After five long years, I am finally back in school… as a student! I graduated back in 2018 and I honestly thought that I would get my Masters by 25 and would be working on my PhD by 30. Of course, I didn’t understand how much work and effort each of these entailed but I just wanted to have the title of being young and accomplished. (Here’s to being an overachiever!)
I had even tried to work on my Master’s right after my undergraduate degree, but that obviously didn’t work out. Looking back now, I see the importance of having had the experience that I have now. I never would have thought of getting a Master of Education. I have always been interested in Statistics and especially after my undergraduate studies, I knew that theoretical Math was not my thing. I wanted to major in something along the lines of Statistics or Applied Mathematics.
After being a full-fledged teacher for 3 years, teaching often feels like my calling- it’s both something I enjoy and what I feel I am good at. Additionally, I fully understand the importance of having people with expertise in the field of education in order to make a powerful national impact.
Therefore, I was ecstatic when I found a course at The University of Pennsylvania where I could have the best of both worlds- A Master of Science and Education in Statistics, Measurement, Assessment, Research, and Technology (It’s a handful to say, I know, but the acronym for it is SMART).
I was too scared to even apply- the thought of applying to an Ivy League school seemed so far-fetched. However, the application fee was waived for a few months, and they didn’t require a GRE or any licensing. I supposed there wasn’t any harm in trying although I hardly expected anything. I was beside myself when I found out I got accepted. In fact, I can still hardly believe it.
Other than that, my perspective on coming to school has totally changed since my undergraduate days. I always studied to get good grades and for the end result. However, as an adult, when I wasn’t mandated to study anything or get good grades, I took a lot of free online courses. And I actually enjoyed them, more so than I enjoyed any class in my life. I realized then that when I was studying in order to study and not just for the results, I was enjoying the process and actually learning.
As an adult, it is difficult to identify your growth and it’s very easy to feel stagnant. For all our lives as we had known it, we would progress from one grade to another every year. We would be ranked according to our marks and congratulated for doing better than everyone else. However, as an adult, there isn’t much to mark your growth. Every day, you wake up and do pretty much the same thing. Except for the change in seasons and the gradual greying of our hair, the rare promotions, there isn’t much to explicitly depict growth and change in the professional environment.
Therefore, as scared as I am about getting out of my comfort zone, I am excited about this new journey. I am engulfed with fear and constantly struggling with the imposter syndrome but I am grateful to be able to have this opportunity. I have been blessed with the best experience and support and I look forward to what is yet to come.