Andrea Arterbery

Best week ever: I passed every single part of my Qualifying Exams on Monday which means I’m an official Doctoral Candidate! 🤓📚🥳 This ain’t just any exam either. First, I had to complete all of the course work for my program (64+) before I was even approved to take the exam. 😵‍💫 The written part consisted of (page-long) questions covering ALL of the material covered in the courses. It’s timed + taken over the span of two days. Then, you complete the oral part which is basically 2-3 hours of a bunch of professors grilling you with questions about what you wrote + whatever else they want to ask you about regarding the course material. To say it is stressful is an understatement. My brain is melted 🫠 but I’m so excited I got it done and made it to A.B.D. (all but dissertation) status. If you’d told me 20 years ago I’d be this close to having a PhD, I woulda laughed in your face. 🤭 The struggle has been real, but I’m grateful for this journey + my little village of support. ✨ Now, excuse me while I climb back underneath this academic rock to write+defend this dissertation. 💻📝👩🏽‍🏫

Throwing it back in honor of my birthday tomorrow. 😎
♍️