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Tag: biography

200. Want a Degree Without Quitting Your Job? An Online PhD Might Be the Solution.

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Karla already has a successful career. After completing her training, she’s worked as a pelvic-floor physical therapist for over ten years! Her patients love her, and she loves serving them.

But no matter how skilled she becomes at her craft, there’s still a limit to how many people she can help. A PT, working in a clinic, can see only so many patients per day if she wants to give each one the time they deserve.

That’s one reason Karla decided to go back to school to earn a PhD. She wanted to find a way to continue serving her patients, while also advancing the practice of physical therapists everywhere through research and teaching.

But quitting her job to enroll in a traditional PhD program wouldn’t work for her patients, or her lifestyle. She had to find another way.

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191. The Tough Times are Worth It w/ Dr. Emma Hinkle

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A few months ago, Emma Hinkle was organizing her lab notebooks as she prepared to start a career. She had completed her graduate training, earned a PhD, and had a job lined up that started on Monday.

In those few moments of quiet between her years of graduate school and the career to come, she reflected on the challenges she faced, and how they had changed her as a scientist and a person.

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181. Build Skills Before Grad School with a Postbac

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A lot of aspiring trainees are ‘taking a gap year’ before applying to graduate school. Typically, they use that time to build skills and make connections that will bolster their applications.

This postbaccalaureate, or ‘postbac’, experience can vary pretty widely – from a course-heavy Master’s degree to a research-focused industry internship.

There are also a multitude of scholarships, fellowships, and grants to support whatever training you might need.

This week, we explore these postbac opportunities with Elizabeth Somsen, who recently finished her training as a Fulbright Scholar and wrote a user-friendly guide to postbacs.

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178. I Didn’t Even Know “Research” Was a Thing!

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For some students, graduate schools is a foregone conclusion.

Perhaps they’ve wanted to ‘be a scientist’ since they were nine, and along the way, they learned that a PhD is a stepping stone on that path. Or perhaps they knew their career prospects with a Bachelor’s degree were thin, so they new an advanced degree was in the future.

But Josh wasn’t that student. He was a junior in college before he even learned that ‘research scientist’ was a career that he could pursue.

This week, we revisit his-story. (See what I did there?)

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176. Stop Calling Yourself a ‘Grad Student’ w/ Dr. Alaina Talboy

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Titles are a part of our identity. If you meet a school teacher, computer programmer, or rocket scientist, you will instantly form an impression of what kind of person they are without any additional information.

The bias we impose upon hearing a title can be good or bad, of course. But we all invariably take these mental shortcuts, and it influences how we treat the people we meet.

What’s interesting is that these titles reflect on us, as well. What I call myself impacts what I expect from my work, and how I expect others to treat me in my role.

This week on the show, we talk with a PhD who helps current graduate students as they explore careers outside of academia. And she has some advice on how you can reimagine your graduate title.

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