by Bryan Koval | May 4, 2010 | Doctoral Study
As the semester is winding down, I am faced with the task of closing the residence halls (my day job) while writing 25 pages for two different final assignments for my doctoral classes. I’m also in the midst of some job searching, want to go to a concert in Pittsburgh this week, and way too preoccupied with play-off hockey games (let’s go Pens!) and fantasy baseball. Sounds familiar to just about anyone working in higher education, right?
I’m a little stressed out, but my current juggling act illustrates the importance of time management and organization if you are going to be a doctoral student from a distance. I felt that I would be easily able to balance all of my responsibilities, but I forgot to take one major factor into account: I am a procrastinator. I get some sick thrill out of pulling a project together at the last minute, but this approach is doomed to failure in the context of grad school and full-time employment. This semester I have decided that in order for me to maintain some balance in life and conquer procrastination, I would need to make some changes.
One of the easiest, and most effective, tools for conquering procrastination that I have utilized is group accountability. A number of people in my cohort have formed a reading group, so we split up readings for class, outline them, and then discuss them. When I know that my procrastination will impact other people, I work ahead and get things done well before deadlines. Our group has taken this same approach for reviewing some of our papers and assignments. Basically, I’m piggybacking on positive study habits of other people. It’s timeliness by osmosis.
I have also become more and more dependent on technology as a way to keep myself on track. I had never been a to-do list maker, but I am now. I use the to-do list feature in Mail (the email app I use on my Mac) for work, life, and academic action items. I try to follow an inbox-zero philosophy so that I am on-top of communication that comes through my email. Our reading group also uses a Google Group to keep our materials organized and as a communication hub. Nothing terribly Earth-shattering here . . . but these have been important changes that have paid off for me in a huge way.
Perhaps the most important strategy for staying on-task is doing academic work that is rewarding, motivating, and interesting. Fortunately this has been the rule, rather than the exception, with my doctoral program thus far. Despite my propensity for procrastination, I am interested in my work and want to do well. At the end of the day, that keeps me going.
Bryan Koval
Bryan Koval holds two degrees from the Pennsylvania State University (B.S. Secondary Education 03, M.Ed. Higher Education 08). He has worked in Residence Life at Penn State for 5 years, and has made meaningful contributions to projects related to living and learning communities, cocurricular learning outcomes, and resident assistant training in the department.
Prior to working in higher education, Bryan taught 7th grade science in Harford County, Maryland. He is currently pursuing a doctoral degree in higher education administration from the George Washington University. Bryan writes about his experience as a working professional and full-time graduate student for higheredcareercoach.com.
by sean@higheredcareercoach.com | May 3, 2010 | life purpose
As schools around the country start to close out the academic year, honor their student leaders and organizations with awards, check out students from the residence halls, and prepare for graduation, I can’t help but reflect on the ways my life and career path have changed in a few short months. Last Fall, as I was finishing up summer projects, and preparing for RA training, I was also contemplating some major life changes.
I’d planned to start a doctoral program here at the University of Georgia, but I wasn’t accepted. I’d applied to the program for several reasons: first, it’s a great program; second, it is close to my family (in South Carolina) and Sarah’s family (in Florida) and third, after 14 years in State College, I’d finally reached a point in my career at Penn State at which I’d accomplished what I set out to do. More importantly, I had to admit that I wasn’t motivated by my daily routine, and I found myself more than a little bit discouraged as I faced the prospect of another year of doing the same things.
I’d imagined (and worked quite diligently toward) a return to the classroom. From preparing for the GRE, to writing, fretting over, and re-writing my statement of purpose, I’d been single-minded about getting in to the University of Georgia, so it was kind of a blow to get rejected. Despite what some might expect, though, I won’t say a bad word about U. Ga. or their graduate admissions process, or about Residence Life at Penn State. I have deep respect for, and can honestly say that I learned a lot about myself, from both.
At Penn State, I had many opportunities to learn and grow as a professional, and my work was rewarded by several promotions and many great learning and leadership opportunities. The people there are not just my colleagues or my friends; many of them are family to me, and I will always value the time I spent there and the relationships I forged. And though it would be easy to be bitter about getting rejected from a grad program when you have a generation of experience behind you, good GRE scores and recommendations, etc., I’m not upset with anyone at U.Ga., because I learned something very valuable from the process. It was a simple but powerful realization, and it was this: I don’t love Student Development theory. I think it’s interesting, but my real love is for two things: the people and the process. While I am capable of doctoral-level work, and a Ph.D. would help me get to a logical next step, as a faculty member or senior administrator, I hadn’t really explored my other options enough, and I’d set some aside that were actually important to me (and that I have always wanted to do) because they didn’t fit with what many would consider conventional next steps along a “career path” in Student Affairs.
I’ve known several things about myself for most of my life, but wasn’t giving them a proper place in my personal “scheme of things.” First, I have always been a writer and a story-teller. Some of my earliest memories are of me telling my grandmother fabulous stories. When I was young, people didn’t read me bedtime stories: they asked me to tell them. Second, I’ve always been a “helper” and a “sounding board” for other people, and I like to challenge others to think about what they want to do with their lives. This was apparent in many ways as I grew up, became an RA and eventually moved into full-time work in higher ed. Third, I’ve always been creative and free-spirited, and Fourth, I hate bureaucratic nonsense and as much as possible, I do my own thing, and I seldom apologize for it. My track record on this count is pretty good. I am an original thinker who drives conversations in new directions, experiments, and takes risks. Usually, the results are good. When they aren’t, I explain my rationale, apologize for bad results if necessary, and move on.
Finally, late last summer, as training loomed in the near future, I took a pretty big leap of faith, and registered for a Coach Certification program with the Life Purpose Institute, and began to plan my departure from Penn State. The program was in October and after it, Sarah came down to meet me in Atlanta, and we went to Athens to look at houses for two days. We made an offer on our new house on the second day.
I’d planned to end the semester at Penn State, but finding the house kind of tipped things in a different direction, because it created a new sense of urgency toward unloading our old one and moving on. Pennsylvania winters are notoriously bad for selling houses, so we had to jump right on it. Things started to happen quickly, and before I knew it, the die was cast. After 14 1/2 years in Happy Valley,we were packing up our life, unloading our junk and starting something new.
The strangest part of this, for me, has been how easy it has been to not look back. I don’t have any “might-have-beens” to dwell on. I did what I went there to do, and I know that I made a difference while I was there. These days, I spend my time writing, and discussing life and career issues with people from all over. Through Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, BrazenCareerist, and the wonderful #sachat community, I’m more connected that I ever have been to others working in Higher Ed.
Since I’m new in business, I spend a lot of time working on ways to bring in clients, do presentations and offer workshops. It’s challenging and very different from working for a large university. I set my schedule, pay for all my benefits, and I generally work alone. I don’t supervise anyone, and I don’t have a boss, but in some ways, I answer to everybody…either I get feedback that my work is helpful, or I work through the silence and keep trying until I find something that is both validating and (hopefully) potentially profitable. I’m not swimming in money by any means. I’ve earned less this year than I earned in a week at my old job, and most of what I’ve earned has gone to pay some of my fabulous guest writers. And let’s not get into what it costs to get certified as a professional coach through a reputable program, or to start a business.
Last August, I only imagined what it would be like to take this leap, and to forge out on my own. I had greater expectations for what the year would bring me, but, like many new graduates heading out into the world, or professionals moving on to their first (or next step), I choose to look back on the year with fondness, to reflect on everything I’ve learned…about business, about careers, about higher ed, and about myself, and to keep moving toward opportunities and experiences around each bend.
I know that I will get where I am meant to go in my career and in my life. I’ve found a purpose that drives me forward, and the realization that I’m doing the driving, so I’m the one who gets to decide where to go next.
