Occupation: Student

For the seven years I've been legally allowed to work, my occupation has always been listed as "student". This is a status I will retain for at least five-and-a-half more years as I evolve from mere holder of a BS into a PhD candidate. This means that I will have been a student for the majority of my life until I am 40. I'm what you could call a professional student.

Ever since I was little, I've been destined to be a scientist. Whether I was looking through a telescope, digging up the yard, or collecting creek water, I was no stranger to collecting samples and making observations of the world around me. By the time I was in seventh grade, I already had my heart set on attending Dickinson College for something science-y, and at the end of my first-year of undergrad, I was already excited about graduate school.

It is no secret that I love learning and talking about what I have learned. I am excited to talk with younger students, especially high school students, in an effort to get them pumped up about their education. My education is something much more than work; it is my passion, it is how I engage the world.

Although I know that graduate school is the best next step for me, it is full of uncertainties, both for me and for many others. The subsequent posts will be an account of graduate school—the reasoning behind it, the application process, the living it—by me, a professional student.