Why?

When I tell friends and family that I am pursuing a doctorate, I get two possible responses: "Very Cool!" and "Why?" The "Why?" is not an easy one for me to answer. I am not a starving graduate student like my father was where I need the credentials to make a career. After all, I have 15+ years of experience, the majority at the management level. I make a good living, have a job I really enjoy, and have been on a pretty steady upward path.

I can come up with several things a doctorate could do for my career. I miss teaching, and it would make it easier to do that on the side. Also, it probably would provide some boost to my career where I work. I could also become an insufferable ass at work and make people call me “Doctor”. Yet, none of these are overwhelmingly compelling reasons to invest such a massive amount of time, effort and to a lesser extent money (thanks to my employer’s very generous education assistance).

The only real answer I can give is that it is something I have always wanted to do. Even as an undergraduate I looked into staying in school to complete my graduate work. Had it not been for being in Washington, DC with such a lucrative consulting/IT industry I might well have done that.

Throughout my professional career, I never took my sites off wanting to eventually pursue a doctoral program. Several years ago I went back to school for my Master's, but that in no way tempered my interest. Even while preparing for my project defense, I remember discussing with a classmate how much we both were looking forward to pursuing more education.

It is fortunate I have this internalized desire, because otherwise I think I would have very little chance of finishing. The level of rigor in the first class was at a level far beyond what I had experienced, and knowing that I could drop it at anytime and still have a job might have been very tempting.

So why am I doing it? Because I want to. Not a very philosophical answer, but I think it's the only one I have.

In early 2011 I applied to the doctoral program at University of Maryland, University College. At the time, I planned to keep a blog on my research and experiences. There were several purposes behind writing this blog. The first was to keep my friends and family updated on my progress. Second, to give myself an outlet for my experiences, and finally, to hopefully offer an insight to others on what the program is like. I plan to include some of my writing, but school rules at times will limit what I can write or publish. For those who have read some of my other writings, you may find this a little different. I hope to still keep it fun and include my inane sense of humor, but know the topics might be a little more dry at times.

So why did I apply in February and am only now starting my blog? Well, what happened very quickly was the cold slap of reality. After doing very well in college and in my Master's program, I was getting pummeled by this first class. It came to the point where I was not sure I would be accepted into the full program. This caused my ego to step in and delay any writing in order to save myself possible embarrassment.

But now, 6 months later, I have been accepted into the full program and am ready to write. This also means I need some backtracking to fill in the story of my application to the program and the pain that was DMGT600.

Joseph Drasin