Category: Graduate School Stories
The Ebony Tower contributors share their stories about the ups and downs of grad school life. Do you have a story to share? Send your narratives to submissions@theebonytowercom.
Home is Where My Heart Resides…
Home is Where My Heart Resides… The U.S. Navy Veteran, turned Howard Hughes Medical Institute funded scientist, explains why he’s coming home to obtain his medical education. By Russell Joseph Ledet There’s an indescribable feeling that comes from basking in the summer sun in Lake Charles, Louisiana—Sugar-soaked snow cones, boiled crawfish, and that Cajun accent that exudes southern hospitality. Listening to my brothers and sisters … Continue reading Home is Where My Heart Resides…
From My Hair to My Passport: On Being Latinx, Black, White, and Caribbean Simultaneously
It was moving through the borders of the Caribbean, between the Dominican Republic and Haiti, within the US, and through the many conversations I had with other Caribbean and Black scholars that I realized that I was many things simultaneously Continue reading From My Hair to My Passport: On Being Latinx, Black, White, and Caribbean Simultaneously
Let’s All Kill Joy Together
Congrats! You have decided to attend graduate school! If you are anything like me, few things excite you as much as the first day of classes. You are eager to sink your teeth into the material you read the night before, and are looking forward to a discussion with your peers about your initial thoughts on the materials, as well as looking to push your … Continue reading Let’s All Kill Joy Together
Disser-dating: Musings on Dating While Writing a Dissertation
by The Ebony Tower Contributors
I realized that managing other people’s expectations while writing is dissertation kryptonite. Why? Well, because the whole dissertation process is one large, looming expectation itself. Continue reading Disser-dating: Musings on Dating While Writing a Dissertation
Learning How to Break Up
by Aria S. Halliday
One of the most important tools I gained in graduate school was knowing when and how to break up—break up with an advisor, get rid of friendships, be done with areas of thought Continue reading Learning How to Break Up
The GRE and Stereotype Threat: My Story of Moving Beyond Others’ Expectations
by Daphne M. Penn My first GRE sitting was supposed to be low stakes. In fact, I only registered to take the test because my enrollment in teacher certification classes at Georgia State was contingent upon submission of a GRE score – quite literally, any GRE score. Most of my Teach for America friends, who were in the same predicament, registered for the GRE without … Continue reading The GRE and Stereotype Threat: My Story of Moving Beyond Others’ Expectations
Grad Girl, Interrupted.
by Whitney Congratulations! You have been selected to participate in a group interview at XXXX University. The interview. All that work. All that MONEY. All that strife. And girl you got an interview! At one of your top choices! In a town you love! You did it. Cut to a cold winter day, pinchy black heels, and the same suit I peddled coast to coast, … Continue reading Grad Girl, Interrupted.
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