​Transcript: Damilola’s experience with Grad Coach

Anytime I ran into trouble, the first thing that would come to my mind would be like, Grad Coach. And I would be like, oh yeah, I need to book a session. And I always made progress after a session. So I think that was just the best thing for me — that banter and having that safe space to just come and do my rant.

Before I joined Grad Coach, I was really struggling to understand how to go about my data analysis. I was absolutely confused and just really had no idea where it was going. I was trying to do this thematic analysis and I was just very confused about what to do, not knowing what to do to move forward.

I think having these challenges made me feel like giving up. If there was any point in time where I wanted to stop writing, it would have been at that point. I was really discouraged and I just kind of felt like I’d read all these books, I had gotten all this advice, but it still seemed like I wasn’t making a lot of progress. I wanted to give up. There was this overwhelming feeling of, I don’t think I can keep going. Maybe throwing in the towel, I guess.

I decided to join Grad Coach because they look like a very professional service. And I could see that a lot of people that had had similar experiences to what I had, or what I felt I was experiencing, had positive reviews about making progress or finishing their degree. There was just something about Grad Coach — the appeal, the look. It was just gravitating. And then there was also this aspect of getting one-to-one coaching, knowing that you could ask questions or get a personalized coach that would help you sort out whatever you were struggling with, that you could have some interaction with and say, this is where I’m struggling. And then just that sense of having someone that can tell you, hey, why not try this? Why not try that? I think that made the difference for me.

One of the unique things about Grad Coach is that they don’t help you write your thesis or your assignment. They wouldn’t write it for you. They will support you to write the best one that you could put out there. So I think a lot of people might come to the service thinking it’ll be written for them, or that the work will be done for them. They don’t do the work for you. You still do the work yourself. But you get support, which is so important because there are tricks and tips and things you need to know that you might spend ages trying to figure out, reading all sorts of papers and not figure out. That is just the truth. So that for me was the best part — that I wrote it myself. So it’s my work, but then I got the best support for a really good piece of work together.

Working with Grad Coach helped me to find my way out of the tunnel. I definitely think it helped me to unwind that phase I was in where I was really confused. Getting that validation that, oh, you’re on the right track. And then just also having someone to share it with that could either say, oh, no, maybe it’s better this way. That was really important to me up until the very end. You’re not just writing — what you’re writing actually makes sense. And then every time I kept getting confused, because there are so many different phases where I hit a difficult spot or had challenges, I would come back and work with my Grad Coach and that would make a significant difference, ensuring that I was moving forward. And I could actually track my progress, which was really important to see. In that journey, it’s so important for you to see the progress you’re making, and see where you started from and where you are. And that gives you a sense of achievement.

My favorite thing about working with Grad Coach was my Grad Coach, because I just got on with him from the very start. It was the fact that we just had this banter — academic work in a very unacademic way. That made so much of a difference to me because I could just come in and be myself and have all these rants. And then he’ll just be like, calm down. And honestly, by the time I spent that session with him, whatever the problem was would have been 90% solved. Because anytime I ran into trouble, the first thing that would come to my mind would be Grad Coach. And I would be like, oh yeah, I need to book a session. And I always made progress after a session. So I think that was just the best thing for me — that banter and having that safe space to just come and do my rants. I was really pleased that I could find someone else who knew what they were doing, but could also understand my personality and all of my worries, and then give me solutions.

I wish I signed up earlier because I think it would have saved me a lot of stress, a lot of confusing moments, figuring out stuff. It would have definitely been better in terms of structuring things out and maybe even saving time.

For anyone thinking about doing Grad Coach, I would say you should go for it. You might be weighing options. When I weighed the cost, I just realized that I have spent thousands and thousands on trying to get this degree in fees. Whatever I would be spending would be very insignificant compared to how much I’d already spent. So it just made sense to get the best support available to achieve this degree that I’d already spent so many thousands of pounds on. You want to achieve your goals anyway. So this would be such a good opportunity to get the support that you need to do so. So I recommend Grad Coach to anyone who is confused about what to do, anyone who wants to finish their work really quickly, anyone who needs another academic to share ideas with. Even if you’re just thinking of starting your degree or at the very beginning thinking about your topic, it would save you a lot of stressors that you would spend hours and hours trying to research and understand. I would recommend Grad Coach.