​Transcript: Kelsee’s experience with Grad Coach

My name is Kelsee Stromberg. I’m studying clinical and translational epidemiology at the University of Utah. I chose this degree because I am a military spouse and it was something that I was very interested in — understanding the longitudinal effects of veterans and traumatic brain injury. Epidemiology studies different things about disease and the patterns and ways it’s transferred. So when I picked the University of Utah, it was a very robust program, but I knew it would have a lot of rigor and I would need some extra support that a lot of times in academics, your mentor or other people on your committee can’t give you. And so I looked everywhere to try to find something that would fit that gap. Grad Coach had the backing, the reviews. They had people who had already done stuff that I was doing, and it gave me the vote of confidence to really put my time and effort into something that was already foundationally proven as something that would work.

Before I joined Grad Coach, some of the main issues I was running into was not having enough support or enough help. I went to my university and tried to find different mentors or different ways to have my papers edited or get extra help with my statistics. And I wasn’t able to actually find someone who, A, knew what I was talking about, B, was on the same level that I needed, or C, had the time to do it. So I needed to find something that worked with my schedule, but also allowed me to have someone who understood exactly what I needed and had done it before.

Having these challenges made me feel really lost. I was worried. I didn’t know if I was cut out to finish a PhD because I couldn’t find the support that I needed. I needed someone to not only be someone I could talk to and get through things, but also someone who was able to say, hey, you’re going to be able to get through this. And that’s something that my coach at Grad Coach has not only been really wonderful at, but she has been an advocate for me finishing my program. And that’s something that you can’t necessarily get in an academic setting. A lot of times your mentors or your committee members are so busy, it can feel like you’re an afterthought. But with Grad Coach, and my coach especially, she made me feel like I was the most important person and that the goals that I had were her goals. So I bought two packages and both packages have given me the ability to reach the goals that I need to reach.

I had actually tried other tutoring or other apps, other platforms. I would talk to a bunch of different tutors and they would say that they maybe knew how to do what I was doing. I ended up bouncing from tutor to tutor and no one really could help me in the way that I needed. None of them could offer me the consistency that Grad Coach did.

My favorite thing about working with Grad Coach is the confidence that they gave me. I’ve been able to have a structured plan — this is what we’re going to be doing, this is how we’re going to do it. I can go forward confidently knowing that I’m getting the help I need when I need it, that I am capable of doing this, that I can finish this, that I was meant to do this. And that’s one of the greatest things about Grad Coach — it provides that structure that students need to be able to get across the finish line or reach the next goal. It’s more than just a tutoring service. It’s almost like you have your own cheerleader that’s wanting the same things for you. When you have someone who wants the same things you do and is telling you, I can do it, I did it in this amount of time, you can do it, I’m going to help you get there, I believe in you — those are the type of validating statements every grad student needs. And it’s pushed me through points where I felt like I wanted to quit. But knowing that I had a coach that I could email at any time and within a couple hours get an answer to a question. I had someone that was not only teaching me how to do it, but also gave me recordings so I could go back and relearn those things if I needed a reminder. And that friendship that you make with your coach as well — I feel like I’ve made a friend, not only a cheerleader, but someone who I could circle back to in a year and be like, remember that one time?

I wish I would have signed up earlier because I know I would have progressed at a lot faster rate than I was. I am now in a place where I feel like I can move ahead very quickly and get things done in a way that would have taken me years to do. I’m halfway through the last year of my PhD and I think it would have taken me about a year longer had I not joined Grad Coach. But with my coach and with Grad Coach, I know that I can do it. If I would have signed up sooner, I would even be further along. So that’s one thing I wish I would have done — signed up six months sooner so I could even be farther ahead than where I’m at right now.

For anyone thinking about joining Grad Coach, I’d say, stop your search. I just found something that worked for me, that has worked for other people, has a great backing of other reviews, and is allowing me to reach my goals and move forward through my program in a way that allows me to be successful. When we’re learning these things in the outside world, I think it’s important to learn them from someone who’s gone through it before, who understands where you’ve been, and gives you the words and the confidence to be able to go out into the world and express yourself in a way that’s not only professional, but kind. And that’s not something you can learn in a classroom.