It may be the end of the world as I knew it, but I feel fine.
How about you?
- Have you set aside aspects of yourself as you pursue the “next steps” in your career?
- Are there ways to incorporate these aspirations and skills into your current job?
- What risks are you willing to take to create more fulfillment in your life and career?
by Bryan Koval | Apr 10, 2010 | Doctoral Study
If you are considering part-time (or full-time from a distance) doctoral work, you’re going to want some flexibility at work. I’m fortunate to work in a department that has been very supportive as I have started my doctoral work. One of the common themes in my cohort is that we have been able to successfully navigate the balancing act with work and school, and this is really essential because of the unique arrangement of a primarily distance-education program.
If you are at a place in your career where you are essentially your own boss, negotiating for flexibility in the workplace may be fairly simple to achieve. If you are an entry-level professional or a mid-level manager, it may take a little bit of work. Here are suggestions that I believe have helped me to find this balance.
- Include your supervisor in the graduate school application process. During my 1x1s with my direct supervisor, we periodically talked about my academic goals and the things that I was working on. My supervisor knew where I was applying and basic information about timelines. As the process moved along, I think my supervisor felt a sense of being invested in what was happening, and became another source of insight and support.
- Include your graduate work as a formal part of your staff review and development plan, if such a thing exists at your institution. Each year I include my academic work as some of my goals for the upcoming year. Time spent on coursework is included in my professional development hours. By having this formally in place, it allows for a certain level of transparency between myself and the institution. It demonstrates to the department that I am making progress.
- Get creative with resources at your institution. My best personal attempt at this is related to getting time out of the office for class. In Student Affairs at Penn State, we are allowed out of the office for approximately 4 hours per week if we are taking a class, and this is time that we do not have to make-up. Since I don’t attend a weekly class on our campus, I have negotiated with my supervisor to allow me to “bank” this time each week, and apply it to the Thursday and Friday of my monthly weekend in Virginia for class. It is a huge relief to not have to take vacation time each month for class. Find other similar policies at your institution and see if you can make them work for you.
- When you are at work, be at work! I’m really committed to maintaining an exemplary level of performance at my job. I would not be OK with my colleagues or supervisors feeling that I am slouching off at work since I am so focused on my academics (we’ve all had those people on our teams, and it’s not fun). Work comes first from 9 to 5 (and sometimes before and after that). I’m not going to say that I never read or work on papers at work, but those tasks never take priority over my job responsibilities.
It’s not perfect. I’m still working through what it means to balance work and school, and I am sure it will change a lot when I get started on my dissertation.
Next time: squeezing every spare minute out of the day!
by Bryan Koval | Apr 5, 2010 | Doctoral Study
In my previous posts, I have written a great deal about the admissions processes that I navigated on my way to pursuing a doctoral degree. I’m going to shift gears and begin a new series about the specifics of the program in which I chose to enroll and my experience as a full-time doctoral student and full-time working professional. It is a unique program, and it is my hope that my experience will be of interest to the readers of www.higheredcareercoach.com. Please do not mistake this as a sales pitch for my particular institution or type of program . . . but I hope that it illustrates how I have attempted to balance doctoral studies with my professional career and family life.
I’m currently a first-year doctoral student in the Higher Education Administration Ed.D. program at the George Washington University. While GWU offers a traditional doctoral program experience at their Foggy Bottom campus in the District of Columbia, I attend classes at the Virginia Campus near Dulles Airport. I have chosen the cohort program model that GWU offers. In this program, a number of students are admitted each fall. This cohort of students takes all of their courses together for the first two and a half years of the program, seven credits each semester during the fall, spring and summer.
Courses for cohort students at the Virginia Campus are taught by the same faculty members who teach at Foggy Bottom, and course content and program requirements are the same, although they are adjusted a bit to accommodate for the unique needs of cohort students. All members of the cohort program are working in higher education, and most of us do not live in the D.C. area.
Here are the major factors that resulted in my enrollment in the GW cohort program, instead of a more traditional program at another institution.
