​Transcript: Elizabeth’s experience with Grad Coach

My name is Dr. Elizabeth A. Galt. I received my Doctor of Education in Pre-K through 12 Leadership from Trident University International. I don’t want to bash my program, but they were going through an overhaul mid-degree for me. And there were some breakdowns in communication, some misunderstandings of expectations. The bottom line being that I felt lost in my thesis. And I was at the point where I’m like, I think I’m going to have to quit. I understand that a lot of people, when they get to the thesis part of their doctoral, they feel that way. But it was more than that for me. I just couldn’t see how I was going to get done.

Having these challenges instilled in me a sense of self-doubt. I always felt like I was a relatively intelligent person. And then suddenly to hit that academic wall where I couldn’t find my way forward — I really didn’t understand what was expected of me. I didn’t feel like I was receiving the guidance that I know, as an educator, a student should have. And I felt frustrated. And I felt angry. And I felt unheard. I didn’t feel like my university was listening to me, or that they really understood the struggle I was having. And in the end, I basically got angry — and, you’re not going to make me quit. I put so much money into my program, I just wasn’t going to quit. I had to find a way forward. And the way forward was using Grad Coach.

I decided to join Grad Coach ultimately because when I went to the websites and I was looking at other competitors and doing research, Grad Coach was coming up as one where students were having the most satisfactory experiences. And when I did reach out, the response was immediate. I was assigned my coach immediately. So I had a name. I knew I was going to talk to somebody. And just that little bit — knowing I was going to talk to somebody — was the first step in making me feel better about the whole thesis process.

Working with my coach helped me to understand the thesis process in its entirety. He was able to chunk it for me. And when I say chunk it, I mean he could take the bigger pieces, break them down into smaller pieces, where I was like, oh, I understood where I missed that step before because nobody explained it to me. And using the templates that Grad Coach uses — and this is how we outline your research questions, and this is how you build from just these basic questions — it was suddenly, oh, I get it now. And suddenly it seemed easy and doable. And the literature review, which was probably everybody’s biggest obstacle, and I was hugely late on, suddenly my literature review was like, oh, I can do this, this is a no-brainer. Whereas before, I just felt like I wasn’t even smart enough. Somebody took my brains out, I wasn’t smart anymore. And then my coach gave me my brains back, and I was happy.

My favorite thing about working with Grad Coach was it was fun. And specifically working with my coach, it was fun. We had easy conversations. We could make jokes. We could address the academic issues that I was facing. And I felt empowered again. I felt like I had ownership of my own paper again. And the research was less intimidating. And suddenly I enjoyed what I was doing. More than that, I enjoyed the company of my coach. I enjoyed our conversations. And I knew that no matter what obstacle I was facing, I would have support. And I’m here to tell you, I would not have made it through without him. So my favorite thing about Grad Coach — it was fun. I had fun again. And when anybody can make learning fun, especially at this high a level and at this level of pressure that we’re facing, when you think of the money that we invest in our degrees — when it becomes fun again, that’s magic.

I wish I had signed up the moment they said, time to work on your thesis. I wish I had contacted Grad Coach, worked with Grad Coach, from the moment they said, your thesis begins now.

I would recommend Grad Coach to anyone who is struggling with their thesis, feeling underconfident in their thesis, or feeling unsupported by their university or their advisor. Grad Coach is not there to judge. And at no time did my coach pass any judgment off on my university or on my work, when literally I was doing it backwards. I always had support. I think if you are struggling with any part of your thesis — from inception to the middle part, to the research and literature review, to facing your defense — Grad Coach can provide you the support and guidance that you need to be successful in your work. Not just get you through your work, but be successful in your work, and feel like if you had to do it again, you could do it again and do well.

For anyone thinking about Grad Coach, I would say it’s money well spent. It can be a little intimidating to say I need help, especially when we’re adults, when we’re professionals, when we should be the commanders of our own ship and know everything. And to feel like, oh, I’ve got to go online to seek the help that I really should be getting from my university — there’s no shame in that. So for anybody who is thinking about the service of Grad Coach and then second-guessing yourself, don’t. The money is well spent. The time is well spent. You’ll come out ahead. In the end, if you’re thinking about it, do it. You’re just going to come out feeling better about yourself and better about your work, because they are about being coaches. This is about providing support and guidance, not judgment. And I’m very, very happy that I went through Grad Coach to complete my thesis. Thank you.