The Past Year

I haven't worked on this in over a year, during which I took a 4-month leave of absence from the lab to decide whether or not I wanted to continue in the doctoral program. My leave started in May 2013, and I immediately started looking into education volunteer opportunities and faculty openings at community colleges. I spent most of June volunteering at the Hands-on Museum, while playing phone tag with the public school administrators, who helped me land a volunteer spot in summer school. I worked with high school kids taking Algebra and Geometry from late June to July, and in the meantime got hired as an adjunct science instructor at a community college and an academic mentor in the athletic department. All this happened while I was looking into teaching certification programs and doing private tutoring, so it was safe to say I had a very productive leave.

In August I went back to lab to tell my advisor that I decided to leave the PhD program and pursue a Masters in education. He didn't seem surprised, and was glad to see that I found a better-suited field of study. When September rolled around, I started working for athletics, prepped lessons for my community college class, and did private tutoring while writing my personal statement for graduate education programs. Summer school and private tutoring experiences made the statement easy to write, and although I had to take two math classes since I declared a math minor for teaching, the whole application process was relatively problem-free.

Although I had no doubts about the application process to the School of Education, I often thought about the (perceived) ramifications of leaving the doctoral program. What did my advisor think? What about my friends and potential employers? I felt like I broke a promise to my advisor, and didn't want to think about the investment he makes in any given student, just to have them leave without their PhD. I thought my five-year Masters was going to be difficult to explain to potential employers. Most importantly, I kept hearing voices, specifically that of H, a so-called grad student mentor who was not supportive at all, telling me that people who leave the doctoral program are "losers" and should be condescended upon. In reality, my advisor was very supportive in my decision and wrote a letter of recommendation to the School of Education, giving me a chance to attend on fellowship. Employers didn't seem to care about how long I was in school, as long as I had a valid reason for leaving; my friends were glad that I found a field I enjoyed, and as for H, he's somewhere else and we're no longer speaking.

I started my new education program about a month ago, and will be done in June of next year. Incidentally, I have to keep a blog for one of my classes, so I'd thought I'd write a transition post between programs. I originally started The Eastern Blot as a personal project while I moved forward in graduate school, documenting the excitement, optimism, isolation, and change (among others) that I felt on a monthly basis. I'm hoping to continue writing as a combination of class requirements and personal reflection.