What Was Your Hardest Year And Why? Pt II

Name: Dr. Shenell Tolson

Ph.D. in Public Health from Morgan State University

IG: @thepublichealthbae

Years 2/3 were the hardest years I experienced in my doctorate program. This stems from a number of things building up from year one. Mainly, the faculty member that I identified as chair for my dissertation research (actually, we identified each other - it was a match at first convo :) ), made the transition. This lead to a scramble to find another faculty member that 1) had the capacity to serve as chair for my particular body of work; 2) had the time to dedicate to my research given that they would be stepping into my previously planned timeline; and 3) didn't have any other students for which they were performing duties as a chair. Long story short, the search for a new chair and keeping my research plan didn't work out. I had to change my entire research focus. This was difficult because in year 2/3 I was well into the preliminary work required for my data collection. The entire process set me back about a year in lost time and unusable data. It was an extremely difficult time added on top of the other happenings attributed to any doctoral program. However, persistence and determination were key factors in my matriculation through the program and the culmination of earning my degree. During this time, I came across the quote, "Don't let the PROCESS punk you out of the PROGRESS." I don't know who the original author is, but I've been living by this quote ever since.