- The ability to accrue meaningful professional experience while making progress towards my doctorate. As an entry-level professional in student affairs, I was concerned about being “overqualified” with a doctorate and limited professional experience.
- The idea of being in a cohort was really appealing to me. I knocked out my masters degree part-time while working full-time, so I never had the experience of being in a cohort and making strong connections with classmates. I felt like I was missing out on that during my masters program.
- GWU just seemed like a good fit for me. It’s not the most highly ranked program in the world, but everyone treated me well throughout the admissions process. They were really transparent about the strengths and areas for growth with their program. I really felt like they wanted me there, and like I would have support to do good work.
- They offered me some financial support (not full tuition or anything like that), which was nice.
Some of my concerns about the program included:
- Balancing 7-credits each semester with my 50-60 hours per week at work.
- Travel. One weekend a month while working in a position that requires me to be on-call is quite a commitment, while also adding to the costs of the program.
- Quality. GWU says the quality of the educational experience is just as good for cohort students as it is for traditional students. Would this be true?
In the end, I thought the pluses outweighed the potential negatives. To this point, I have been thrilled to be a George Washington Colonial, and I have found the delicate balancing act of work and school manageable. Next time, I’ll write about how I’ve negotiated things at work and home to make all of this possible.
by Bryan Koval | Mar 16, 2010 | Doctoral Study
After what seemed like years of waiting (but was actually more like 6-8 weeks) I started to hear back from the institutions to which I had applied. Something that was surprising was the lack of real information that admissions decisions included. I imagined the “fat envelope” that I remember from my undergraduate acceptances, but in reality what I was getting in the mail was usually a single page letter. Sometimes there were a few additional pages of information about how to access the online “accept or decline” form, but rarely more information than that was included. Where was the financial aid package? Where was the information about assistantships and student groups?
I know I’ve mentioned it a few times, but this is where cultivating relationships with staff assistants, office managers, and faculty at your prospective can really pay off. I found these folks incredibly helpful. Each institution is different (so pay particular attention to the materials provided by your prospective schools), but as a rule by including an institution on the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) you will be considered for the general federal aid (grants and loans) at that institution. Some programs guarantee an assistantship and full-funding (tuition and stipend) for all students who are admitted, while others provide information about assistantships that are available and students can apply for each one they are interested in, like they would for any other job. Some departments have financial aid that is distributed through a competitive process that includes a separate application and essay, so be on the lookout for the details and deadlines.
When possible, I would suggest getting the full financial package and assistantship details in writing before accepting an offer of admission. As budgets get tighter this may be a discretionary line-item which departments can change from year to year, so if you are being told you’ll be guaranteed funding for 2 years, ask the department to put that in a letter for peace of mind. Once an offer of admission is made, it will be rare (and maybe illegal?) for an institution to rescind that offer because you want some specific details.
Understand that you will want to hear back from all of the institutions you applied to, but that by waiting you may be giving up opportunities at the institutions that let you hear back from the earliest. Most programs will work with you and be patient, but I did have some institutions that put deadlines on assistantships and financial support. You’ve been accepted because the program wants you there, but particularly in popular programs at selective institutions there will be people on a waitlist. Fortunately I had a complete picture from all of my institutions before I had to make a decision, but I could see where there would have been complications if timeline were a bit more different.
There is something to be said for declining offers with grace: do it. Especially with higher education being such a small field and everyone knowing everyone else, it is important not to burn bridges. You may be talking to a future colleague or employer, so make sure to be honest but polite about your enrollment decision. Most institutions will not ask what you are doing instead of enrolling, and you really don’t have to elaborate. Chalk it up to a better fit elsewhere, thanks them for the opportunity, and move on.
You did it! You’ve navigated the system, gotten admitted, and have your finances (essentially) pinned down. Next time I will begin a new series on the type of program I chose: a primarily distance-education Ed.D. cohort, designed for individuals working full-time in higher education.
