
As I transitioned into my master’s program, all of the classes I completed for my graduate certificate were counted towards my master’s degree and it took only two more semesters to earn my diploma. In late 2018 towards the end of my master’s degree program, I was feeling burned out on school. I knew that at some point I would pursue my Ph.D., but I needed a break from being in an educational setting. I applied for jobs that would challenge me.
My industry job was a good match for me on several levels. I was sufficiently challenged, I got to use (and build upon) the skills I had already developed, and my co-workers were supportive. However, on my second day, my supervisor warned me that without a Ph.D., I would have very little opportunity for advancement and I was already making the maximum wage for the job (except for cost-of-living increases). Being stuck in the same place for the next 40-50 years seemed unappealing, so I began to apply to doctoral programs in the fall of 2019.
In early 2020, I was accepted to two doctoral programs, one at UNC Charlotte and the other at Virginia Tech. Both came with amazing research opportunities and making a decision was extremely difficult. I ultimately chose UNC Charlotte because of having a network already in place and being close to home. The network and proximity to my family mattered even more since the week I received my admission letter, the COVID-19 pandemic shelter-in-place orders began. I knew the resources I could access at UNC Charlotte and prepared to pursue my Ph.D. at the same place I had received my undergraduate and master’s degrees, but this time, I was back in my original dream program, from which I had been rejected twice. In my case, the third time really was the charm.
I have been in my current doctoral program since September of 2020. While I do think it may have been easier to go straight from undergraduate into a Ph.D., that wasn’t an option and I think that my experiences as a post-baccalaureate, graduate certificate, and master’s student have helped me immensely when I face challenges and setbacks during my Ph.D. studies. Because I have spent so much time as a graduate student, I know exactly where to go when I need help and in turn, I can teach other people in my program (and beyond) how they can use their resources to their benefit. I believe that I have maturity now that just wasn’t there at age 22 and I appreciate the opportunity given to me all the more since it took such a long time to earn.
Graduate school journeys are as unique as graduate students themselves. It is okay if yours doesn’t look just like your friend’s path. Furthermore, it is okay if your path doesn’t look like what you thought it would. Getting rejected is a major part of graduate school and what I have learned through my many rejections is that how you proceed after the rejection says way more about you than the rejection itself. People who continue going after their goals will find a way to achieve them. What matters most is making the most of every opportunity that you come across on your journey to and through graduate school so that when you finish, you are in a healthy place to begin a career that you love and will make a difference.
Article Written by Kaitlin Klotz
Kaitlin serves as a Graduate Admissions Ambassador and is studying in the Ph.D in Biological Sciences program from the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences.